The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1912-05-02
VICTIM
OFT OFT; NEWFOUNDLAND Y !
Some of the Historic Disas-
tiers of the Last Seventy
five Years. a.

ton OF that of 1903, was the worst for
icebergs since records of the north At
lantic have been kept, it is said. The
bergs were Of exceptional size, and the
floating ice which surrounded them
was Of great thickness. The gulf of
st. Lawrence was blocked by the
movement, and perhaps twenty schoon-
ers and steamers were caught in the
jam. Their danger was grave at all
times, but none was lost.
Many Steamships Crippled.
March saw the situation over the
banks become very critical. The
steamship Rialto, from Hull to New
York, was caught in the flow of ice
over the forty-seventh parallel of Ion
gitude on Feb. q and had to sail 200
miles to the south with both bows
stove in and her forward compart-
ments filed before she could continue
to New York, where she arrived on
March 8. During that month the
steamers Herman, Sheldon and Limo
sa imped into New York badly DAM
aged. In April the steamship Rampur
was towed in by the Mary Toniza, and
the Hermod followed on April II after
having sailed LOO miles with her fore
hold full Of water.
That year took heavy toll Of lives,
besides the damage done to shipping.
The City Of Limerick went down with
175 souls on board, and the City Of
London was lost with 100. The Ii
tania carried 100 to their death.
In 1884 the Sirius was wrecked by
an iceberg at cost of forty-two lives
and the Ontario with eighteen. In
1886 the Princess was lost with eight
and in 1891 the Snowbird with twenty
one and the Zebra with seventeen. In
1898 the Naronic was lost, her name
being set down on the list with the
Georgia, lost in 1897; the Huronian,
lost in 1902; the Lucerne, lost in 1904,
and the Athos, lost in 1906, the five
carrying down with them more than
1000 people, although it has never
been possible to arrive at any accu-
rate estimate.
In the year Of the Georgia's loss the
Valiant went down with seventy-one
on board. Two hundred members Of
the party belonging to the sealer
Greenland were lost on a foe that was
broken away by a berg from the ice
surrounding their ship, and when res
cue came forty eight of them had per-
ished.
On Nov. 30, 1899, the Ferndale was
carried down by a berg, and seventeen
of her crew Of thirty-one were lost. In
1898 the Gibraltar was lost, and in
1901 the Pioneer, the two disasters
costing over a hundred lives. In 1908
the Helen Stone went down with a
loss Of twenty-five.
Some Thrilling Escapes.
Some of the escapes of these years
were thrilling. In February, 1890, the
liner Amsterdam had to go south for
100 miles to escape an ice pack, and
the Exeter City ia miles, Bergs were
sighted in the north Atlantic in each
Of the twelve months of that year. In
1896, 800 bergs were reported at New
York during March, 500 during April
and 1924 during May and June.
In 1897 the Zaandam was held fast
for five days in an ice pack over the
banks. In the second week of March,
1908, the Pandosia and Siberian
brought word to New York of having
made their way along a procession of
bergs $50 miles in extent. The first
week in April eighty steamers reported
bergs at this port-239 of them alto
gether.
Two Of the escapes that seamen best
remember were those of the Arizona
and Normannia. The Arizona in 1879
hit a berg while going at a speed Of
eighteen knots. She succeeded in get
ting back to St. Johns with 200 tons
of ice on her DECKS. The Normannia,
then Of the Hamburg-American line,
but later LAquitaine Of the French
line, on May 81, 1890, came upon a
berg in water that had been clear for
many miles.
The berg was sighted so abruptly
that collision was averted only by re-
versing one screw while the other
raced ahead. In this way it was possi-
BILE to turn the Normannia in half her
length. A woman reached over the
rail and touched the berg as the ship
swung round. Curiously enough, the
Normannia was on her maiden trip
when she had this extraordinary ex-
perience.