Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-03-20
ORIENTAL LINER
SINKS IN CRASH
Four Persons Drown and Many
More Are Missing.
is STRUCK BY GERMAN BARK
Lascar Members Of Crew, Panic
Stricken, Knock Down Passengers
in Rush for Life Boats, One
of Which capsizes.

New Haven, England, March 49,
Four passengers and several sailors
are believed to have been drowned as
a result of a collision between the
Peninsular and Oriental liner Oceana
and the German bark Pisagua off
Beachy Head in the English channel.
The lives Of the liners forty-one
passengers and of the ESQ men of her
crew were placed in danger. The
courage of the officers and the speedy
arrival Of assistance, however, pre-
vented a greater loss of life.
Boat Is Capsized.
7 1ty-eight of the passengers were
land here and nine at East Bourne
in SIN II boats, but it is feared that the
other four have been drowned togeth-
er with some members of the Lascar
crew by the capsizing of boat which
was transferring them to cross
channel steamer standing by.
The Oceana was bound from Lon
don for Bombay. She was proceeding
down the English channel when, off
Beachy Head, the bark Pisagua from
Mellijones, for Hamburg, smashed
into her broadside on and practically
tore the side out of the steamer.
Lascars in Panic.
The passengers and the steamers
officers behaved with great calmness.
but the crew, which was composed OF
Lascars, was panic-stricken.
The commander Of the Oceana had
ordered that the life boats be low
cred, as it was plain from the begin
ming that the vessel had suffered seri-
GUS damage. But before the first
boat had got over the side the fremen
and fOrecastle hands had made a mad
rush for the boats, knocking the pas
sengers down wherever they blocked
the way. The officers had to use their
revolvers to regain control.
An attempt was first made to beach
the Oceana, but she sank quickly.
The collision occurred while all the
passengers were in their berths. The
water rushed in so quickly that the
lower decks were awash in a few
moments and the passengers, trying
to make their way to the upper decks,
had to wade through water up to their
waists.
One Boat SWamped.
The first boat lowered was swamped
and the passengers were thrown into
the water, but they were all picked
up. The second boat was just sinking
when a life boat from shore reached it.
One of the cross-channel mail steam
ers running between Dieppe and New
Haven saw the signals Of distress and
at once hove to and lowered her boats,
on which many of the passengers
were taken off.
The Oceana had on board nearly
$5,O0O,OO0 in bullion, which was being
conveyed to China.
TWO Lives Lost in Wreck.
London, March 18-The German
steamer Axenfels, which sailed from
Rangoon for Hamburg February II,
is ashore near Cires Point, Morocco,
in the Straits of Gibraltar, according
to advices received here. Two per-
sons are reported drowned, but the
others were rescued and landed at
Ceuta
Schooner is Sunk.
Baltimore, Md, March 18.-The
steamer Gloucester Of the Merchants
and Miners line from Boston for Bal
timore. was in collision with the
schooner Herbert D. Maxwell from
Baltimore for Wilmington, n. c., off
Thoms' Point, Chesapeake bay. The
Maxwell was sunk and four of her
crew were drowned.
Schooner Wrecked; Ten Drown.
Shelburne, N S., March 18.-Ten
men were drowned when the Ameri-
can fishing schooner Patrician was
wrecked on Hull Rock, two miles off
Jordan bay, Shelburne.