The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-12-23
STEAM Err SINKS
WITH CREW OF
1WENIY-ONE
FurnesS Liner Florence on
Rocks Off St. Shots
FIVE ESCAPE IN BOAT
Captain and Crew Reach Shore But
Are Forced Back to Doomed
Vessel by Rising Tide.

st. Johns, ~ B., Dec. 23.-Twenty-
two of the q members of the crew
of the Furness line steamer Florence
from Halifax, N. s., for st. Johns,
lost their lives in the wreck of the
vessel on the lodges west of St
Shots during a southwest gale last
Friday. Five exhausted survivors
who reached land in a boat brought
the news to Thepassey last night.
The steamer carried no passengers.
Capt. Barr of the steamer and all
his men reached short after the yes
sci struck, but the lofty, inaccessible
cliffs of St. Shots prevented their
escape. The big ude. backed up by
tn southwest gale, made it impossible
to remain there and all hands were
obliged to put back to the ship,
which was pounding heavily.
Capt Barr felt confident that the
wind would go down. but Second
Mate ]. Hedely volunteered to take
four men in one of the ships boats
and seek a more favorable landing
place further along the coast. In
the heavy seas then running the cap
tain was unwilling to risk more
lives and gave his consent to the sec
ond mates expedition with reluc-
lance.
With great difficulty Hedley plotted
his small boat along the coast un-
til he saw a break in the rugged line
of cliffs Pointing the nose of the
boat directly into the surf he avoid
ed the outlying rocks and on the
crest of a great breaker ran his craft
+ in without being upset Tumbling
out hastily to avoid being sucked
back by the undertow the mate and
/ his four men dragged their boat up
F the beach out of reach of the seat
and made. their way back along the
cliff to where their steamer lay.
The wind and sea in the meantime
mad increased The combers broke
continually over the decks of the yes
sci, which was gringing heavily on
the Jagged rocks Hedley and his
men searched in vail for some path
by which the cliff might be scaled or
the crew of the Florence helped.
coast in that vicinity was uninhabit-
ed. The few fishermen's huts were
QebtTltu lOI INC NAhNtls dAAN AANNiNS
had to take refuge for the night in
one of these abandoned shacks.
At daybreak Saturday Hedley
found that The wind had been steadi-
ly. Hurrying back to the point of
which the Florence lay, he could
see no sign OF the steamer. Much
OF her cargo of lumber was floating
along the short, but no small boats
were visible.
After the five survivors had made a
long. but fruitelss, search along the
shore for some traces of their ship
mates, they started for st. Shots,
the nearest inhabited place, severa.
miles distant. Two of them we're so
Exhausted from colG and exposure
that they had to be assisted by their
comrades. These two were left at
st Shots to recuperate, while the
others pushed on to Trepassey,
whence they sent word of the disas-
ter to St Johns. n. b. They are not
expected to arrive there before the
middle of the week.
Besides Mate J. Hedley, the surviv-
prs are Seamen w. Wight, o. Malm-
quist, f. Taylor and T. Smeding.
The steamer Florence was of 1909
tons burden and was built in Sunder-
land, Eng, in 1899 She was 293.5
FEET long, 400 beam with a depth Of
PSI feet