Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1914-07-08
COLLISION AT SEA.
Interesting Personal Experien-
ces. A Near Disaster on
Tie Pretoria. Land ii
Sight,

When | decided to go to Europe
the dangers attendant upon an
ocean voyage were the most dread
ed Of all the ills ana inconve-
nences of travel. The memories of
;b- awful fate of tie Titanic had
not faded from my mind when l
lead a few weeks ago of the great
loss of life and the sinking of the
Empress of Ireland. But being re-,
minded by an old colored person of
the old saying that lightning never
strikes in the same place We accept
ed that homely philosophy along
with many other assurance of safety
and sailed on the eleventh of June
from South Brooklyn. At the pier
were hundreds of people waving
farewell to the Pretoria as she start
ed on her journey. Some were
laughing and waving tinE United
States flags and bouquets OF flowers
while others we're sad and weeping
as the ship faded from their S,gat.
Some were SO anziou, for the last
c(imnse OF loved ones that they ran
along the platform to the extreme
end and remained there until we
passed from their view. A little girl
about FIVE years old cried during the
entire time before our departure III
bidd ne goodbye to some one,
probably ali aunt or cousin. 1t ap-
reared unwise to me to subject a
cnlId to such suffering, for it seem
ad as if her heart would break as she
clupg to the lady with her little
arms around her neck. In that vast
crowd there was not familiar face
TO us but the parting of the lady
and child brought tears to our eyes
and we were really glad that we
did not have to pass through such
l-an ordeal. :,
Sf1er witnessing such scene and
the order" All ashore" was given
severing all connection with the
homeland a feeling Of sadness came
over us for we realized fully then
,ha, we were leaving behind us all
that was dearest in the world. We
could not rid ourselves of these
gloomy forebodlngs that seemed to
warn u Of some approaching dan
ger. :,
But we tried to divert the mind
bv becoming acquainted with our
new surroundings. locating our
s.ateroom, steamer chairs, rugs,
dining room tickets and various
other little items. There are about
$50 passengers besides the steerage
and crew and for some time after
starting there was great confusion
on board before everything was ad-
iusted and settled for the journey.
The Wicker party had steamer
chairs on the promenade deck on
the north side of the vessel, each
one marked with the owners name
and supplied with a steamer rug.
We were quite willing to remain IN
these chairs for the first afternoon
on board looking out at the smooth
calm waters and the clear sky that
was so soon to become cloudy and
bring us into terrible danger. The
first night passed quietly and the
timid ones were somewhat re-assur-
ed for the days that were to come.
The captains chair is near our and
the second afternoon out he seem ed
worried and had little to say, final
" giving orders for the fog horn
10 be blown.
The atmosphere became very
heavy and damp, and the fog was
so thick that the water could scarce
" be seen from the railing. The
loud blasts of the fog horn con-
tinued after bedtime but our party
retired at the usual time with q
fair degree of composure and most
Of them were able to sleep accord
ins to later accounts.
The collision between our boat
and the New York occurred about
8 o'clock Saturday morning. The
stewards ran through the halls
crying, Collision. Everybody on
deck" but I did not hear them nor
did | feel the shock that many ex'
perienced. l don't know what
awakened us but suppose it vas the
noise around me. I ran out and ask
ed what was the matter, but as this
is a German vessel all of the crew
speak German and i could not un-
derstand them bat | knew that
something terrible had happened
for people were running around in
their night clothes i'll the widest
excitement. l went back to my
state room and put on my skirt and