The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-01-21
REACHED IN Time
FOUKDfRD STEAMER C0BEQUlD
GETS NEEDED HELP
PASSENGERS Are SAVED

PASSENGERS Are Saved
Bay Of Fundy is Secured by Ships
Answering Wireless Call for Help
From Vessel Which Did Not Know
Its Location-Was About to Sink
With All on Board.
most certain death, passengers and
crew Of the Royal Mail Packet Cobe-
quid were snug Wednesday night In
Yarmouth harbor, Nova Scotia.
Wireless appeals for assistance,
which she had first made thfrty-six
hours before, were answered late
Wednesday as the doomed steamer
was being racked to pieces on Trim
ity Rock, six miles of Port Maitland.
The rescue will go down il shipping
annals as one Of the most notable
ever accomplished on the Atlantic
coast.
The Cobequid had begun to break
up under the cannonading Of the ter
rife seas, that had been merciless
from the time the vessel struck
early Tuesday. Quantities Of cargo
covered the waters as the lifeboats
ranged alongside. The coastal steam
ers Westport and John L. Cam were
first to get their small boats into the
water, and they were followed soon
by boats of the government. steamer
Landsowne and the steamer Kappa
hammock. AS the work of rescue pro-
gressed the seas subsided, and no
mishap marred the triumph over the
waves.
Capt. McKinnon Of the Westport,
found the liner on Trinity Ledge at
1880 o'clock Wednesday afternoon.
At the time there was high. wind
and rough sea. He took OF in three
lifeboats seventy-two persons, in
cluding all passengers, the purser,
several deck officers and part Of the
crew.
The Westport stood by until 6:15
O'Clock, when the John L. Cam came
up. The latter took of twenty-four
men as the Westport was leaving for
Yarmouth. The captain and eleven
men Of the crew decided to remain
on the ship until morning, and the
government steamer Landsdowne re-
mained by with them.
The Westport arrived at Yar-
mouth at 9 p. N. and the John L.
Cam followed her in. The Cobe-
quid's stern was not broken, as first
reported, according to the account
given by Capt. McKinnon. In fact,
the after part was highest out Of the
water. The Cobequid was badly iced
up.
Preparations had been made to
care for the shipwrecked ones and
they were given every comfort that
Yarmouth afforded. Trinity Rock,
on which the Cobequid was trans.
fixed at a. m. Tuesday morning. Is
a pinnacle of granite rising abrupt
" from the sea halfway between
Yarmouth port and Brier island.
where the steamer was at first
thought to have struck. The famous
Lurcher .shoal, which is indicated BY
lightship, lies ten miles outside
Trinity Rock, while the course mp
the Bay Of Fundy takes vessels sttll
farther of shore.
The bay was swept by a typical
western blizzard as the Cobequid.
hound from the tropics. began to feel
her way toward St. John. The last
Of the ebb tide was, s,running and the
wind was strong from the west
conditions which tended to drive the
steamer closer to the eastern shore
than her skipper anticipated.
The crash came just before dawn
and few minutes later the wireless
"s. o. S." was flashing. out. Tho
Cobequid's operator was unable 70
give her location, for no one On
board knew it. Four hours later
food time and gales had driven the
steamer still farther on the rocks,
breaking her back and flooding the
engine room. This put out the freo
and interrupted the wireless appar-
atus. ...
The passengers were greatly
alarmed, but the courage OF Capt.
Howson reassured them time and
again. The steamer took water rap
idly and the cargo began to teas
away. Throughout the day and the
night that followed the officers scan
ned the sea for passing craft and the
operator worked heroically to restore
his wireless outfit.
Meantime steamers that had pick
ed up the first cry for help were
searching for the distressed craft. A
heavy vapor on the water handicap
ped the searchers, and it was a fish,
erman on Port Maitland shore whe
first made out the Cobequid as the
vapor rose and revealed the liner On
the Trinity.
Darkness was gathering fast when
the rescue began, but the coastal
steamer boatmen knew the rock and
surrounding shoals as weI1 as they
did their own front yards, and they
went at the work before them with
perfect confidence. Less than 1Ve
hours later those who had faced
death for two days were being warm
ed and fed at hotels. So far as could
be learned none OF the party waa
permanently the worse for the adyen-
ture.