Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-02-25

St Johns. y. F., Feb. 24.-The crack
Red Cross Liner Florzel, from St.
Johns for New York by way of Hall
fax, with $40 persons aboard. includ-
ing IS passengers, piled up on the
| lodges near Cape Race during a bliz
zard today and it is believed that all
on board were lost.
! Naval gunners sent on a special train
from this city shot line across the
! bow of the partly submerged ship to-
night, but waited in vain for it to be
hauled aboard. Just before darkness
driven from the forecastle by the giant
! seas were seen to climb the forward
rigging signalling feebly for help. but
when they failed to make fast the line
it was feared that they had succumbed
to the cold and exposure. Those five
were the only ones visible on board
several hours after the ship struck.
impossible to Approach Vessel
Somewhere beyond the white mall
Z. strom of breakers two Staunch res
cue steamers. the TerranoNa and the
Home, manned by Newfoundland sail
ors, lay in waiting for favorable mo-
ment to send q boat through the SURF,
! but though the storm appeared to be
subsiding it was said that it would be
I do hpfpra the moderated
enough to make it possible to approach
! the wreck
Among the passengers were l. wo-
! men and four children. Among the
first cabin passengers were John Shan-
non Mum, a managing director OF the
firm Of towering Brothers. Ltd. owners
Of the liner and his three year old
I daughter Betty. They We're going to
! New York to meet Mrs. Mum and Sir
Edgar towering, one of the owners OF
the line. for stay of two months In
Florida.
| Six cadets of the Royal Flying Corps,
on their way from Newfoundland TO
! ioin their commands, We're on board.
The body of one member of the de-
tachmcnt, Fred Snow was included
Another Newfoundland officer who it
is feared was lost was MAJ. Mlchaet
Sullivan commanding the Newfound :
land Forestry Battalion, returning 70
his battalion. which is now cutting TIM
Der in Scotland.
, CAPTAIN Joseph kean. one OF the pest
known commanders of the Newfoundland
sealing fleet, also sailed on the rlorizei
for Halifax. where he was to take over
his shin the sable, in readiness for the
seal fisheries next month.
Thomas Mcneil, head of the McMurdo
Drug Co, one of the leading pharmacaI
concerns in the colony, and Fred smytne'
manager Of the Newfoundland Wooden
Mills were others on the passenger list
All but three Of the passengers We're
natives of Newfoundland. Three COM
mercial travellers, Mr. Sevens OF New
York w w. Daughinee of Montreal and
O. p. Beleveau of Toronto, were on their
way home.
Commander Leading Skipper
The ship was in command Of Capt w.
j. Martin, one Of the foremost shippers
in the Newfoundland trade.
He took the Florizel out of st. Johns
last night and almost Immediately ran
into a terrific blizzard with all the &C
compartments of binding snow and
heavy gale. rea aching at times to hurri-
cane force. 1t is supposed that the cap
tain msjudged his position after driving
the ship through the night against the
storm, and that wind and tides had SET
him back more than he had calculated, so
that when he swung to the westward,
thinking he had cleared Cape Race, ne
brought up hard on the rocks. His reck-
oning had been of by approximately y
miles, an occurrence by no means infre-
quent during the blzzards in these wa
tiers.
The Florizel piled up at ) O'Clock in the
morning on a ledge two miles from Broad
Cove north Of Cape Race, at a point
sparsely populated and with no life-sav-
ing apparatus available, even if it had
been possible to use ii.
Built for Rough Work
The t'Iorizel was one Of the best-known
ships plying the North Atlantic sea hoard.
She was a sister ship TO the -Stephano.
Of the Same line one OF the victims o.
the famous raid Of the German U-J3 off
Nantucket in October, 1916. The F'lorlzcl
was bullt for rough work in the northern
ice fields as a sealer, as well as for pas
senger and freight service on the New
York route
With her hull sheathed like battle
ship and with her sloping bow rein
forced with concrete. she attracted the