The Northern Guardian. — 1892-12-05 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

ENG ERS.  As announced in the extra special edition of the Guardian on Saturday, the North German Lloyd Royal Mail steamer Spree, Captain Willigerad, bend from Bremen and Southampton to New York, 1 with 506 passengers and 405 bags of mails, was • towed into Queenstown on Saturday with her main shaft broken, and abo,it 30ft. of water in her after compartment, caused by a portion of the machinery puncturing a hole in the bottomof the vessel through which the water poured and flooded the entire Second eal)in compartments, driving passengers, most of whom put on lifcbelts, on deck in a state of panic. The accident occurred on the 26th ult. at 6 a.m., in lat. 58 N., long. 29 W. The weather, fortunately, was calm, and on the 28th at 2 a.m. the • Beaver Line steamer Lake Huron was sighted, and took the Spree in tow at a point 1,000 miles west : of Fastnet. One passenger committed suicide, and : two passengers have been removed to the hospital with broken limbs caused by the rolling of the ship, . and two females became crazy. Mr John Woodham, of Stockbridge, a saloon passenger on board the Spree, in a very graphic narrative, states the tremendous shock of the accident caused the vessel's enormous frame to shake from stem to stern. Men and women rushed to the deck in sleeping garments, and when it was reported that the vessel was rapidly filling the excitement became intense. The officers and men worked in a gallant manner to locate the mischief, but nothing would dispel the fear that the veasel was foundering. The distress of the passengers was acute; in fact, a panic prevailed. Two females were so terrorstricken that they lost their reason, and bad to be placed under restraint ; and subsequently a young man named Paul Kelsen, a second cabin passenger belonging to Vienna, also lost his reason, and committed suicide by jumping overboard. So serious had matters become that Captain Willigerad gave orders to prepare and provision the lifeboats. The passengers from the second-class cabin meanwhile rushed on deck with lifebelts on and reported that water had risen three feet above their cabin deck, and that they were flooded out. In a few hours the water had completely filled the after part of the ship, notwithstanding that the vessel's steam pumps were kept at work. The French and Italian mails were immersed beyond recovery. The captain having quartered the passengers in the saloon, sounded the other compartments to assure the people that there was hope, and, furthermore, explained that, being in the track of trans-Atlantic liners, assistance would soon be at hand. Notwithstanding that the steamer was now very low in the watcr at the stern, the captain's advice had the desired effect, and the removal of everything possible forward was speedily carried out, but much luggage could not be recovered. After drifting all day sail was set at dusk, and considerable headway was made northward. The vessel rolled, however, to an awful extent, and the passengers were thrown violently to the deck. One lady had her arm broken. Rockets were fired all through the night, and fires were burned on deck, with a view to attract the attention of passing vessels, the passengers, who would not retire to bed, anxiously watching with the crew for succour. In this way a dreary night was spent. The next day (Sunday) promised no relief, and Mr Moody, the well-known evangelist, and General Howard read prayers to the weeping assembly, asking to be delivered from their perilous surroundings. On Sunday nights rockets were used without success, and the officers lit a tar barrel on the promenade deck, and this attracted the attention of the steamer Lake Huron. The officers and crew of the Spree acted splendidly, and exh bited great coolness. The passengers will proceed to New York by the Etruria and Havel. The young Austrian who jumped overboard and was drowned, is stated to have left Vienna without his parents' consent, and it was observed that after the breaking of the shaft his mind appeared to become unbalanced.  A Queenstown correspondent, telegraphing on Sunday evening, says:—ln getting up the mail bags from the hold of the disabled liner Spree to transfer them to the Etruria, it was found that 150 were badly damaged, having been soaked through by the water that washed in.