Year: 1873

the Loeb Earn WAS seen in time 10 avoid the COZ
lison. but that the officer on the Vile du Hsvre
miscalculating her distance or speed. beDe'eo ne
could run across her bows. and vas cut down I'D
trying. An incident in my own experience may
throw some light on the question how collisions with
French ship may sometimes occur in seemingly
impossible circumstances.


In the Autumn Of 1869 ! was passenger on one OF
the steamers OF the well-known KessogH." I'm
p<riales from Marseiles to Alexandra. We found
ourselves one moonlight evening making our way
through the Stats of Messins II was light enough
to distinguish ship some miles of, the shores OF
Italy and Sicily were clearly visible, there was no
wind, the still, and were going about ten
knots A few of us who were on deck saw brig
some two miles distant standing across our bows.
The moonlight falling her sails made her pretty
object. As the steamer and the brig drew nearer.
we rather wondered that the steamer neither
slowed her engines changed her eourse,
for it was plain that the two
coming very close. few minutes later
the brig struck the steamer amdships with crash
which brought down on deck all the canvas she bad
set-and she was under full sail-with yards and
pretty much all her top hamper. Luckily for us.
the brig at the last moment had put her
helm hard mp, and struck rs at sn
angle instead of bows on; otherwise we might have
had hole in our side like the unhappy Vile du
Havre Our engines were stopped amid ehorns OF
shrieks and from the brig, whose deck, 50
far as could Judge everybody had beer either
killed or wounded by the falling tackle. The leap
tain of the steamer and the passengers rushed mp
from below, and for the next two hours we had an
assembly nearly as noisy as the one now at Ver-
sailles, though bettertempered. After IL Lad been
settled that not going to the bottom, and that
IN hri, folo
inquiry arose how such a thing could happen On
such night. 1t turned out that the officer of tho
deck and all the other officers below. that the
watch was asleep in the bows and that the iDdivid-
ual on the bridge in charge of the steamer was a
quartermaster so near-sighted that he could Mt
ten yards front of him. and of course be had not
seen the brig at all.


The sworn statement Of the captain Of the Villo
du Havre to the Collector of Customs at Cardiff ~
published. 1t leaves us pretty much where we were
in respect knowledge of the of the col
lision. Capt. Surmont asleep in his cabin on
deck, woke without notice just before the collision,
though his strict and written orders were TO he
advised of the least incident that occurred saw
the Loeb Earn fright ahead" as he left bis cabin,
rushed to the bridge and reached it just the colis
ion took place my ships helm says Capt Surhont,
+" had been put hard a-starboard, but We conld not
clear Uhen the helm was put hard a starboard,
the captain does not, probably cannot say. Andrew
Enault seaman on the Vile du Havre, who WAS
one of the watch on deck says that when he fnt
saw the Loeb Earn it was "by her figure III the
water" which seems TO mean her shadow ID the
moonlight He saw no lights till after she mad got
astern then saw them The Vile du HAVE had
three lights burning brilliantly. II is just as much
as ever matter of conjecture how long before the
collision the Loeb Earn was sighted from the Vile
du Havre, and whether it was then 600 late 20 do
anything effectual or whether the lights were seen
in time and the wrong thing done by the steamer.
AS to the Loeb Earn, she was according 10 the re-
ported testimony of Capt. surmont, going close
hauled and she had right TO the road whether she
was or not. q. ". -