The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, MARCH, 21, 1891. The Loss of the Utopia

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 115, 21 March 1891, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, MARCH, 21, 1891. The Loss of the Utopia

The wreck of the steamer Utopia, J bound from Genoa to New York, by < colliding with the warship Anson, is one of the most dreadful wbich has J been recorded for many years. Out of ' eight hundred and fifty pera*.i*s on j board, five- hundred and seventy were . drowned Later. telegrams inform us j that a strong current *as running at ] the- spot where the ships of war were tmeho-red, which, aided by a fierce ,g

gale blowing, swept the doomed Utopia right across the bows of the Anson, * the ram of which tore thirty feet from ' her. side, so that she filled and sank l in a few minutes. Tbe gale and tbe f darkness had no terrors for the gal- t lant British sailors, who, aided by the £ electric light, went in the boats of the fleet to save the unfortunates who < were madly struggling in the water, and succeeded in rescuing mauy from an ocean grave. To our sorrow we learn, however, that several of these brave fellows lost their own lives by the swamping of a launch belonging t to the Imraortalite. The crew of a , Swedish corvette, wbich was lying near, worked side by side with the Englishmen, and the gallant Swedes did good work in this terribly dangeroas task of aiding suffering humanity, and saved many valuable lives. But, what an awful scene it must have been in the stifling cabins of the Utopia, when the rushing waters extinguished the lights, and the darkness of night added horror to the dangers of shipwreck. All these people, with the exception of the officers and crew of the ship, must necessarily have been unused to the sea and its terrors. Being such a short distance oa their voyage they. had not yet time to get into the ways " of those who go down to the sea in ships," therefore at the supreme moment of danger would be completely helpless, and unable to aid themselves or assist those nearest and dearest to them. The ten minutes which passed between the moment of collision and tbat awful moment when the vessel disappeared with her living freight beueath the waves, did not allow the poor wretches, many of whom would necessarily be cowering down below for shelter from the fierceness of the storm, time to ru9h on deck to seek a refuge on board of the Anson. Besides, terror would paralyse many of them, for even the boldest will quail before a new and unfamiliar danger such as this must have been to such as they. The whole picture must have been heartrending. It is a matter for thankfulness, how ever, tbat the calamity was in no way attributable to any fault of the English men-of-war, and that the brave fellows who man England?s bulwarks did all that men could do to assist the sufferers.