FATAL COLLISION IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 111, 2 May 1876, Page 4

FATAL COLLISION IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL.

'lit) (M«JA"dit/si March g.)*' ; ' A dreadful collisibfa between two steamers occurred at -Dover on the afternoon of February 16, resulting in. the sinking of ! the Glasgow stearoeiStratholvde, Captain , Eaton. . The Strathclyde i_ -an iron screw-steamer, of 1255 tons register,. 180-horee power, and belonged to 'Messrs: Burrell and' Sons, of Glasgow. .She, left London on the 16 th Feb.',; with a general cargo for Bombay, had landed her pilot in Dover Bay, and was about, to proceed on her journey, when she was run into by the Bremeia.jSjeftt^er. Franconia; bound from i Hamburg/. to \\ Havre and New York. She was so seriously damaged that she went ,dfiW.n.finf7abont 11 -fathoms of water a mile from the Admiralty Pier. As the Strathclyde sank, her boilers appear to have burst, as the sound of an e^ploeion was distinctly heard from the shore^ andi/.a cloud of steam was observed to arise from, the vessel before ehe disappeared. Boats, were immediately lowered, and it is. believed tbat 4 men and S, women were saved. There were on. board a crew of. ; and 30 passengers.' i The' chief mate off thfe; Strathclyde and 4 of the crew saved theo-tfefyes, 'by gbtting on. bqard.of the , Franc^pia, and they .were subsequently landed nin.Doveriby the steam tug Pal- , merston, and are. now at the Dover National Sailors' Home. The Franconia proceeded to the Downs, her bow seriously damaged. At thaTnqtießt, whichi Was opened on tbe 19th February, John Dpdd Eaton. depos-d^'-^fdllbwlB :— I waal master.pf the S'tto^'dW" Sbe belpoged tp. theport of Glasgow, and was on a voyage from London, to Bombay with a general , cargojaud. -j passengers. -Her gross re-, gister was 1953 tons. She was fully laden, and had 23 passengers. I have lost the'jp_-_enger ; lißt. ; It went down in the ship. William Bussell and Thos. Quinlan werej first-class/ passengers, James Sullivan was boatsman< I have seen the,three bodies -lying at the Port; Armß^and^ifeboat House, at thie north! end, and I recognise tbem as the bodies of those 'l-hav'e mentioned. My ship's complement, including myself and my offic er*ul*J®JUntedLfo 47. We left the^ Victoria Docks on Fißb. 17, at 3 o'clock, under steam, in. charge of a Trinity pilot. We passed through tha Downs at ttbout^^p'cloc^f.in the same afternoon. hVAtn the -time of the collision I was ohU thei bridge, together with the chief -officer, 'John Bevan. ;We had ; communication .with the engine-mom from the fridge by telegraph. The Whole of ..the hands were on; deck forward, looking but. As we were leaving Dover we saw a large steamer, steering down -Uhe **bhWn_C about W.S.W., about 4 miles astern. She was going faster than we were, and overhauling us rapidly; 'We were steaming about 9 knots an hour. She came up with us abouj; two points abaft pur port beam. wbb about 4*12, distance from uay&i quarter to half a mile. Seeing her come so close, to us, I" ordered 'thV course to be changed to bring pqr,, bow from the eteamer and more tp wards ithe shore. This order was executed On looking round again at the steamer, I saw her coming roun,d with her helm ported,, which brought her head towards us on our port beam. I then, ordered ,my helm bard aport, which would bring her head more. away „fr om the other . steamer towards the land., I exclaimed, * on gi ving, jthef second order, " Wbat is she going fto do ? She is trying to run us down." At this time she had considerably neared us. I saw that a collision was almost inevitable, and in about thirty seconds she 'struck us about 4 >- feet* * abaft the. engine-room bulk-hefid ( i ! | /JThe'-. ahip was 33,6 feet in length. ;^.;To the after hatch is 50 or 60 j feet from |h,e stern. Tho blow struck us between tbe funnel and the mainmast. I-'cahnbt say, whether the other steamer was; going at full speed; she struck us with great force. We oould not increase pur .speed; we were going as fast als* we could go. We were at tbe tim^. about two/ and a-half miles from the Admiralty Pier. She Btruck us stem on between thei beath andf the quarter. The result of the blow was to cut ihtdf our vessel about four feet, the hole. of> -the upper part was about' 2 feet w^de*, j..-:Sbe_ ; was. very sharp. Direotly she struck-, usshe.backedout : again, and tlie water came in. She again struck,. up, abreast ithe. mainmast, making another large hole. I imagine she rebounded, I telegraphed to the engine-room to stop, ran off the 'bridge to see the e&tent of tha damage, and ordered the boats to be ., got ready. After giving the prder I saw the ship wa3 sinking."' 1 ! could see her cargo through all the cuts. . The, passengers, were all on deck, and. asked me if there was any danger. I told* them the ship would sink, but they need nPt be alarmed, as there was ample '■ time to get our boats out to save, thera all. Seeing her stern was sinking so fast, I told the ladies to follow me to the bridge. We had four life-boats on board, two large and two small, swung to the davits. All we had to do was to swing thera outside. I put ail the lady passengers (fifteen) and the stewardess into the port lifeboat, which was large enough to hold forty. A number of thfe' crew and most of the gentleman 1 passengerß made a rush and got into her. The boat wbb then too heavy to swing out. I appealed to the men to come put and let the ladies have the first,cha-{c_r Several of the crew and male passengers .apd, four female passengers came ouf, , We then swung •the boat 6'up T abd lowered her. Irame\v:.y \.i'.* i '•••'• !: '- '" •'_.''

diately after the ship's stern sunk completely under water. The swell of the sea filled the boat. lam quite sure the ropes were cast off. , The, boat immediately turned oyer. The boat was from 30 to 33 feet long, and 4£ beam. The people who were ihfher wet-e.all thrown into the sea. The second ; offi- , eer then got the gig ; out on the starboard quarter. That officer and four r pf: the: crew got into her, and she got 'clear.- They assisted those iv the. water. .The ladies who had got out of j the first boat got into the , starboard I lifeboat.-^ The stern sank lower ; : a huge sea struck her and came over the bridge. Some of (he gentlemen who i "were on the bridge were washed overboard, as well as the boat with tbe ladies. Myself, the second engineer, and a fireman, were the only three left in the ship, and we ultimately jumped into the sea. This all took place in a yei*y (ew minutes. Tbe other vessel was about a quarter of a mile off on. our starboard quarter apparently steering for! Dover, and .did not lower any boat or ; render any assistance. ' About a minute or so after. I left the bridge she disappeared altogether. Everyone except the four in the gig was ih the sea. I had two ladies with me. I was holding on to a plank, ahd assisted them to hold on to it. One died at the time; and the other sank about five, minutes, before, a boat came to our assistance, the; Early Morn, by which I -was rescued. Before I jumped into the seaf I looked round to see what assistance was near, and saw a Deal lugger bearing; down on us, also a barque, and a small steamer, apparently 1 a tug, off Dover Pier. Ido not know whether shejcame to our assistance. My watch stopped at f twenty- two minutes past four, which I suppose was when I jumped into tbe sea as tbe Bhip went down. When the Deal luggericame to me she was nearly full of- -the people she jhad rescued. I was nearly the last who was/ saved. I had been: about; forty minutes fa the water. j ;I was very nearly gone wben picked up, and but for the Deal boatmen we must bave all been lost. No assistance whatever waß; rendered from the steamer that ran lus dowh; not even a' rope wai' thrown. I saw the barque Queen of Nations heave to whilst . I was in the water, and saw a white boat lowered froni her. I believe she picked tip some. I saw the name, of the other vessel on her bow. It wbb the Franconia. I saw tbat she had the North German colors hoisted. The Early Morn picked up twenty-tbree alive and one jdead. I was landed with others from; the Early Morn.. The bow. of the Franconia was about twelve to sixteen feet i above our side. I should think she was a 3000-ton ship. She was of iron, land light. Everything pn board the BMp is lost. Nothing whatever is* aavecj. About six minutes elapsed before ithe stern eank; * the bow three or four minutes after. On February 24, Mr Mercer, the : borough coroner for Deal, summed up the evidence at some length. The jury then retired,; and returned to court with ;the following verdict; — " We find that Bussell, Thomas Quintan, and James Sullivan came to their deathja by immersion in the sea, consequent on the -inking of tbe steamer Strathclyde, and by the Bhock to' their' system and after exposure? : ahd secondly, that the sinking of' the steamer Strathclyde was caused by the negligence, gross mismanagement \ and reckless navigation on the part of the person in charge of the Franc'onia at the time of the collision, and that the person so in charge is guilty of manslaughter. The jury express! their strongest condemnation of the conduct of tbe person so in charge of; the Franconia for steaming away from the scene of the occurrence; an«_ leaving the crew and passengers of tb,_Strathclyde to their fate, apparently without rendering any assistance. The I jury cannot. .refrain. -from, including ip their Condemnations the conduct ol the persons in' charge of the .Palmerston tug, o| Dover^who might,* if tbeyhad been sp disposed, have rendered .succour .td the 'distressed.'' l! f ' Mr.jStubbs, on behalf of the captain •• of the Franconia, applied to the c bro per ; to alio |v bail. The coroner Boid that he'wo^ld do so provided Captain Kuhn ; was prepared to find bail for £500, and ' two sureties of £250 each. ' • •. * The Times. remarks that the verdict, at the inquest held at Deal on the three lives ilqst by the sinking of the Strathclyde !aqd the; expression of opinio a appended to it; are. in substantial Bgr' je „ ment with.the evidence which has r iffen as yet | brought forward. The t ole transaction, ais it was related at the Deal inquest, is so strange, as " we ji B 8 so horrible, that we may well ' ro pethat the coming inquiry by the Board of Trade .will tell us ,r w lhi mon about it, «nd will, pc^ ftpß ? represent It in another light. 0 n thfi other hand, we must .Uor gre at /-weight to' the story told by t fa e; ca ptai* of the Strath: a f\ P or - oboratef, i by the passengers ana th-f j; crew, a>jd accepted by a jury i jotp-prising skille J professional sailors, I -a such gross Negligence as that itaputed to the 'Franconia, or anything .?. ifc ' . can ( Je proved against a ship' Bailing in tl je narrow seas, it is only JUBt tbat tb ose in charge of her. should be held : cri ra i nn ayn y responsible for its I results.^ J. t j B painful to think that I mere shr JU id be any oc casion, in this I matter, to seek excuses for our own country/n,,,,. but the Btt , ry 0 f the i OBB 01 »ne. Strathclyde, must , it is to be I wared, continue to be dh icreditable to usi Whatever deductions w e may make trcm it in its present fo rm. It will Beed to be explained k haj -v, in calm

weather, and in the full light of day, a vessel went slowly down almost within hail of an English ooast, and did not atj once receive the utmost assistance that^houldV-bei sent out to h_r; ' That, the occurrence should have been' watched from . the shore at Dover as a mere eight, ih Which the spectators had no; part iv their pwu tf> play, is so strange that the Ti-meg beforehand would: have pronounced it impossible, and is even jnow: most -unwilling to think it true. It is to be hoped tbat the representatives of the Board of Trade will address themselves atten- . tively to these points, and will tell us the real facts of the ease, whatever thiy may prove to be.