A TERRIBLE COLLISION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1898, 30 May 1889, Page 4

A TERRIBLE COLLISION.

Recently news was received at Dover of one of the most serious disasters which has ever occurred in connection with the steam packet service across the English Channel. The Comtesse de Elandre started from Oatend at a quarter past ten on Eriday morning for Dover, with twenty passengers and seven bags mails. At midday the Princess Henriette, a larger and faster boat than the Comtesse de Eiaudre, left Dover for Osiend with fifteen passengers on board. The weather was thick at the time, but not, as it is said, so dense as to render navigation very difficult had all possible precautions been taken. At about a quarter to two in the afternoon the officers of the Comtesse de Elandre saw the Princess Henriette looming through the mist, and before the course of the vessel could be altered the Princess Henriette crashed into the Comtesse deElandre’s port sponson, cutting clean through the paddle-box into the engine-room. The fore part of the vessel broke right away and sank, the boilers exploding directly after the collision. There was terrible excitment among those on deck, but the disaster was so sudden that passengers and crew alike were struggling in the water before they had realised fully what had occurred. A more lamentable spectacle of a wreck has rarely been seen, ih© bridge, on which stood the Captain and Eirst Mate, was blown clear away from the ship by the explosion. The fore-part of the ship had dissappeared, and the stern of the vessel had capsized, and those who were not killed by the explosion were struggling in the water. Ihe Princess Henriette, which had sustained comparatively little damage, took instant steps to save life. Boats were lowered, and several persons were picked up, many in the most exhausted condition, after a prolonged immersion. One man saved his life by clinging to a parcel post basket. Prince Jerome Bonaparte, who was on board the ill-fated vessel was picked up by one of the Heariette’s boats, as was also his valet, but the latter was so exhausted that he died soon after being rescued. The list of those missing comprises three passengers, the captain, the mate, five stokers, three engineers, and one sailor. After remaining on the spot for some time the Captain of the Princess Henriette seeing that the stern part of Comtesse de Elandre still floated, took the wreck in tow, and proceeded to Ostend, where, after careful steaming, he arrived at half past one on Tuesday morning. Previous to entering the harbor he cast off the wreck, which was taken in tow by a tug, but it sank directly afterwards in deep water.