EARLIER MESSAGES

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10610, 17 April 1912, Page 5

EARLIER MESSAGES

OLYMPIC AM) BALTIC TO THE RESCUE.

TITANIC'S MESSAGES END : ABRUPTLY.

(Received April 16, 9.5 a.m.)

LONDON; April'ls;.-.J The Titanic struck an- Sunday evening- '.'-'-" ■■' : There were on board 1380 passengers, (including 300 in the first-class, and a crow of 650. The Yerginia received tho Titanic's appeal when at a'distance of 170 miles. The Titanic's sister ship, the Olympic, and the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company's liner Baltic ha"vc also gone to the rescue, but it is doubtful whether they 'will arrive an time. .The'last signals receh-ed were blurred and ended abruptly. Tho women were'taken off in the ship's lifeboats. The weather is calm. The-passengers included Mr W. T. Stead (editor of the Review of Reviews), Joseph Bruce Ism ay (of the Isrciay, Imrio Company), and the chairman of the directors of the White' Star Line, Colonel J. J. Astor, and several' Ntew York bankers.

HALIFAX, April 15. All the. passengers left the Titanic at 3 o'clock this morning.

AN IMMENSE ICEFIELD

TITANIC WAS STEAMING SLOWLY.

(Received April 16. 8.5 a.m.)

LONDON, Opril 15

Various liners have recently encountered an icefield a hundred miles long'and thiflty-five miles broad off groundbanks. There have been many .perilous voyages The Knfif Niagara wa« twice holed, and other vessels have been damaged. The 'Montreal Star states that the Titaniic was steaming ior Halifax slowly. '

DESCRIPTION OF THE VESSEL. ONE OF THE LARGEST IN THK U . WORLD. The Titanic is one of the two largest vessels in the imrid; the other bong h«r sister ship, the Olympic The Titanic wae launched on May 31st last from the .yards of Messrs Harlaaa and Wolff, in Belfast. Particulars oj the measurement, tonnage, aoidspeed of the vessel «re:-Le«gth orar »H, 882 ft Dim; lm£s< Wtwee>i perpetfaiott-

lars, 850 f t; breadthy extreme, 92ft. 6m; depth, moulded, from top of beam, bridge deck, to keel, 73ft 6in; gross tonnage, about 45,000 tons; loud draught, 34fb 6in; displacement, about GO,OOO tons; indicated horse-power of leciprocating engines, 30,000; shaft horse-power of turbine, 16,000; speed. 21 knots. The stern frame.of th© ves-

j sel weighs 70 tons, the side propeller brackets 73.1- tons, and the forward boss arms 45 tons. : The total weight of t the rudder is 101-i tons. Tho centre ( bower anchor weighs Vol tens, and each of tho side anchors eight tons. I Both the Titanic ancf the Olympic | have accommodation) for 750 firstI class, 550 second-class, and 1100 thirdclass passengers. There are ten decks, and on seven' —'promenade, bridge, shelter, saloon, upper, middle and lower —passengers are carried. On the five decks from the upper to the promenade first-class passengers are quartered; on- the middle, upper and saloon decks second-class passengers ;- :md on the lower deck, forward and aft, and the middle, upper, and saloon decks aft,, third-class passengers. There are 30. suites of rooms on th©, bridgo deck and.SJ) on the shelter deck. The second class passengers are liko tho first-class on an ordinary ship. There are magnificent staircases, gorgeous saloons, magnificent dining rooms and restaurants, lounges and smoke rooms, baths, and gymnasia, tennis courts and flower gardens. In. respect of their provision for tho accommodation of passengers, says 'The Syren., the Olympic and the Titanic are like nothing else afloat. They are too splendid for words. One has to go aboard and wander through their long straight corridors and up and down their grand staircases in older to get an idea of them. s They emibody the lessons of the vast experirice which Messrs Harland and Wolff have had in the construction of Atahmtic liners. They are the biggest ships afloat and the most sujnptuously provided. They represent the latest practice,in shipbuilding, and they are propelled by means of a combination of reciprocating engine and steam turbine which is novel in marine engineering. The sister ship, Olympic, met with an accident on iher initial voyage. Sho colided with H.M.S. Hawke in the Solent, and suffered 1 serious damage. Tho Titanic cost £1,500,000 to con- , struct-.'

GRAVEYARD OF MANY VESSELS

CAPE RACE. '" ' ' ' '"' '' 'fc'icisS,- •• ■■'" '■■} ■'. ..'. •;■ ,\ The danger to,, stopping, of'fogs off the coast of Newfoundland is notorious.!'. .Many... fine vessels, have gone ashore' in "the. vicinity of Cape Race. Tliere 'is a lighthouse on. tlie Cape. The tower is lOOfb high,-and the light is visible nineteen miles. Attached to the station is a powerful wireless installation. .. Tho following aro ;the names of some of the. vessels which have been wrecked in the vicinity of Gape Race: Bay State, Scottish King, Assyrian, Loyalist, Lusitania, Furret Bay, Daniara, Mary Hough.. Hibernia .(Allan liner), ran ashore in 190-1, but was" got off, 1905; Elixir, 1906; Leopard,. 1907; Anglo-Saxon, 1863, lost in a fog, . 237 lives lost; Rhinderin, ashore 1893; Tolesby 1908 ; City of Philadelphia., 1854;' Arctic, by collision with. Vesta. Columbia (Canard) ; Arfica (Cunard), struck and beached; Amethyst, 1911; Germania. 1860.

WHITE STAR LINE

STEAMERS LOST

■ Tha.ifolipwing casua.lties;.'have,,occurred to vessels of this' Company: - ''Atlantic, 1873, w-reckecf off Sombre, about 481 lives lost: , Suevic, stranded on coast of Corawall, 1907, part got off, part abandoned. » •Medic, -collision' with tho Turbo, 1907. Baltic, on fire, New York, 1908. Olympic, collision '-with HJVr.S. Hawke, 1911. Oceanic, on fire, 1907. Georgic, in collision "with and sunk the Finance, off Sandy Hook, 1908. Republic, collision with Florida, 1909. Naronic, 1893. Germanic, sank at her moorings at Now York during a -blizzard ; was coaling at tlie time, .subsequently raised.

COLLISIONS WITH ICEBERGS

SOME KNOWN CASUALTIES.

Concordia, collided with an iceberg in the Straits of Belle Isle in August, 1899, and had bar haw 'very badly stove in.

IrTjOkni Riitledge, ''collided with an iceberg 1856, Avcnt dawn, many lives lost.

Port Cshai.me.rs, 1895. Beva, barque, 1877, lost bowsprit and gear. •Columbia (Anchor Line), collided with iceberg off Sable Island, about 200 miles from Capo Race; bow damaged, forebeak filled with water; several passengers wer« injured. • Canadian (Allan Line), struck a hold of ico off Belle Me anil foundered, 35 lives lost, 1861. Other vessels which iluno suffered are ■— Kronsprinz Wilhelm ; Wellington, ship; Arizona, 1879; Montcalm, barque, 1880; Rotterdam, 1896; Isabel;, 1881; Kndght Bachelor, 1896; John Brigfc.h 1896 ; Furbor, 1897 ; Addingtoni, 1898; Concordia, 1899; City of Berlin, 1900; Gratia, 1900 ; Hedwig, 1903; Portia, 1892; Anchoria; Grand Lake, 1899; Alderuey, 1899; Hatasu, 1900; Gascoyne, 1898; John Rutledge, Atlantic mail, 1854; Anglo-Peruvian., 1906; Lake Ghamplm, 1909; Nairnshire, 1897 ; Vicksberg, 1875 ; Notting Hill, 1883; Gloucester City, 1883; lowa, 1891; Moldavia, 1896. In the oase of the steamer Ariaona, she struck on an ipeberg whilst going

full speed in a fog. Her bows were stove in for some 30ft, but the smoothness of tho sea and the strength of her water-tight compartments enabled her to reach St. John's, New'foundland, in .safety, 1879. Tho Naronic was one of those boats whoso fate the insolence of the sea keeps secret. She left the Mersey full laden i'o.- New York, and weeks after the. first whisper of disaster came sifting in from the Atlantic. One of her lifeboats was found drifting bottom upwards on tho water. The same day another lifeboat was found, and then, five mouths later, a third was picked up. All were empty. Therewas much speculation as to how the Naronic met her fate, and men who read the rebus of the sea were of opinion that she hod been overwhelmed by a mighty wave, and dropped in the sea like a plummet.