THE DISASTROUS COLLISION OFF CAFE FINISTERRE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1906, 23 September 1884, Page 4

THE DISASTROUS COLLISION OFF CAFE FINISTERRE.

— , * <;reat loss of like. I'herk can lie little doubt now but thnt the collision off Oipe Piiiisterrf on the night of July 21 between the English steamer Lixham and the Cuban mail steamer Gijon has been attended with a great loss of life. Altogether, there were 215 souls on board the two vessels at the time of the collision, and of these 103 only have been accounted for. On July 20 the French steamer the Ville de Valence arrived at the Viatoriu Dock, London, having on board 13 of the survivors, viz , nine Spaniards and four of the crew of the Lax ham, who had been picked up in a gig of! Cape Finisterre. The Englishmen consisted of Sample, the mate ; George Ogden, the second mate ; John Milton, the chief engineer ; and the second engineer, Hart. Milton, who was severely scalded at the time of the collision by the bursting of the steam pipe in the engine-room of the Laxham, was at once removed to the London Hospital in a cab. One of the crew of the Laxham has made the following statement :— About half-past seven on the evening of July 21 we were in a thick fog, with engines going slow and stenm whistle blowing. Our captain and second mate were on the bridge, and a man was on the look-out on the forecastle head. Suddenly we heard the fog horn of another steamer on our starboard bow, and in about live or ten minutes — we still hearing the horn — she ran into us, striking us amidships on the starboard side, and nearly cutting us in two. I, with se\eral others, clambered on board the Spanish t-hip by the cable chain. From the deck of the Gijon we saw Captain Lothian on board the Laxham bend on a rope's end to his wife and child, whom we at once pulled on board the Gijon. Captain Lothian then made himself fast, and as the Laxham was then settling down we had to haul him through the water. After he had been stand - ing some time on the quarter-deck of the Gijon he remarked to mo, " She is settling down j there is nothing for it but the boat 3." I then assisted to cut away the boats, four of which, were already afloat, one of them containing our second mate and four or live others of our crew. Two were so crowded that the gunwales were only a few inches from the water. I was in a boat, which wo cut away from the starboard side, and when we left the Gijon we had on board thirty peagons. We picked up another man, a fireman belonging to the Lax ham. He had been in a lifeboat, which was so deeply laden tint he jumped overboard and bwam to another boat, which was also so deep down that they refused to take him in. Tlie Laxham foundered within three minutes and the Gijon within ten minutes of the collision. When I last saw the Spanish steamer she was going down bow fiist. The qimtcr-dcck was crowded with men and women, and the captain anil other ofh'ceis were standing on the bridge, calm and with folded arms. As her stern rose out of the water we saw a man clinging to the propeller. The fog continued until noon on the •22nd, after which it was clear now and then. About 830 p.m. we saw the Finisterre light, for which wo pullrd, but having no lowlocks or tholepins we could make very little progress. Ahout 2 a.m. on the 23rd the weather again became thick, aiid remained so mote or less until 1 1.30 a. in , when we sighted the steamship Zoe, which picked us up at noon. We had previously seen four steamers and one sailing ship, but we:e unable to attract their attention. We suffered a good deal fioin hunger and thirst, having had neither food nor dunk from Monday evening until we were rescued. On the last day there was a stiff north-easterly breeze and a choppy stn, which kept us hard at work holing, and soaked us to the skin. The crew of the Laxham numbered twenty-seven, and the Spanish steamer had on board from 230 to 2.30 souls. One of the English sailors landed by the Ville de Valence states that the Laxlum was a steamship of 833 tons register. The ship was in charge of Captaiu Lothian, and the crew all told consisted of twenty men. There were also two passengers on board and the captain's wife and child. The Spanish stoamship had on board 113 passengers and seventy-eight of a crew. It was a mail boat, bound from Comma to Cuba. The collision occurred about thirty miles north-east of Cape Finiiterre. He says that the Gijon almost cut the Laxham asunder. Two of the English vessel's boats were smashed by the force of the collision, and the funnel fell and smashed the other two. He was one of those who olambered on loard the Gijon. The narrator and several of the Spanish sailors put off in a boat and searched about in the fog for the Laxham, but she was very difficult to find. At last, however, they jz< t alongside her, and rescued the three members of the crew who had not left her. Among them was the chief engineer, \\ ho was badly scalded through the bursting of a steam pipe. He thought it was al out twenty m imtes after the collision w lion the Englis i vessel sauk. They sighted two other boats which told them that the Gijon had also gone down. Mr. John Milton, the chief engineer of the Laxham," on the anival of the Ville de Valence, was taken to the London Hospital. He is suffering from severe scalds on the face and neck, both arms, and other parts of the body, and remains an in-patient at the hospital. He states : " I was down m the engine-room at the time of the collision, when 1 heard aloud crash. The boiler was forced out of its place, and a steam pipe burst. The room w\s at once filled with steam, and scalding water fell over me. Broken timber and other thing* fell in all directions, and I could hardily grope my way out of the room to get on deck for the blinding clouds of steam and smoke. It was with the gieatest difficulty I extricated myself from the position in which I was placed. Immediately we became aware of the approach of the Gijon our engines were reversed, with the object of avoiding the course of the Spanish vevsel." The Zoe, s., Tagaurog for Bremen, has arrived at Dartmouth and landed boatswain, chaplain, five sailors, and eight passengers of the Gijon, s. f picked up on July 23 ; also two sailors of the Laxham, s., James Lawson and Charles Davis. Loyd'o agent at Corcubion telegraphs that fifteen of the crew and passengers belonging to the Gijon and Laxham have been landed at Muros ; remainder supposed to be drowned. — European Mail.