TERRIBLE COLLISION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2915, 21 March 1891, Page 2

TERRIBLE COLLISION.

GREAT LOSS OF LIFE

(11Y KLF.CTKK' TKLKOR A PH. — COPYKUIIIT.) Lo.vnox, March is. Nkw.s has just bi'"ii received here that one of the -teaiei rs of the Anchor Line, tin- ("topia.'iTl'i ion-, bound from Genoa to N'ew York, with S.'iO ehicllv Italiiui emigrants, bound for the Slates, collided with, the ironclads Anson and Rodney, anchored oft' Gibraltar. The Anson's rnin tore a hole thirty feet long in the I'tooia, and the water came in so fast thai in fen minutes the ill-fa.ted vessel '-a nl; with all her passengers aboard. Five hundred and seventy persons perished in the waves.

A number of the vessels of the Channel Squadron were anchored in the vk'inity of the collision, and tlin boats from tho ironclads rescued large numbers of the passengers. In the confusion the launch of the ironclad Immortalite was smashed and several sailors were drowned. The use. of the electric light by the men-of-war enabled scores to be rescued, who would otherwise, in the darkness of the night, have perished. During the night a. Swedish corvette cruising about the seem • of the disaster, rescued many persons, The Anson and Rodney are two of the largest boats of the Channel Squadron. The boats of ths Anchor Line are all splendid vessels, thoroughly equipped, and are engaged in regular trade with the States. The Utopia, is one of the largest and bestappointed of the. company's Hoot. March 19.

Kurt bur particulars received from Gibraltar state that a, strong current was running ut. the spot where the warships were lying. and swept tho ill-fated Utopia right across the Ansou's bows.

A tierce gale wns also raging at tho time, and the gallant efforts made by the British sailors to save the lives of those who were struggling in the wilier lire said to have been such us to have rarely been witnessed before.