THE PAVONIA IN PERIL.

TEN DAYS IN THE TROUGH OF

THE SEA.

BOILERS ADRIFT.

The standing luck of the Cunard Company, wiiicii ior more years than one c^s to look back upon aas carried passengers to and fro across xiie Atlantic b* scores of- thousand*^per annum aucfean yet boast tnat tuey have never lost a single life by wreck or other misMp at tica, uass ueen proved once agaia. Their fine 3-camer Tavonia left Liverpool ior i^os.on on Jan. 24 with but a small complement of passengers, some fifty all told, and a crew of 113. Once out of the Mersey the good ship met hard weather, but nothine to cause her captain anxiety though' perhaps it made her engineer swear to see his coal disappearing at a rate which ought to have meant 400 odd miles a day, when the steamer was only doing a trifle over half that mileage and made the passengers wish heartily that it were possible to 'get out and walk.' It was bad enough, at ! any rate, to make them wish they were safely back in the 'good old town'—as Liverpudlians affectionately I term their native city. But they were Lto experience far worse samples of the j-angrv might of the deep, deep sea. i The;:Pavonia, when six days out, was struck by a hurricane, and for four and twenty hours wallowed in the trough of the sea, unable to make any i headway against the tempest. On the following- day, February Ist ; the I weather moderated a triile, and the steamer made a few knots towards her destination. But just as the passengers were congratulating themselves that the worst of the weather was, done with, the tempest renewed its fury, and the captain was again compelled to lay to all day. The results of the second hurricane, however, were far more serious than the passengers were made aware of, for at 3 o'clock on the afternoon of Friday, 3rd, the boilers came adrift, and the engines were, perforce, stopped. The consequences were most .unpleasant for all on board the helpless vessel, the heavy seas breaking over her almost without intermission. On Saturday, February 4th,,the B.ritjsh steamer Colorado hove in sight, and was immediately signalled for assistance. ' Her captain managed, after a long fight with the elements, to get tow-ropes aboard the Pavonia. and on Sunday morning commenced to haul the big ship along. Not many miles had been compassed, however, before the tow-ropes broke under the strain, carrying-away the Colorado's bits and rigging. As a towing machine the Colorado's commander signalled that his ship was no further use but he indicated that he would stand by until the morning. -In the ni<*ht, however, the gale drove the vessefs miles apart, and -when morning broke the Pavonians looked out on a scene of angry desolation, unrelieved by so much as a smoke trail on the horizon. For the next two days the Cunarder was the plaything of the elements, and that her condition was desperate was manifest to every soul aboard. Her boilers were all adrift and rolling about in the hold, and through the broken off sea cocks the water was pouring in by gallons. Eight gallantly did the ofheers and crew labour night and day to secure the errant boilers, but it was fearfully slow and dangerous work, and every sea that came aboard made the ultimate fate of the vessel and her living freight seem all the more certain. Three boats were swept from her decks, the port rail and galley carried away, and the bakehouse stove injjy gigantic waves. For another day the. Puvonia drifted hopelessly,, and though Captain Atkin and his officers kept up a brave front, moat of those on board reckoned themselves as lost. On February 9th a gleam of hope came to; the storm-tossed Pavonians in the shape of the steamer Horatio, of

Liverpool. But the Horatio was herself badly damaged, and to the Pavonia's urgent signals for assistance could only answer 'Cannot assist.' Next day another steamer, the Wolviston, of Hartlepool, was sighted, and beingmade acquainted with the Pavonia's pitiful plight, hurried up to take her in tow. For six hours the Wolviston tugged the liner along, but near midnight a staggering sea caught the Pavonia on the port bow, and with a report as of a gun the big cable parted. The Wolviston, however, stood by the drifting ship all night, and all next day, but all attempts to renew the connection between the vessels were unavailing, and on Sunday a terrible gale sprang up, which caused them to lose sight of each other, and caused the Pavonians to give way to despair. The captain of the Wolviston, however, had no intention of abandoning them to their fate. He searched for the missing liner, and finding her on Monday morning, stood by her until the towing cables could be again fastened, which task was accomplished the following morning. The weather happily moderated, and the cables holding, the Wolviston managed to tow the disabled liner to the Azores, arriving there on Saturday, February 18th, to the unspeakable jojr of the passengers and the infinite relief of everybody interested in passengers and crew. So far as people in England were con-, cernerl, nothing had been heard of the Pavonia for ten days, and in view of the fearful weather reported by ships arriving at Liverpool from the States, most men looked upon the ship as lost.