STARTLING OCCURRENCE AT SEA.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 38, 13 August 1895, Page 2

STARTLING OCCURRENCE AT SE A.

« A LARGE STEAMER COLLIDES WITH AN ICEBERG. [PRXSS ASSOCIATION. | (Received August 13, 10.50 a.m.) Adelaide, This Day. The steamer Port Chalmers, 2667 tons, bound from London to Sydney, has arrived here in a battered condition. Her bowsprit, cutwater, and figurehead are gone, her bow plating is smashed for 20 feet from the waterhne npwards, and Borne boats are stove in. On 27th July, after rounding the Cape, the vessel oame into collision with an immense iceberg. Hundreds of tons of ice fell on tho Btarboard Bide, and the ship was almost capsized. Her bows were stove in, the stem smashed, and as she was making water fast the situation became critical. The boats were swung out preparatory to abandoning the vessel, but by keeping the pumps continuously going and patching up the holes, those on board managed to keep her afloat. Afterwards she met with tempestuous weathor. Altogother, those on board had a moat distressing experience. The steamer was only saved from sinking by the collision bulkheads remaining intaot. She has a large general cargo, inoluding a big consignment of dynamite. Sho is believed not to be seriously damaged. | The Port Chalmers is a comparatively new steamer, having been built in 1891, and is owned by W. Melburn & Co. She is similar in design to the Port Melbourne, which ran for some time in the Calcutta- New Zealand trade under the auspices of the Union Stoam Ship Co., but is about 500 tons less in tonnage. A quantity of ioe was. sighted by the Buahino a few days after leaving Capetown.