ST. LAWRENCE TRAGEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15649, 1 July 1914, Page 11

ST. LAWRENCE TRAGEDY

\ DETAILS OF THE DISASTER, PATHETIC INCIDENTS. NEWS BY CANADIAN MAIL. The Canadian newspapers to hand by yesterday's mail contained detailed accounts of the sinking of the Empress of Ireland in the St. Lawrence River on May 20. The crash occurred 150 mDes from Quebec. The liner wan heading for the sea, and the collier Storstadt was coming in from it " It all happened so quickly," said one survive*,. "that we did not really know what was going on, and nobody had time to cry 'women first.' The stewards did not have time to arouse the people from thair berths. Those who heard the frenzied calls of tie officers for the passengers to hurry on deck lost no timo in obeying them, rushing up from their cabins in scanty attire. They piled into { the boats, which were rapidly lowered, and were rowed away. Many who waited to dress were drowned. "An attempt was made to lower the boats on the starboard side. The first one was thrown clear, and the sailors in it were thrown out. A boat was overturned. Then some of tho port boats were flung across the deck by the list of the ship) and several people were killed. They were crashed to death against the railings.

" There was no disorderliness among the crow. The captain and other officers remained on the bridge until the vessel sank. It was just 17 minutes from the time she was rammed until she sank bolow the surface. Comparatively only a few were able to obtain the lifebelts, and practically all were forced out in their nightclothes into the icy water. Several hundred clung to the ship until she sank, holding to the rail until the vessel canted over so far that it was necessary to climb over th' rail and sit on tho plates on the side. Then, as she heeled over further, they slid down into the water, and there were several hundred souls swimming around screaming for help, shrieking as they felt themselves being carried under, and uttering weird moans of terror undisguised."

THE CHIEF OFFICER'S DEATH.

SWEPT FROM HIS POST.

Two of the survivors gave a reporter a:i account of how the chief officer, Mr. Steele, died. He was at his post to the last and was killed by the tumbling wreckage

"Each man has his post at a certain boat and his was at, boat No. 8, on the port side. Tho ship was struck on the starboard, but an effort was made to launch the port side boats at once after the collision. Tho list of the vessel, however, made it impossible to get these boats away. Wo went over to the port side. 'No good, boys, on this side,' said he, 'go to the starboard.' We went there, but the chief officer remained at No. 8 directing passengers until ho wjis swept from bis post feithsr by falling ropes, boxes, or perhaps by a boat, for the starboard boat* broke loose and did a lot of damage to life. No one actually saw Steelo disappear."

JEW 0? THE VICTIMS DROWNED.

KILLED BY FALLING WRECKAGE.

A telegram despatched from Quebec four days after the accident says :— More than nine-tenths of the victims of the Empress of Ireland disaster, whose ; bodies have bson recovered, were not drowned; thev were killed in most cases i instantly or subsequently, by falling wreckage and debris. This statement, made last night by the officials at the , mortuary pier following investigation by j the embalmers and .undertakers, accounts ; for the large number of the dead bodies , which survivors have repeatedly main- j tained were floating in tho water al! j about them. MISS TOWNSEEKD'S SWIM. HELPING THE DISTRESSED. Mr. Clinton K. Burt, manager of a motor-car factory, told tho story of the rescue of Miss Townsbend, of Blenheim, as follows I swam along towards the lights of the collier, and then a girl appeared in the water beside me. She asked me to help her. Just then I saw a suit-' case floating by. It was empty, and I told the girl to put her arms around my neck, while I grabbed on to the suitcase., In this way we reached the vicinity of the Storstad, and wore picked up." The girl was Miss T. Townsbend, of New Zealand. Seen in the special train, says •a Quebec correspondent, Miss Townsbend seemed none the worse for her terrible experience. Her aunt, Mrs. Price, was among the missing, but, despite her bereavement, she busied herself with those who were Buffering, and hor sympathy and kindness did much to soothe several ladies during the long journey to Quebec. ORPHAN OffILBBEN. MANY ADOPTION OFEEBS. Among the children saved from the wreck wore little Florence Barber, whose parents were drowned; Grace Harrigan, daughter of the leader of the Salvation Army Band, who also lost both pa'rents, and Helen O'Ua.ra, of Toronto, a child of 10, whose father was drowned while trying to save her. Little Helen O'Hara said : "My papa awakened mamma and brought me upon deck. When the ship began to sink he took me under one arm and jumped Into the water with me. He then began to swim with me and placed me on a piece of wood. I did not see my papa after 'that. I swam with the piece of wood and soon I came to a boat and was taken in." " Where did yon learn to swim?" asked one of the group listening to the child's story- " I took lessomi at Haverhill Collcgo," she said. Asked bow she was saved t Grade Hannigan replied : " Oh, I saved myself!" The little child was entirely unconcerned, apparently not realising what she | had been through. No lifeboat was near when she was thrown from the Empress and she sank at once, but rose to the surface in a momer.t, saw a piece of wood near her and seized it. I<ater sho was pulled into a lifeboat. She had been benumbed to the point of exhaustion by the cold water. The Canadian Pacific Railway officials here are being flooded with letters from every part of the United States and Canada in which applications for the adoption of little Florence Barbour are made.

The company, however, decided to communicate with the relatives. On their decision the matter will rest, and then It is felt that if anyone has a claim on the child, it is R. W. Crillen, who comes from Silverton, 8.C., where the little girl lived. It was Air. Crillen who took tho child when the ship sank beneath them, and, placing her arms around his neck, swam to safety. Ho saved her life and now that her father and mother have gone, ho desires to make her his daughter. As yet, however, nothing definite has been done. Mrs, O'Hara, Toronto, with her little girl clinging to her side, was one of the most pitiable figures among the survivors. Her husband and little boy were with her when she left on the Empress of Ireland, but just half the party were saved. It was a heartrending story she told between her sobs. 6ha described in detail the horrors of th? night, when she got soparated from har husband in the terrible struggle for life. Picked up by a lifeboat which floated near her, she saw nothing of her husband and boy again. Taken to Rimouski Wharf in a fainting condition, and honor-stricken at the thought of tho loss of her husband, son and (laughter, Mrs. O'Htra suddenly heard tho cries of " Mf.mma, mamma." It was her little girl, who had been rescued, too. It all seemed like a dream to Mrs. O'Hara, who raised herself up and pulled her little girl into her arms. Mrs. O'Hara was like all !.he others, too tired and worn to remember much of the details of the awful disaster, hut her recollection of the meet, ing with hor only child was very vivid. IDEMTIPYrNO THE DEAD. CHILD CLAIMED FIVE TIMES. The feature of the mortuary chamber at Quebec was the numbar of disputes regarding the identification of the dead, i No less than five persons contended for the possession of one fair-haired little girl of two or three years. So altered were the features of the dead that many mistakes were made, and some of those who were sure at first that thoy had recognised the bodies of their dear ones later wavered in their belief and sometimes even returned to affirm their previous impression. In the case where the five all but fought for tho possession of tho little girl all were earnest in their belief that they had positively identified her. Miss Townshend identified the body of Mrs. Wynn Price. Somewhat of a dilemma was created when fifteen or sixteen of the Empress crew arrived upon tho scene and claimed the body as that of Miss Leader, formerly stewardess on the Empress. While the latter were insistent in their identification, Miss Townshend stated Positively that tho jewellery worn by Mrs. Price was known to her, and she was backed up by Mr. Webber, of the C.P.R., who know Mrs. Price personally. Miss Townshend, therefore, had the body buried.

THE BLOOMFIELD FAMILY.

CABINS ON PROMENADE DECK.

The cabins occupied by the Lite Mr. W. R. Bloomfield, Mrs. Bloomfiei!] and Miss Bloomfiold were on the promenade deck of the Empress of Ireland. Their positions were marked on a plan of the steamer's passenger accommodation which was forwarded by yesterday's mail bv the Vancouver agent of tlu> Canadian Pacific Railway to a friend in Auckland. He also enclosed tin counterfoils of the tickets issued by him to Mr. Bloomfiold for the fatal journev, with the names and other particulars in tho handwriting of Mr. Bloomfield.

SURVIVORS IH LIVERPOOL.

PITIFUL REUNIONS.

Wild scenes were witnessed it the Exchange Station nt Liverpool on June 9 on the arrival of the survivors of the crew of the Empress of Ireland, who had been brought Home on tho Corsican. Tho station had been packed by a denso crowd for several hours, and when the train steamed in from Glasgow at seven o'clock there was a rush to tho carriage doore.

The police and railway officials attempted to hold back the crowd, but thov were powerless, and screaming women with babies in their arms were crashed against the train. The welcome was weird in the extreme. Borne of the women had the (rood fortune to reach their husbands as they stepped from the train, but seventy odd survivors were soon swallowed up in the crowd, and it was only by their kit' bundles that they oould be distinguished. Pitiful reunion* were witnessed. Women threw themselves hysterically into tho arms of their -husbands. Children, as they caught sight of their fathers in the crowd, struggled frantically to reach them, and even the bis;, croff firemen could not restrain their emotions. LOSSES AND INSURANCE. HEAVIEST SINCE TITANIC. Not since the foundering of the Titanic has Lloyd's Underwriters sustained such a hcaw'loss. The- Empress of Ireland was insured in the city for nearly £300,000, in addition to which must be considered her cargo, which is valued at about £50,000. At first it was considered extremely unlikely that the fine vessel, only built in 1906. should founder in 14 minutes. Reinsurance business was done at that time to two guineas per cent., which shows-how whollv Lloyd's disbelieved the roport. ' As it became certain that the news was true, tho rate for reinsurance rose to 50 guineas per cent., and then as the final confirm tion arrived, the ship became uninsurable. I British underwriters estimate that 70 i per cent, of the insurance on the hull of I the Empress will fall on them. German | houses bearing the remaining 30 per cent. In sedition to an unusually valuable ■ cargo, the Empress carried a quantity i of silver, consigned frcm Cobalt to London. On two bodies recovered cold and securities to the amount of £5000 were found. According to the statement of Montreal P&i Office officials the heavy registered mail amounting to IPO3 packages, which went down on the Empress is a total loss, and there will be no compensation for the 1 senders or addressees. ] Tho Empress of Ireland carried 159 1 bags of newspapers, 51 bags of letters. 8 I basket* containing '301 parcels and 1903" registered articles. Those who sent mnnev orders to Europe which were lost on the Empress, however, will not lose, as d"olicnt«s of the orders i held in Ottawa will be copied and di*. I patched to Tendon. It is estimated thai about £30-000 in money orders went down in tho mail bags. A TITANIC SURVIVOR. SAVED FROM EMPRESS. Among the Liverpool survivors ™« William Clark, who has had the terrible experience of pna«in<* though two of the croatest sea tn-'edies 'mown, He was fireman on the Titanic ftflo" filled the same dutv on the Empree.i of Ireland. TTh first, thought when t ll( *y were struck went Wk to t*>ose terrible eccpes on the j Titanic. Tt was his fiVt vovape on the ! Empress of Ireland. and, of course, mi ! tho Titinic. which was on her maiden ! trip. He added. " There is a sort of I supers*'t.ion amnn? Bailors, and T believ it applies on land as well, that the third time is fatal, but that does not worrv me. I am coin? hick to Liverpool to ; find a i" " ' "" "" •'"—"•."