FEARFUL MARINE DISASTER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1202, 15 March 1895, Page 15

FEARFUL MARINE DISASTER.

THE ELBE-CRATHIE COLLISION. PARTICULARS OF THE CATASTROPHE. SURVIVORS’ NARRATIVES. From Our Special Correspondent. London, February 1. You will have received long ere this a brief outline of the awful maritime catastrophe which occurred off! Lowestoft early on Wednesday morning last, and by which 380 souls were plunged into a watery grave. The agony of the scenes, crowdod into-the 20 minutes which elapsed from the time the big- mail steamer received tho fatal impact to her final plunge can only be imagined, no pon could adeq uatoly describe it.

The Elbe, one of the finest liners afloat, left Bremen on Tuesday afternoon with a full complement of passengers (240) for the time of the year, and a crew numbering, all told, 160 men and boys, 400 souls in all. She carriod also a valuable general cargo and the mails for America from Germany. The voyage across tho North Sea, whipped into anger by a tremendous nor’-easter, was -uneventful and unpleasant. A§ the steamer approached the English shore on Wednesday morning ,0 hitter gale was blowing, and night was still obtaining at 6 a.m.

The master of the Elbe, Captain Yon Goessel, said by the lights around him that many other vessels were in his vessel’s vicinity, and promptly commenced rocketfiring to warn his neighbours. But the precaution was useless. A hoarse cry froiß the look-out man drew the captain’s attention to a steamer of about 1500 tops burthen bearing rapidly down uppq tfio Elbe. a emmyr crash. A galaxy p.f rookots were at J once sent up froiq tfie mail boat, but the stranger too)? no notice, and in a few seconds—before the Elbe’s course could bo tui'n©d — she had crashed into the mail-steamer abaft the engine-4‘OC>m, ripping the bigboat’s side open trom keel to. bulwark rails. Aa the stranger backed the water ru&hed in, and the great, steamer at once began to settle do.wn, TERRIBLE SCENES ON THE ELBE.. The shock of the collision of course at once reused the sleeping passengers, and almost before the officers could fully comprehend the true position oi affairs they were surrounded hy a seething, shrieking, half-naked mob of men, women and children. In vain they tried to pacify the terror-strioken souls. The hopelessness of the situation was apparent to all; the vessel was sinking- fast, the stranger had disappeared into the darkness, and the , boats were not equal to rescuing a quarter ! of those on board, oven if they could live in j such a sea.

All was confusion, but loud and clear above the olamour rang the captain’s ordor to clear away the boats and save the women and children

lii a very short space of time throe boats were in the water, but one of the smaller craft was swamped before a soul could get into it. The other two were quickly filled with passengers, but, alas! for German chivalry, they were almost entirely men These two boats got away from the sinking steamer, and one was picked up five hours later by tho fishing smack Wildfiower. She had but 20 souls aboard, and presumably that small number alone escaped destruction, for the other boat has not been heard of since. What occurred on the ill-fated vessel after the two boats cleared from her side can, of course, only be conjectured. The thing we know is that the Elbe went to the bottom. That any of those left on board escaped cannot be deemed probable, for even those who had got lifebelts could hardly live in tho icy waters of the boisterous North Sea long enough to be picked up by passing vessels. Only one woman was saved, and not a single child. The captain and the first officer of tho Elbe were last seen shouting orders from the bridge, but the third officer, the first engineer, the paymaster, three of his assistants, the chief stoker, the steward, five sailors and two pilots contrived to find places in tho boat picked up. The five passengers saved included one lady, a Miss Boecker, who, the other survivors state, behaved in a most plucky manner. Sue lay in the bottom of the boat, and tho icy seas broke over her half clad body for five hours. But she never complained, and urged tho others to look after themselves and not to mind her.

SURVIVORS’ STATEMENTS. NARRATIVE OP THE ONLY LADY SAVED. Miss Anna Boecker, the lady passenger who was saved, was only proceeding as far as Southampton. She was in a state of great nervous and physical exhaustion as the result of her experiences. Miss Boecker stated that she was in bed at the time of the collision, like nearly everybody else, and was awakened by hearing a great crash. Then she could hear shouts and rushing about on deck, and she at once went up. When she reached the top of the stairs leading to tho deck she found that the two lifeboats belonging to the Elbe were being lowered. She was put into one, but soon afterwards it eapsizod. Everybody was terribly excited, for all could see that tho vessel was gradually sinking, one side being then already very low in the water. When tho lifeboat capsized it was on tho partly-submerged side of the great steamer. All were thrown into the water, but all the other occupants of the boat managed to get on board the E.lbe. She herself somehow got hold of the capsized lifeboat, which was drifting about, and she clung desperately to it until the other launched lifeboat picked her up, FROM THE FORECASTLE, A passenger named Bothen, who, was proceeding to, Southampton anh then,*?© Vq, France, informed a reporter that h©.Vfai on the forecastle at the time of th<3 The noise of the impact ntas deafening., It; was like the or ashing together jifdSwge masses of ice—a tearing, o', noise, r ,. * ‘ Bothen van on to the dQftV and fc uhd officers and crew at their quarters, arid two boats being lowered. There were only.'two, he said, not j, three, as stated, by another passenger; but this discrepancy is doubtless due to the confusion and- excitement which prevailed on deck for somo/thhe. Bothen declared most positively that the* ropes by which tho boats were., suspended from the davits were not frozen,'Dht he admitted that they were rather stiff.- That, however, did not, he said, interfere with their speedy lowering. Bothen got: into the boat which was picked up by the, Wildflower, but ho saw nothing of the other boats. If was about 20 minutes,, ho said, before the. Elbe foundered,*

Mr .Tohn YeveiUi of the survivors,, living at Cleveland, Ohio, was returning: to the United States after a visit to Germany to see his brother. He was accompanied on his return by his niece, who is among the missing. Mr Vo yor a gave an, aocount of the disastor and of his own adventures. He said:— " i went off to sleep in the coffee-room about half-past 2 in the morning, and awoke at half-past 5* when °f looked at my watch. Everything was then going on nicely," and nothing could be heard but the beating’ of the screws and swish of the waves against the steamer's sides. I doused off again for, I should thinly about ten minutes, when I was awakened, by a terrible orashing noise. *‘l got up, and soon saw that everything i was upside down. People wore rushing about below in frantic fashion, some of them half naked, I made my way on dock, and, seoingfa mail man, asked what was the matter. He was quite calm and collected, | and replied that nothing had happened. “ But I could see that something really serious was the matter, and I ran below to SCO after niy niece. I tried to mako my way to her cabin, hut could not get very far, as much of the woodwork had been shattered by the force of the collision and was lying about in splinters. Seeing that it was impossible to reach my niece's cabin, I made my way to my own cabin, got my waterproof ooat, and put on a couple of lifebelts. I then rushed back to the upper deck, and saw at once that the ship had got a heavy list and was clearly sinking, “ The boats were then being lowered. I asked if I should get into one of the lifeboats, and was told that I must not do so, as the ladies and children must go first. I saw that there was no chance of my gotting into those boats, and quietly waited, looking on.

“ By this time the men around me were beginning to get madly alarmed, and some of them, seeing that X bad lifebelts on, tried to tear them from mo. I, however, managed to push them away. Meanwhile the boats TVW filled with men, and I veali^d

that if I did not get in too I should not get a chance. And therefore I jumped on to the re il, and as the boat sheered off and rose on the waves I jumped right on to her.- “ One of the men tried to shove me out, ■ hut I clung to him, thinking to myself’‘lf I go, you go too.’ This the man seemed at length to understand, and he made nomore effort to throw me out. “We saw the Elbe go down, and them cruised about until >picked up by the* smack.

FROM A FOURTH SURVIVOR. I heard a rush of feet and shouting* and 1 I seized some clothes arid hurried them on. My wile and child threw on some things,. and we ran along the corridor with others. to the deck. I was knocked down thestalls when I reached but managed to save myself from being trampled on. ° I : got to the port side, On which the collision . happened, and I saw that great damage * had been done, and that water was.; rushing m. It was very dark, but. not foggy, and - the s«a was very rough. -Two boats' were lowered. X ’ caught my boy and throw him into one * boat, and, calling to my wife to come , with me got into it. But then at that; moment there was a shout of ‘ Women and i children to starboard/ and, slipping her - gold watch into my hands, she left me... u 6, YY? taken out of the boat, and, i whilst I sat there I saw one boat swamped.. We tried to rescue those in the water, bu<fc# all save one, Anna Boecker, disappeared! I he boat was then shoved off, and we v:.oiw on tho water for five hours and a half tore wo were rescued. We saw many vessels when daylight came, but could not attract attention. When in the boat, after the collision, rockets were sent up, but no help came. I think it impossible for others to have been rescued, as the ship went down at once. Ido not believe the steer-, age passengers kndw about the collision I hero was not much noise.”