GERMAN STEAMSHIP DISASTER

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1514, 7 March 1901, Page 59

GERMAN STEAMSHIP DISASTER

THE CAPTAIN’S DEVOTED HEROISM. Th© “Lokalanzeiger” publishes a graphic story of the wreck of the German steamer Suihsiang on the Yangtse from one of its special correspondents who was a passenger on the ill-fated vessel. Th© dispatch is as follows : “At daylight the Suihsiang left I chan g for Chungking. Here begin those famous gorges of the Yangtsekiang with ’their grandly magnificent scenery and their dangerous rocks and rapids. The steamer owned by Rickmers, of Bremen, has been specially constructed for the trip over this stretch of river with shallow draught and powerful engines, and she was commanded by Captain Breitag, perhaps the best navigator of these dangerous reaches of the Yangtse. The water was now very low, but the hired native pilot gave most emphatic assurances of the possibility of making the trip. “Tlier© were seven foreign passengers on board, and in addition twenty-one missionaries returning to Szechuan. “The steamer passed the Ichang gorge and the Tatung Rapids with little difficulty, and arrived about noon at the entrance of th© splendid Gorge of Nicoukotat, forty-five miles above Ichang, and here the river bed is full of jagged, dangerous rocks. Turning sharply round a cliff the steamer proved somewhat unwieldy owing to its length, and striking against a sunken rock began to fill rapidly. “The Chinese crew in a frenzy of fear threw themselves into the steamer’s lifeboats, but the boats were upset, and most of their occupants drowned. The steamer being now practically without a crew, it was found impossible to run her ashore, but a number of Chinese sampans hastened to' the rescue of those still on the steamer and everyone, including all the Europeans, were taken off with the sole exception of Captain Breitag. The gallant captain refused to leave his vessel as long as she floated. We saw the Suihsiang drift down the river until her stern suddenly rose per- • pendieularly out of the water, when after a terrible explosion on board the steamer plunged down by the head. With the steamer there also disappered her devoted master. The Loss of the German steamer Suihsiang between Ichang and Chungking is attributed in Shanghai to the neglect by the captain of expert advice. The Upper Yangtse between the months of December and March is impassable for deep draught steamers.