GERMAN STEAMSHIP DISASTER

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4301, 9 March 1901, Page 8 (Supplement)

GERMAN STEAMSHIP DISASTER

The “Lokalanzeiger” publishes a graphic story of the wreck of the German steamer Suihsiang on the Tangtse from one of its special correspondents who was a passenger on the ill-fated vessel. The dispatch is as follows: “At daylight the Suihsiang left Ichang for Chungking. Here begin those famous gorges of the Yangtsekymgi 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 Ynngtse. The water was now very low, hut the hired native pilot gave most emphatic assurances of the possibility of making the trip.

"Ther© were seven foreign passengers on heard, 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 the splendid Gorge of Nicoubotat, 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 rook began to fill rapidly. .

“The Chinese crew in a frenzy of fear I 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. Tho gallant captain refused to leave his vessel ns long as she floated. "We saw tho Suihsiang drift down the river until her stem suddenly rose perpendictdarly out of the water, when after a terrible explosion on hoard 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 bv the captain of expert advice. The Upper Yangtse between the months of December and March is impassable for deep draught steamers.