THE POMERANIA DISASTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 1419, 1 February 1879, Page 19

THE POMERANIA DISASTER.

The London Daiy News of Novembur 26th gives the following uccount of the co libioa which wrecked tho s>B. Pomerania : — Sh rtly after midnight on Monday a fatal collision occurred <ff ihe Foreland t>«i\veen the Hamburg-American bteam Packet Company's mil stomship Pjmerai.ia mid the Wul-h ba qae Moel Mian, of Oa'narvon. Soon after 9 o'clock U\U moving thn occurrence waa reported he c Happ'ly, the i result has not proved so dttas^rous as the fi-st reports led u« to anicifa'e, though it is 10 he feared that neatly 50 pia-engerq on Hoard one of the flnn clipper hlovnera of rhi Ilamourg-Anrericaa Company h<ive perished. Div-steil • t wiwc'i <f the ex*>rt(oi-atiou whsch eve' accompli ias sn'Jd-m an I f.i'aj rfira6ters, tho following a we.HXA to be the pl*»»i lumuive of the real f ids :— The Pom-ranh, a barque listed stoanur, c unmanned by Oaotain g chwt-nsen 3352 tonu regieae*. Itf*. •■> ew York, bound for Haujburfr, ou rho 14th inbtant, having ou board a general c<rgo. and y,2'i tifssin.'ers a-d <"ew — naimly. 111 crew, and 109 pa<>enijeis. Th» wiaiher at the outBet is reported to h»ve been fair, bir »u')-s.-quently u>avy so<s »nd ruin were encounierel. E*ily on Monday rooriiini? tl»e »bip a'rived a* PlyI nvni',h, wbersshe di etnha v k«d 1 ami t ok on bo»ni ie lit passeniws. AS Cherbourg 40 p.sseniiers. oi I whom 14 were first-class, were Untied, and the Voaii auia stivied *-g*m on hor v*ya;Ee under fiwoarabie crouinßtankeoi.c rouinßtankeoi. Ih^ evnmjj co«td in >itha hluht fo,r. but all on board hi c described a3 be'iiK in the highest spirits, and but iv shurf, time hufore tho cniliniou <laticin«: and n usic we r e indulged in in the ta'oun The sl«uib-ra os thosu who had retire! to rtbt, and the mulh i>f tiosa "ho had not retired were, however, cut by a iuie »h«)ck whicli tvld ics »vfn tale with unmi-tf.'keab c empl.a^iv Ttwie w&» ve«y little wiiid, and ihfc pe* w«s cuuipavativoly fmo tli, and the Prmprania was at f oil ep td, . t th* • ai« ff f r mJ2to 14 kn<r san bmir. bovu If inimt"B bfore th - cohiMon n. man oa theloo.»-f>ut veiorted to tho tapVio. who was staiuimtc oo tbe hi idffe, tf » f i thore was a lijjbt over U>e Btmbo*rd bow. The chief officer and she foanh o«i>- r we re, also on the bnoge, Hiid the fourcn <(Kcer was >ft Tho-e w a onn man at. the w.heol. but. wh«t order, if >«t y, \hy cipta ii yave ou receiving ti>e n-poitfiom the 1 >uk out nia>i is not known. As may be iinajr'ned, the scne ou boa»d the Pomera. ia wa 1 - in a. few mumt-nti owe nf the coafunion Those ■ f the cew who were on <!u'y on d <v. that the era-h wa- tr»-inondo«' 1 . •» tbe (hick 1 ace partly composed of fog «i d p»rt>y er'zKJi- g raia, tho* aiw abutce b rquo bfannc; down od ttwai»ndcut into tinm»tnid hips, abrcastthe eiigme-rootn. Huirrpidiiy wirb which the 11-fnied su-amor was gf»itigdrH!ff«l tho colliding vca-el tlirou^h th« wa'er, v, d us m « passed asiem tho rent was widened tti4 iron putjs of tne P..ruerania tnaitting a sound <tr<*adiul to hfa-. Through the wide chasm thu-> made the w*ter poured with tmiiious rap Wity t puttii g out cue «a(jino ttt«s, *ndiil\ii>'y showing th« Pom ram* must sink, ani th*t Rpeedily. Th> baque, which turned oat to be the Moel Kilian, oi Carnarvon, w<h quickly tort in the iridom and a* >ha noon »f'«»wardß s*mt up siaaan of duress, tbo-e on board the P morann knew th&t no • succoui' i-oitl-' possihlv conn from thv quarc«r Ky '.uo tiuirthaah s wasred'isedthepus'OLgers und creiv Ueiow I had oohuo on decs all di->hcvolto.d wid In tha utmost pa»\«, though under 6«ch p rilo«» c ecum-itaoccs tho l.'asseHg.sra behi.v<d better thw» might have Veen expected. Tao c»ptam'H orders were mo.t.tmph^t/ic To a.ye the ship waw impossiivlt'. The wateiiight compArtmenta vv<-re repoitod to h*ve ni^»i, a<>d itio ship *"as rapid y wnking; a d he the *for* ordered iln crew to tut *w«y tho boata and we've/ yoi.de ivcmr to «av^< tho livea u( tlrse <m boarrt. Thu thto crried eiu;ht lifeboats, oip'tOiuof catr^iojcab/ ut24on^ul'- m . a moder^ts a<a the«e were t.wan« «ya d*viu, und as is unfortun*tely too oft. n the case, there was s jiuo difficulty iv lowering ih.m, and ttrt> d.^iis h>»dtobe cutaway. Five were (uccotsfttlls Wuuched. two w«fo stove in, and one eunk through <.varcri»w nti?. 'Vho j ma'oiy of th<iße who wert» lost wa-« have been • drowned in oomr q«ence of the hmsA sinkinvr, tot very , few app«M Vo UnTe gone down in iho bbip, whict.'

lio a.i l.r ti c.)(i-iil«itule nime atter lid wati strcuk. jit is v.«rio>.^y re< or. Ed thai, she fl'arel f>r a* quarter to half an h >ur. The last boat which stayed i>y the chip Jnd 40 souls on board all told, and in her crowded cwdi'.inn it w>s not thought prudent to pall abonr. in an ''ttetnpt to sa' r e wore life Wuon tha miming dawned ill tna f - reraaiue 1 visib c of t-.he Poioe* rauia wa^ her topniast3 and fore an'i miin yards. Sht; lie* wb »vi 12 railed S.YV of the South Foreland, The Mael fcniao, Captain David Prltchard, was of 1080 register ;d tonnage, barque-rigged, an I bound to Caidiff, in ballfv. flb"ut t-Uhfc mmutes before tha Hroo of ths collision, the ship headii-g W. H. VV, » trtft white light of i steamer was reported. Captain Pritchard states thU 1m w*s st?eri'rj on a si,iro->ard tack, a'jd going through lha water at the rate cf about fi»er or aix Ic.o'.s an hour When abou*. eight ships' lengths off he fhiutod ard no one replied, but he believes the course of the Pomerania wah slight' y altered- in | cotttequense Wh-n tha hhipj sep^ratfld, he found. j his ow.i v 'S:el <•>» in 'Ch d >.rn?i','ed a.hout the bow-J, tbafc she myt hws -nevita >ly sunk had it not been for her watertight comp ■rtuients. The Moel Eilian't) Hghta were un utid burning brightly. She carried 18 bands-, all told and no ons outlined any injury through tha catastrophe. She was t~>wed into Dover Harbour aboufc 1 o'clock this a'teroooa The five b.-ats which i?ot away in safety from thePomerania hvd on bo'vrd 172 pvoe-igew. After drifting abou f for about hilf an hour, they were— p:cv>-ed up by 'he English simmer Glengarry, whiell hove-to until d ght., when, finding that no persons were floating iibrtul; on wreck*ga or clinging to ther visible spars of tha Pom<)rama, she transferred thetshipwrecked passengers and cew to the harbour tug Granrilio. wbich brought Ihein to Dover about- 9 o'cUck this mormng.