ATLANTIC LINER SUNK IN COLLISION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2201, 7 May 1896, Page 38

ATLANTIC LINER SUNK IN COLLISION.

EXCITING SCENES : THE BRITISH CAPTAIN'B HEROISM. . A Dalziel , telegram, from New York, says a •jftrious collision between two Atlantic liners, the Atles steamer. Ailsa, of .Glasgow, and the French transatlantic steamer' Bourgogne, occurred on j March 1. The Ailsa sailed during the day and hnchofed in the harbour because of fog. While rtill at anchor the Bourgogne >oain.e.into collision With hor,- and, striking her near the bow, tore >a '• .great hole in ner.side, and sank her. The passengers on the Ailsa had juit finished their luncheon, and the fearful crash of the impact between the two vei-eels wax the first warning they had ot the «pproaoh of the French liner The blow was a Kiancing one, otherwise the Ailsa might have .been out in two. Captain Morris, of the Ailsa, immediately sprang to the bridge and touched the electric bntton, setting the winch and machinery in motion, for hoisting the anchor. He then ■ignalled to the engine-room for the engines, to Co ahead at full npeed, and pointed his ship toward the Staten Island shore. Many of the sailors and firemen were Spaniards and 1 Italians. They rushe tto the boats when the col- . lision occurred, knocked down two women passen- j gersr seveiely injured them, and threatened to j ?tab the male passengers who interfered. They • seized the only available lifeboat, climbed into it, and, cutting the ropes, pulled away from the ship j ' in defiance of the commands of the captain and prayers of the passengers. The boat was still in sight when the steamer sank. Meanwhile the captain was on the bridge shouting to encourag* the others on board. The steamer was plunging ahead towards the shore, but was rapidly sinking deeper each yard she travelled. When ilie decks Avere awash the captain ordered every one into the riggint, and men and women swarmed up the rat*' lines as high as they could get to be out of the sea, which had by now Sovered the decks. The captain stayed on the bridge till he was immersed to .the waist, and -.then clambered on to a boom or derrick. The steamer then gave a lurch and -plunged bow fir&t to the bottom, sinking in 30ft ■ of water. The top of- the smokestack and the 'topmasts remained above the surface. Two .women refused to climb any higher up the ■rope ladders, and stood waist-deep in the water. One of thorn, fell from the ladder in a jitate of) exhaustion, .and was rescued by her husband, who plunged after her. The tugboat i Harrold was fortunately sighted, and Bailed over the Buuken steamer and took the people off the masts. The women had to be lifted off, aa they were too weak to move and were almost frozen. The tug became loaded almost to the water's edge, . .and Captain Morris, seeing how -low ehe was in , the water, refused to increase the danger of those on board by joining them, and said he would remain on tha boom until the passengers had been taken to the city and the tug could return for him. Among the passengers on the Ailsa was Mr G. -XL I'earce, Postmatter-general of Jamaica. Ho Baid: "The firemen— a lot of Spaniards— rushed on the deck at the first alar n, yelling and shouting and cursing, and drove away the passengers and officers and took possession of the lifeboat. Mrs Cantrell, a passenger, was struck in the face and had her eye olackened, and they also knocked my wife down and kicked her in the side. Tfae cowardly curs ought to be shot. I am certain that had there not been American and English Bailors on the Ailaa not a soul would have been saved, for they acted like men." During the week ending May 3 eight vessels, with a total of 4412 ton*, arrived at the Dunedin wharves ; and nine vessels, registering 6797 tons, left them. The Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's R.M.S. lonic left the George street pier on the 28fch nit. for Lyttelton, from 'which port she took her final departure for London on May 2. Her cargo .from Port Chalmers consisted of 3119 carcases frozen mutton, 54 crates frozen rabbits, 1357 cases cheese, 200 cases preserved meat*, 143 bales wool B&d skins, 121 sacks grass seed, 44 casks pelts, and £0 packages sundries. The new steamer building on the Wear for the Huddart-Parker Steamship Company will be constructed on the most approved modern principles. Her dimensions will be 260 ft length, .breadth 46ft, € Bnd her carrying capacity will be equal to about 'BOOOtons. Special attention to passenger accom- ' Jnodation, both in the saloon and steerage, will be paid. The maohn.ery will be supplied by a Bunderland engineering firm. - The barque Alcettis put out the last of. her : car/o of coal on Thursday last, and commenced " taking in guano, of which she-willembark-30tons. 'Afterwards 'she will. complete ballast, and will then take in a cargo of produce-at Lyttelton for - Fremantle. The barque Firth of Solway. which was sunk in Collision off Greenock om April 20,<had a -'general - cargo consisting of 1700 tbnt weight and meaeure-tnent-for-this port. The value would probably bo £30,000 to £40 000. The value of the. veisel waa hhout £10,000.

Tho French barque Lea Adolphes, which arrived at Port Chalmers on Friday, from New York, consigned to Messrs J. Rittray and Co., brought 1572J tons of cargo for this port.

The local agents of the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company have been advised that the s.s. M&tatua will not now visit Port Chalmers as was first intended, but the R.M.S. Tainui will call here in place of the Matatua about the 10th inst, to load frozen mutton and other cargo for London. The French batque Les Adelphes. from New York, made t h e passage in 100 days from port to part, which would have been considerably lessened if she had not been detained off the Cape of Good Hope for 12 days with light airs and calms, and also light easterly airs between the meii-Uans of Cape Leuwin and Tasmania. She brings a large cargo, 1547 tons of 'which is for Dunedin, and the balauoe forLy tteltonand Nelson. The next of the Hnddart-Parker Company's steamers to arrive here frutn Sydney will be the Burruvnbeet. She is a steal Rcrew steamer of 2420 tons gross and 1561 tons net; her length Is 300 ft, breadth of beam 40ft lin, and depth of hold 1 9ft 7m ; she is propelled by tripe surface condensing engines of 233 noise-power nominal, is schooner rigged, leas a poop deck Jslft long, and a forecastle deck 48ft long ; she is bu It of steel, and is register, d as having a speed of 14 knots. The Bumunbeet i 3. command-id by Captain Thorpe, who was last here in the s.s. Lindis.

Referring to the deep-water soundings taken in the Pacific >y ETM.S. Penguin, Rear-admiral W. J. L Wharton writes as follows :—": — " It may-int-erest some of your readers to know that some spots have recently been found in the South Pacific Ocean where the water is deeper than anywhere hitherto kuotvn. Her Majesty's surveying ship Penguin, while returning from the Tonga group to New Zealand, has sounded in three places where the depth exceeds 5000 fathoms. Up to the present the deepest water found was to the nerth-eastward of Japan, where in 1874 the United States steamer Tuscarora obtained a cast of 4655 fathoms. The Penguin's sounding* are 5022, 6147; and 555 fathoms. The increase is, therefore, 500 fath ins '.r 3000 ft. Thet,e soundings are separated frons on>; anotbei by water much less deep, und the bottoms inty.net bf ijunuected. The distance from the -two extreme soundings is 450 miles. Specimens df the.bo'torn were recovered from the two deeper soundings, and prove to be the usual red clay foftod in all the deepest parts ot the oceans. These soundings afford additional evidence of the observed fact "that the deepest holts are not in the centres of the oceans, but are near land, as two of them are within 100 miles of the islands of the Kermadec growp and the other not far from a shoal. Doubtless deeper depressions in the bed of the sea are yet to be found, but the fact that this sounding of 30 030 ft shows that the ocean contains depressions below the surface greater than the elevation of the highest known mountains is perhaps worthy-t>f record."