Wreck of the Dom Pedro.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 21, Issue 89, 2 December 1910, Page 7

Wreck of the Dom Pedro.

■ On Tuesday, 28th May, 1895, intolligencv was received of the loss of the steamed Dom Pedro on the north-'.vest Spanish coast off O.rril, In the province of Pontes vella. The vessel had on board: passengers, and carried a crew of forty-* nine men. According to brief telegrams! that reached the owners of the steamer* the captain and twenty-four of the crevf were saved. The Dom Pedro was a vessel of 3000 burden, and I'SOO borse-power, andf sailed regularly between Havre and Dal Plata, her first voyage having been made in January, 1879. She took out emigrants! from France to Argentina, and returned), with cargoes of frozen meat, being able tot carry in her cold storage place between 10,000 and 12,000. carcasses of sheep. The Dom Pedro left Havre on 20th May, hei'; calling places including Bordeaux and. Carril ; ait the last-named she was tot embark 200 emigrants for South America*, The . immediate cause of the foundering of the vessel was the bursting of the boil-, er shortly after striking the Fraguira ree£ of sunken rocks, some ten or twelve miles; off the coast. Even In the best weather? this reef is extremely dangerous, for it if? entirely under water, and can only be 10-* catedl by those who have a,thorough know-f ledge of the coast. The Dom Pedro, struck the reef with a fearful shock, and at once, began to s!nk,«and 'when she finally disappeared after the explosion a great num.* her of passengers went down with her*. Those who were rescued had provided themselves with lifebuoys, .or kept afloat by seizing hold of a piece or pieces on wood. The survivors were picked up b/ fishing-boats and brought to . land, and their narratives showed th££ .after the steamer struck, and when those •no board saw that her fate was sealed, the passengers were thrown into a state of wild panic, and paid hardly need to the captain’s orders. There was a mad rush for the boats and lifebuoys, and Captain Crequer had to keep the people back revolver in hand. Very few of the passengers made any attempt to obey, his instructions, and terrible, contusion prevailed during the few minutes that the ship remained afloat. Of the tMriy-threa survivors, twenty-four belonged to the crew ; the remaining nine were passengers. ; THE MARINER’S COMPASS.- ‘ Nothing in, the navigational equip- | ment of a ship has been, the subject ; of more anxious scientific research or 'receives more Jealous.care than toe ; mariner's compass, >.i The popular ■ notion of the compass needie always pointing north and south is—well, ' more, inaccurate than even popular l notions usually are. Even under the 1 most favourable conditions there are ; only, certain places upon the surface 'of theegrth where the compass needle does point north and south, and it is quite safe to say that such conditions are never found on board !of any ship. But we must go further and say that no more unfavourable position could be found for a com-, bass than • on board of a modern Steamship, which Is a complicated mass of steel, all." pending to draw the Compass needfrom its allegiance to the magnetic polo of the Sarth, warring influences which must heeds be counteracted by all sorts of (devices which hedge round the instrugent by an invisible wall of couflictg currents of magnetism. And, as |f this were not enough, there are now huge dynamos to be reckoned with, producing electric currents for all sorts of purposes on board. In the midst of these mystic currents the poor little compass needle, upon which the mariner depends for his guide across the trackless deep, hangs suspended like one shrinking saint surrounded by legions of devils,*—"Windsor Magazine.-