FATAL STEAMBOAT COLLISION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8054, 5 July 1904, Page 2

FATAL STEAMBOAT COLLISION.

MONTREAL, June 12. The N Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company s steams* Canada, bound fromQuebec to Montreal, .came into c^&lision with the Dominion Coal Company's, collier Cape Breton sis miles below Sorel early today. Twenty minutes later the Canada went to the bottom. At the time of the collision there were 110 people on board the Canada, and five were lost, the others being rescued. Those who perished were Mr Alfred Thiebault, agent of the company at Quebec ;. two eons of Mr Alfred Thiebault, aged twelve and fifteen; and the purser, Mr Bonneterre, of the Canada. A man named Brunei, of Sorel, is missing. It is supposed that the last-named has perished. The.collision occurred just as dawn was breaking. The Cape Breton lay' at the entrance of the Lake Street Pier Channel, waiting for daylight, so as to find her way through. She was getting under way when the Canada, making for Sorel at full speed, came into view. Just what the collision was due to, and who was responsible for it. has not yet. been determined;, for the officers of the Canada decline to talk ; but from statements given out it would appear that the Cape Breton had not got headway on enough to answer her rudder. She swerved across the pathway of the passenger boat, her bow striking "the Canada just forw'nrd of the paddle bos on the starboard side, and tearing its way half through. Then the Cape Breton swung clear and' the two steamers came alongside each other. The shook of the collision aroused the sleeping passengers. The Canada at once began to settle, and as the Cape Breton did not appear to be seriously damaged the passengers were hurriedly transferred to this steamer. In the excitement some of the passengers jumped overboard, and were picked! up by .boats from the Canada and Cape Breton. Twenty minutes later, , when the Canada went down alongside 'the Cape Breton, all the passengers who could be found had been transferred. Mr Thiebault and bis two sons occupied a state room near where the Cape Breton's bow. entered the Canada, and ifc is supposed that they were killed in their berths. The body of the father was recovered later in the day, but the remains of the two sons have not been found. Mr Bonneterre, the 'purser, was seen after the collision making nis way to his quarters on the lower deck, with the intention of saving his cash and records. It is supposed that he- perished in the attempt. Brunei was a second class passenger,- |fnd no one saw him after the collision, though it 19 supposed that he went ashore with the crew of one of the 'boats which was sent to secure help ;from Sorel. Assistance arrived about four o'clock this afternoon, and the steam barge Prefontaine took the passengers and crew to Sorel, and they were brought up to this city this afternoon on' board the steamer Columbian. Many of the passengers .who occupied • the state rooms on the upper deck saved their baggage, but those on the lower deck lost all their belonerinss.