Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1883 — WATERY GRAVES. [ARTICLE]

WATERY GRAVES.

Collision* in the North Sea of the Steamers Sultan and j Cimbria. The Latter, with 490 Souls on Board, Almost Instantly Founders. Over Three Hundred Lives Known to , Have Been Lost. [Cable Dispatch from London.] The Hamburg-American steamship Cimbria, disabled in collision, went to the bottom of the North sea last Friday. Hundreds fonnd watery graves. The Cimbria left Hamburg with twenty-three cabin passengers, 362 steerage (mainly German artisans), and a crew numbering 9& She grounded in the Elbe, but was taken off without damage and started on her voyage Thursday afternoon. Friday morning, In a thick fog off Borkum, she came in collision with the steamer Bultan, and sustained-such- severe injuries that it became apparent she must sink almost at once. The officers did all in their power to rescue the imperiled passengers, without a moment’s loss of time life-belts were distributed and the order given to lower the boata This, however, in consequence of the vessel keeling over on her side, was found to ffie very difficult on one side and absolutely impossible on the other. As the second officer was still engaged cutting the spars loose, so there should be as much driftwood as possible for people to cling to when the inevitable foundering should occur, the vessel with a plunge went down. He seized hold of a spar, but, as several other passengers clung to it, was obliged to let go, and swam to a boat This boat was subsequently picked up by the Theta The second officer steered the Theta to Cuxhaven Seventeen other persons have been saved by the steamer Diamant. from the Wesser light-house, making lifty-slx thus far known to have been rescued. The number of lives lost is estimated at fully 300. The passengers were mostly emigrants from Eastern Prussia. Among them were six American Indians, who had been on exhibition in Berlin for some J;ime. A survivor makes the following statement: “The weather was clear and damp up to 1:15 o'clock,” says the survivor, “but a heavy fog then set in, which continued and increased in density. The engines of the Cimbria were kept at full speed until 1:80, and at half speed till 2, after which they were kept at slow speed About ten minutes past 2 the whistle of another steamer was heard, and the engines of the Cimbria were stopped instantly. The Sultan’s green light was not observed until she was only 15u feet off from the Cimbria The latter was struck abaft the bulkhead, on the port side, keeled over to starboard, and speedily sank.” As soon as the Hamburg-American Company received intelligence of the dreadful disaster they took prompt measures to rescue the shipwrecked passengers. The steamer Hansa and four largest available vessels at Cuxhaven were dispatched to search for the missing boata The West India steamer Bavaria also left during the night with similar object. Up to 11 o’clock Sunday night nothing had been heard from the vessels out scouring the ocean. The steamer Saltan has arrived on the Elbe. The officers and crew absolutely refuse to give any information concerning the collision. Ther Captain has submitted a statement to the British Consul, but this is inaccessible. The Sultan has a large hole in her bow seven feet above the water line. The Cimbria was an iron vessel, built at Greenock, Scotland, in 1807. She had six transverse, water-tight bulkheads, and three iron decka Her length was 3291£ feet on the water-line, her breadth of beam forty feet two inches, her depth of hold thirtythree feet, and her gross measurement 2,964 tona The Cimbria is the third steamer lost by the Hamburg-American line within the last few yeara

Survivors say the last moments of the sinking Cimbria were terrible. The air was filled with the agonized shrieks of doomed passengers After the steamship had plunged to the bottom hundreds floated around for a short time until benumbed by the icy waters, and then sank to rise no more. They say that after having left the Cimbria their boat was capsized, and they sought shelter in the rigging of the fated steamship. They remained in this position ten hours, freezing from cold, and expecting every moment to be their last The women and children on board the Cimbria were first placed in boats. All of the survivors praise the conduct of the Captain and crew of the Cimbria, who never moved from their posts, and did everything in the power of man to save life until they themselves were ingulfed in the wavea They affirmed that while they were in the ringing the lights of the Sultan were clearly visible, and that their cries for help must have been heard on board the Sultan, which, instead of coming to their rescue, -steamed away. A rising young German writer, Leo Haberman, of Vienna, well known for his excellent description of Russian life, and the Sisters Romner, professional singers, and well known as the “Suabian Nightingales,” who had recently been performing in Berlin, perished. Berlin suffered severely by the disaster. Six families lost their breadwinners A majority of the passengers were poor Prussian, Hungarian and Russian peasants There were also on board fourteen French sailors, who had only taken passage at Havre Of the women on board the Cambria only three were saved. The Sultan was seized and her officers imprisoned by the German"authorities at Hamburg.