Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1907 — DEATH IN ICY WATERS [ARTICLE]

DEATH IN ICY WATERS

Frightful! Disaster to a Steamer in a Tempest in Long Island Sound. AN ARCTIC STORM IS BLOWING When the Ship Goes Down the Result of a Collision. * BUT NINETEEN ABE SAVED ALIVE All the Remainder of Her Human Freight Is Frozen to Death or Drowned—Terrible Scenes on Board. Block Island. R. 1., Feb. 13. The Larchmont, a sidewheel steamer which was only put into the Joy line service during the present season.left her dock in Providence with a heavy cargo of freight and a passenger list estimated at from 150 to 200. A strong northwest wind was blowing as the steamer plowed her way down through the eastern passage of Narragansett bay, but the full effect of the gale which was blowing out in the sound was not felt until the Larchmont rounded Point Judith. Then the sidewheeler pointed her nose into the very heart of the gale and continued down through Block Island sound without any unusual incident until she was well abeam of Watch hill, and within five or six miles of Fisher’s island. Collides with a Schooner. Just here the schooner Harry Knowlton. coal-laden, crashed Into the port side of the Larchmont,driving her liow half way through the steamer. While she hung there the water was kept out of the Larchmont, but the pounding of the sen soon separated the vessels, and the Larchmont was sinking in a moment. As the water struck the boiler room great clouds of steam arose and the panic-stricken,passengers were at first under the Impression that n fire had broken out on board. They rushed to the deck. Few of them had waited to clothe themselves. Crew Answers the Call of Duty. Their fear was so great that the first penetrating blast of the zero temperature was disregarded, but the suffering from the cold and water soon became Intense. It was too late then to return below, for the cabins were all

flooded, and the steamer, floundering around in the high seas, was sinking ■with a rapidity that sent terror to the hearts of the officers and crew. These men were prompt in answering Captain McVey's call to quarters. While some of the seamen held back the frantic passengers by brute strength others were preparing to lower the lifeboats and rafts. There was not time to think of the comfort of any one. Even before the boats were cut away Captain McVey knew that the list of victims would be greater than those who survived.

SHRIEKS DROWN THE TEMPEST Of All Who Got Off Only Nineteen Persons Reach, Shore. It was a physical impossibility for any but the most hardened to withstand the cold, which turned ears and noses white with the frost, and which so benumbed feet that both the passengers and members of the crew stumbled rather than walked to the small craft in which they were to leave the sinking ship. Shrieks of agonized pain drowned the roar of the Inrusbing water. Pandemonium reigned supreme, but in spite of it the women on board, suffering more intensely than the men, were placed in lifeboats, the male passengers and members, of the crew selecting the unprotected rafts as their place of escape.

Captain McVey remained on the upper deck directing his officersand crew until every one on board appeared to have been cared for. He ordered all lifeboats and rafts cut away, and before he stepped into his own boat he stood on the upper deck a moment to see that his order was executed. Then he ordered that his boat, the largest on board, be cleared away. Before the men had an opportunity to loosen the tackles the bottom of the boat rested on top of the surging sea which was raging over the hurricane deck, and for n moment it seemed as though the lifeboat would be dragged down before she could be freed from the doomed steamer. Every hand in the boat was too cold to handle a kplfe and cut the ropes, which, however, slipped through the tackles and set the boat adrift just as the vessel became submerged. The pitiable condition of the passengers was Increased a hundred fold the moment they had launched their boats. Every wave sent its dash of spray over boats and their contents. Soon a thin, coating of ice enveloped every one. Those who were fully clothed suffered from frozen faces and numbed feet, but there were many who had on only their nightclothes. Remember The Democrat office tor job printing.

SEVEN HOUKS IN AN OPEN BOAT Names of Those Who Were Saved— Bodies Recovered. The nearest land was Fisher’s point, five miles away, but It was imj>ossible to make head against the furious gale blowing off that point. So the captain’s boat was headed for Block Island, fifteen miles bff. This point required seven hours to reach and those alive in the bont were well nigh dead. Other boats drifted In later, and thq total number of sun Ivors Is only nine* teen. Forty-eight bodies have washed ashore. The names of the survivors are as follow’s: Passengers Mr. and Mrs. Harris Feldman, Providence; Richard Hall, Providence: Davis Fox, Bridgeport, N. J.; Samuel L. Combe. Manchester, N. H.; Miss Sarah Gallup, New York; Antonio Rosan, Oliver Lanvier, Fred Hiergsell and Mannert Took. Officers and crew Captain Geo. W. McVey, Purser Oscar A. Young, Quartermaster James Stables, Fireman James Yarn, Fireman Martin Varn, Fireman Martin Llebert and Fireman John Logan, all of Providence; Water Louis MacFnrland. Wellington. N. C.; Anthony Heidt and Frank Riley, deckhands, New York. The crew of the Harry Knowlton kept her afloat as long as they could, and when forced to leave she was close to land and they got ashore in ths boats nearly frozen, but uninjured.