Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1889 — AN AWFUL DISASTER. [ARTICLE]

AN AWFUL DISASTER.

Hevea Hundred Lives Probably Lost by the Sinking of a Steamer. .-*■ The following dispatch from London was received at the Maritime Exchange, New York, Friday/ morning*. “The steamer Danmark, from Christiansand, was seen April 8 abandoned in midocean.” The Danmark belongs to the Tfaingvalla Line of steamers plying* between New Y6rk and Copenhagen. She was formerly the Jane Rydel, of the WhiferCross tine: She is said to have had 650 passengers on board, mostly Scandinavians. Fanch, Edye & Co., the agents of the company, say that they place no reliance in the dispatch, but have cabled to agents in London and Copenhagen for further information.

The greatest excitement prevails in shipping circles over the loss of the Danmark. The Thingvalla Line is probably the largest carrying immigrant line that plies between New York and Europe. The Danmark had on board, when she left Christiansand for New York, on the 26th of March, 650 passengers, presumably all immigrants. Including the vessel’s Captain, R. M. Kunasen, the crew numbered forty men. The New York agent of the Thingvalla line Friday said: “We|have here a cable dispatch to the effect that the Danmark left Christiansand on March 26, on her first voyage under her new flag and name. The had been completely overhauled, and it was thought by all that she was the best of our fleet. There were on board of her at the time of her departure at least 710 people. Of these 650 were passengers. To manage and to look after the comfort of this large number of passengers there must have been at least 60 in the crew and probably the number may have reached 100 or perhaps 125. There are, therefore, to be accounted for the lives of from 710 to 775 people. The Danmark is commanded by Captain Kundsen, an old seaman, well known for his courage and presence of mind, and he is not the man to abandon a ship to the mercies of the sea when there is one chance in evena thousand of getting heir into port And we do not believe that he has abandoned href. She may have been disabled, but we are very nearly certain that she has not been abandoned. We have taken steps to discover if there is truth in the story. At JC.3J o’clock Friday morning we sent off two Cables. One was to the Lloyds, in London, asking for further particulars of the abandonment, if such were to be had, and also for the name of the ship that says she sighted the Danmark in such a condition. The second of the two cables was to the home office in Copenhagen, also asking for particulars and for advice, and for the names of those 650 people who sailed on the Danmark. < “The position in which the Danmark is said to have been sighted abandoned is one in which she might very easily have been at the time, 2*pril 8. She had at that time been out from Christiansand thirteen days. I do not think it at all improbable that some fearful calamity might have befallen her, but please allow us to state to the number of friends of Danmark’s passengers that we don’t believe she has been abandoned. No incoming steamship to this port reporfe any life boats or rafts that might have belonged to the Danmark. Even if the Danmark had been abandoned she had sufficient means to accommodate all the passengers on board if not all the crew. There were a great number of life boats—enough for the great passenger list—and several new life rafts of the latest pattern and improvements, which could have accommodated the crew and officers and some of the passengers if there was not enough room in the life boats for them.” THE REPORT CONFIRMED. The Inman line steamer, Ci ( y of Chester, Capt. Bond, from New York, April 2 for Liverpool, arrived at Queenstown, Friday. She reports that on April 8 in latitude 46° north, longitude 37° west, she passed the Danish steamer Denmark from Christiansand, Copenhagen, etc., for New York. The Danmark had oeen abandoned by her crew. Her stern was level With the sea and her bow stood* high out of the water. She was apparently sinking. The Danmark was a vessel of ’2,260 tons; bark rigged, and was 340 feet lotg, forty feet in breadth and twenty-six feet deep. She was built at New -Castle, Eng., in 1880. It is believed the passengers were rescued.