Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 May 1899 — RACE WITH FIRE AT SEA. [ARTICLE]

RACE WITH FIRE AT SEA.

The Barbarossa Forced to Put About and Hun Into New York Harbor. The series of accidents resulting from the discovery of fire in the hold of the North German Lloyd steamer Barbarossa after she had left port was perhaps the most remarkable that ever occurred in New York harbor. Her pilot was unable to control her properly and her bow struck an Erie float that was passing in tow of a tug, punching a hole in it. This sent the Barbarossa still farther in toward shore, and after narrowly missing a crowded ferryboat she crashed bow-on into La Bretagne, which was lying at pier 41. The impact broke La Bretagne from her moorings, and she shot forward and crashed into the ice boats Richard J. Foster and Le Roy, which were lying side by side in front of her. They were cut 1b two as by a knife, and in less than a minute were at the bottom of the river. Their crews escaped by taking to the water or jumping to another ice boat near by. Had the Barbarossa struck Le Bretagne at right angles the latter would have been cut in two. As it was, she began to sink at once, but the use of tarpaulins and steady pumping kept her up, and all night the stevedores worked to unload her cargo.