Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 97, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1901 — SCORES LOST AT SEA. [ARTICLE]

SCORES LOST AT SEA.

STEAMER ISLANDER STRIKES AN ICEBERG AND SINKS. ■*> Boilers of Ship Explode aa She Goes Down, Killing Many Who Might Have Escaped—Accident Off Douglas Island, Alaska, Kills Sixty-five. The steamer Islander, the flagship of the Canadian Pacific Navigation fleet and the largest and fastest passenger steamer on the Vietoria : Skngway route, collided with an iceberg off Douglas Island, Alaska, vrhile on her way south with the largest number of passengers thaE" she has carried since she was replaced on the run a few months ago, and sunk within fifteen minutes after striking. Capt. Foote, her master, and about sixty-five persons, including passengers and members of the crew, were drowned. To add to the horror of the terrible disaster, her boilers exploded- as she went down, causing the death of many of those who were struggling in the water. The survivors tell frightful stories of the panic that prevailed upon the ship after she struck the iceberg. Nearly all the passengers were asleep at the time. Many of them rushed frantically to the decks when they were aroused by the shock. A struggle for life preservers followed, in whi(fh a number of the voyagers were injured. Enough buoys were distributed, however, to save tile lives of many who otherwise would have been Among the lost are Mrs. Ross, the wife of the governor of Y’ukon Territory, her child and niece.

There was $275,000 in gold on the steamer, SIOO,OOO of which was carried by passengers. H. H. Hart, who has spent sixteen years in the Klondike,, lost $35,000 in dust. United States Consul Smith, of Victoria, gleaned the following story of the wreck from the survivors: “The Islander left Skagway for Victoria with 125 passengers and a crew of sixty-one men on bourd and ten or twelve stowaways. All went well, the steamer making her usual record of fifteen knots an hour until Juneau was passed and the south end of Douglas Island was reached. Then suddenly the steamer encountered an obstruction, said to have been an iceberg, and stopped with a jerk which aroused many of the sleeping passengers. As soon as the vessel struck water rushed in forward in great volumes, and the pilot advised that the vessel be run on the beach, not over half a mile distant, at once. To this the captain objected, saying the beach was too abrupt. He thought there was no immediate danger, but would run a few miles farther down where he knew there was a good landing. “Meanwhile the passengers, aroused to their peril, appeared on deck and a rush was made to the purser, who had been given treasures for safekeeping. I’urser Bishop handed all out except two bags of SIO,OOO cash. which were not claimed, and went down with the vessel. The bow of the steamer steadily sunk and twenty minutes from the time it struck the front deck was under water and the stem, with propeller and rudder, were high in the air and useless. “The captain remained on the bridge until the last and finally jumped on a life raft where he stayed a few minutes, when the steumer dove forward entirely out of sight. As it did so an explosion occurred, and the captain lost his hold on the life raft and sank. “Considerable difficulty was experienced in ascertaining the location of the shore, though it was only a short distance away, owing to the dense fog prevailing, Finally Mr. Preston, of Seattle find Dawson, who with his bride was on his wedding trip, both of whom were saved in the last boat which left the wreck, heard water trickling down the rocks, and all the boats reached shore. A number jumped off the steamer into the water and were rescued therefrom only to die of exhaustion from the intense cold.