March 2016 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 23. HISTORY FROM THE PAST:...
The Former Had 500 Passengers on Board and Many Had Narrow Escapes – Names of the Dead.
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New London, Connecticut, March 20. – In the fog, which decended on the waters of the Sound Thursday night, the big Fall River passenger steamer PLYMOUTH with 500 passengers and a crew of 200 men was run down while passing through the Race by the freight steamer CITY OF TAUNTON of the same line. A full hundred feet of the starboard side of the vessel was smashed in as if it had been paper, the impact threatening death to the occupants of the staterooms of the second cabin, which was cut away and obliterated as if it had never been, while down in the hold, members of the crew who were asleep in the steerage were killed by the torrent of water that poured in through the great gap made by the bows of the freighter. There was terror and dismay on the striken ship but there was no panic. Men and women comforted themselves with wonderful self control. The collision occurred after the vessel had clawed her way up the sound through a fog until she reached a point close east of Gull Island. The west bound steamer drove up from the fog and when she was sighted by the offi cers of the PLYMOUTH was too close to avoid the collision. There was a quick exchange of whistles though whether they were correctly given or not there is no statement yet available and then the crash. The bow of the westbound steamer penetrated ten feet into the hull of the PLYMOUTH and then as she backed away she raked the upper works of the passenger vessel with terrible destructiveness tearing out the second cabin and ripping the staterooms to pieces as if they had been built of cardboard. Water poured into the hold and drowned men in there bunks. The PLYMOUTH was immediately headed for this city. It was thought at one time that the ship’s company would have to take to the boats but the closing of the collision bulkhead prevented the water from gaining and the vessel made the harbor and wharf unassisted.
There was no way of telling immediately how many persons were killed. Six are dead certainly and in the mass of debris from the wrecked cabin and staterooms there may be several more bodies, while in the steerage where the water poured in like a Niagara there may be and probably are bodies of
others downed besides those reported. As the PLYMOUTH was being made fast she had taken her key early in the night ans was just on the point of unlocking the door of her stateroom to retire when she met a young lady friend. The latter induced Miss Fay to go to her room which Miss Fay has been on the point of occupying was wiped out. All her effects were lost. The CITY OF TAUNTON made his port at 5:55, Friday morning with her bows stove in and her pumps working. Her bulkhead saved her. A diver was employed during the morning in searching for bodies in the hold of the steamer.
In one of the cabins No. 204 M. H. Zack
a prominent Taunton clothier and his wife were asleep when the collision occurred. The cabin was completely demolished but strange to say neither Zack nor his wife sustained serious injuries. They lost all their personal effects, including a sum of money and some valuable diamond jewelry. In the next cabin Jonathan W. Thompson was asleep in his berth and though the cabin was not so badly torn up as that of the Zacks he was instantly killed. Zack was compelled to don the clothing of the dead man and it was through this that Thompson’s identity was established.
Speaking of his experience Mr. Zack said:
“We were wrapped in deep slumber when the impact awoke us and the cabin was crashed like an egg shell. We were thrown to the fl oor violently and the wreckage piled upon us but by a superhuman effort I pushed upward with my head and succeeded in freeing myself. Then I went to the aid of my wife. She was in a half faiting condition when I tore the twisted and splintered wreckage off her, but I succeeded in getting her to the main saloon where the stewardess aided in calming her at least to some extent. “I have nothing but the best to say of the manner in which the offi cers of the vessel acted. If there ever was bravery shown at a trying time, this was the occasion. Of course there was considerable excitement among the immense crowd of passengers; but the offi cers fl ew about with encouraging words and one of the stewardesses assisted much in allaying the excitement by telling the ladies aboard that as long as the hull was sound there was no danger and that the vessel was not injured below the waterline. I consider
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