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The Bismarck Tribune
Bismarck, Mandan, Burleigh County, Morton County, North Dakota
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The steamer Florizel wrecked off Cape Race, Newfoundland, on Feb. 26 due to navigational error in a storm. Survivors in St. Johns described rapid drownings, a massive wave killing dozens, and endurance in the wireless house amid deaths from injuries and exposure.
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Captain of Florizel in State of Collapse When He Reached the Shore
MANY PATHETIC SCENES
St. Johns, N. F., Feb. 26. Graphic stories of rescues from the wrecked steamer Florizel were related today by the survivors recovering here from the terrible hardships they endured before they were saved from the steamer.
When the captain of the Florizel reached here he was in such a state of collapse that he could make no statement. Members of the crew said the mistake in reckoning which brought the Florizel head on to the coast twenty miles north of Cape Race when all hands thought she was well out to sea she turned westward for Halifax, was due to running without the patent log. The heavy snow forming an icy crust as it struck the sea, made it impossible to use the log to register the steamer's progress against the storm. The steamer, therefore, was navigated by dead reckoning and as frequently happens in this region of shifting currents and baffling winds, the calculations were off. Many of the persons were swept to death half clad, in less than 15 minutes after the steamer struck the rocks. Many were drowned at the foot of the companionways by seas which filled the saloon.
Directed by officers, the crew looked after their passengers and those who escaped from the saloon sought safety on the bridge deck. Two hours later, a giant wall of water thundered upon them, wrecking the structure bodily from its base and engulfing 30 men and women. A short while later, 0 persons, clinging desperately to the roof of the smoking room, met a similar fate.
The stout construction of the wireless house saved most of the survivors. Thirty-two persons piled into this room; packed so closely they could neither sit nor lie down. They were without food, water, or adequate clothing. They were often engulfed by seas. Some of them badly injured by flying timbers and other wreckage died as they stood. The pitiful manner in which members of families died one by one was graphically described by survivors.
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Location
St. Johns, N. F.; Twenty Miles North Of Cape Race
Event Date
Feb. 26
Story Details
The steamer Florizel wrecked due to a mistake in dead reckoning during a storm, without using the patent log because of heavy snow. It struck rocks twenty miles north of Cape Race. Many passengers drowned quickly or were swept away by waves. Survivors sheltered in the wireless house, enduring hardships as some died from injuries and exposure.