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Show 51 MOWNEB. k Mm Emigrant Ship Sunk I in tiie ' Moditerransan Sea. Caused by Colliding With One of the SSritish Ironclads. The li!-Fated Vessel Goes Down Amid Awful Shrieks of Women and Children. Gibraltar, March IS. The steamship steam-ship Utopia, from Italian ports, bound to New York, with 700 Italians aboard, collided yesterday with the British ironclad, Itoclney, anchored in Gibraltar Gibral-tar bay, and sank soon after. A southwest gale was blowing at the time. One account of the disaster attributes attri-butes it to the fact that the British warship Ansun was drifting before the gale and rammed the Utopia abaft its funnel. The Utopia was impaled on the spar of the Anson's ram and almost immediately sank. Everything possible possi-ble was done by the officers and seamen. sea-men. Four seamen were washed overboard and drowued from one of the war boat's steam launches while taking part in the rescue. The scene after the collision was frightful. On one side the sinking steamship, crowded with 700 immigrants immi-grants shrieking with fright, and to the right and left of the sinking vessel were the monster battle ships Rodney and Anson, pouring light from their powerful electric reflectors upon the disabled steamship. Here and there were warships and small boats manned by bluejackets who strained every nerve as they bent their ears in the heavy sea, striving gallantly to reach the drowning passengers. The rescued passengers areijestimated to number about 200, possibly more, who were cared for on the var ships or taken ashore and housed in government buildings. At this hour, 3:30 p.m., the number of persons saved is said to be 331, and the loss of life about 400, possibly less. Already thirty-two bodies have been recovered. Divers from the war ships are at work above the spot where the Utopia sank, seeking seek-ing to recover the dead bodies. Londox, March 18. The agents in this city of the Anchor line, to which the Utopia beloimed, have been informed in-formed that the Utopia struck abaft the engine room, and that she sank stern foremost five minutes after the collision, in seven fathoms of water. The agents announce that they find it difficult to ascertain the exact number of lives lost, but they say that 130 Italians were sayed, and that eight bodies have been washed ashore and that there are 173 persons rescued from the Utopia alive who are on board the British war ships. The agents add thefoseeof the gale, which still prevails pre-vails in Gibraltar Bay, prevents the people on shore from communicating satisfactorily with the commanders ot the war ships, so they are unable to ascertain the names of the survivors. Several boats belonging to the fleet were wrecked while engaged in the rescue. Gi nit altar. MarchjS The divers and boats' crewt"vvUo have been at work a4Uiay in ecffrrt3 being made by the British nPyal authorities to receive re-ceive as many "aa i)Stfsible of the bodies bod-ies of the passengers and crew of the sunken steamer Utopia, haye at this hour received ninety bodies. Among those saved from the sinking vessel by the boats of the men-of-war were twenty of the Utopia's crew. C. M. Davis, ot Boston, saloon passenger, is among those reported missing. Offi- cers and crew of her majesty's ship Anson stated that the Utopia fouled with the ram of the Anson and thus caused the damage which resulted in the passenger steamer sisking. The Anson's officers assert that no blame can be attached to the war vessel. It is now believed the loss of life by the sinking of the steamer Utopia yesterday yes-terday will reach 570. Petersen, the Swedish quartermaster quartermas-ter who had been steering the Utopia a short time before the collision, says just before the vessels came together he went below. AVhile there he felt the shock of the collision and iushed from below, but before he reached the main deck the Utopia had gone broadside broad-side upon the spar of the Anson's ram. The commander of the Utopia, Captain Cap-tain McKeane, according to Peterson, was on the steamship's bridge until the last moment. Petersen adds that as the Utopia was crushed by the Anson's An-son's ram, he clambered up the davits of one of the steamship's boats and cut the ropes holding it. He had no time, however, to lower the boat away, as the bows of the Utopia had passed beneath the warship and it was evident tint the passenger steamer was rapidly rap-idly sinking. Soon after, the boats of the Anson having been promptly lowered, low-ered, one of the man-of-war's cutters ran along side of the Utopia and Petersen Pe-tersen managed to jump iuto her. He says while on board of the Utopia after af-ter the collision he was surrounded by a terrible mass of human beings fight ing their way desperately and savagely, savage-ly, regardless of sex or age, towards the boats. Men, women and children tumbled and climbed over each other in that horrible light for a chance of escaping from drowning. One poor women who was rescued by Anson's bluejackets went raving mad when she was convinced that her children were drowned. There were similar distressing incidents by the score, the most awful of all occuring when the Utopia, with a final lurch, sank with her human freight clinging about htr and drew hundreds of living persons down with her. Many of those who sprang into the sea as they saw the steamship could not float many moments mo-ments longer wert then also drawn down in the awful whirlpool caused by the Utopia's disappearance. Some came to the surface again for a few moments before sinking finally in their watery tombs. Others more lucky, were aide to cling to pieces of wreckage, wreck-age, floating spars, oars, cralings, hatchways, boats, life belts, etc., and this kept them above water until rescued res-cued by the war ship's boats. But as usual in such cases the weaker succumb suc-cumb more rapidly. Shrieking, praying pray-ing women sank to rise no more with their terrified offspring clasped to their brensts. Children clung to their par-i-c'. -. :,- perately that in several cases ti it-y caused death to both where they might have escaped had better judgment been used. At 3:30 p, m. it wafi announced that the official report of the number of persons on board the Utopia shows that when she left Naples Na-ples she had 880 souls on board including includ-ing passengers and crew. Of this number num-ber only 311 have been saved, Thus 5(9 of the passengers and crew are drowned yr missing. .. . J ...... |