Daniel Steinmann (ship)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
The Daniel Steinmann was a passenger ship of the Belgian shipping company White Cross Line that was put into service in 1875. It operated as an ocean liner on the Atlantic Ocean and carried passengers and cargo between Antwerp and New York . On April 3, 1884, the Daniel Steinmann ran near the lighthouse of Sambro Island at the entrance to the port of Halifax in stormy seas and thick fog on the Mad Rock Shoal reef and went under within a few minutes. Of the 130 people on board, only nine were rescued, including the captain.
The ship
The 1,785-ton steamer Daniel Steinmann ran in 1875 under the name Khedive in the shipyard of John Cockerill in the Antwerp district of Hoboken by the stack . It was built for the company A. Smyers & Cie, which used it in the Baltic States . The almost 85 meter long hull was made of iron and divided by five watertight bulkheads . Up to 900 people could be accommodated on two decks . The two masts were provided with the rigging of a brigantine . The ship was insured for $ 100,000 in Paris .
In 1877 the ship was bought by the White Cross Line. The White Cross Line was a Belgian shipping company based in Antwerp. It went back to the company Steinmann, Ludwig & Cie, founded in Antwerp in 1854, which operated a busy emigration service to New York with chartered sailing ships.
The founder was the Swiss shipping pioneer, shipowner and Swiss consul in Antwerp Daniel Steinmann (1825–1903), who emigrated from St. Gallen to Antwerp in 1852 . The ship was named after him. In 1879 he teamed up with the Antwerp-based shipping company Engels Line, whereupon Steinmann, Ludwig & Cie became the White Cross Line. The Daniel Steinmann drove on the Antwerp – Halifax – New York route that is typical for its shipping company. It mainly brought emigrants to North America .
Downfall
On Thursday, March 20, 1884, the Daniel Steinmann departed Antwerp under the command of Captain Henri Schoonhoven for another crossing across the Atlantic to Halifax and New York. Schoonhoven was only 26 years old, but enjoyed an excellent reputation as a captain. On board were 90 passengers and 40 crew members. The passengers were mainly German emigrants . The trip was calm and the weather was consistently good. Two weeks later, on April 3, 1884, the steamer approached Halifax on the coast of Nova Scotia . This was where 20 passengers should disembark, 14 of whom wanted to travel on to Sherbrooke . The remaining passengers were booked for New York. 350 tons of cargo were also to be unloaded in Halifax and transported on to St. John , Amherst , Quebec , Montreal and Toronto . In the meantime a storm had set in, bringing with it high waves. Lightning flashed through the darkness. There was also thick fog, heavy rainfall and occasional gusts of snow .
Around 18.00 captain took Schoonhoven true lights, which he for the lighthouse Chebucto Head Lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula Chebucto held. This point marks the southwestern boundary of the natural bay Halifax Harbor, in the port of Halifax is. An attempt was made to determine the position of Daniel Steinmann using dead reckoning . The ship was about 25 miles from the lighthouse. Schoonhoven had the water depth measured every hour using a plumb line . The stretch of coast was very rocky and was considered very dangerous. The water was also relatively shallow. Due to these conditions and the bad weather, the speed was greatly reduced. The lights we saw disappeared again and again in the fog and could only be seen every four to five minutes. The Daniel Steinmann was nevertheless kept strictly on its course.
At around 9.45 p.m. the starboard lights were suddenly clearly visible and the Sambro foghorn could be heard twice. Captain Schoonhoven realized that it was not Chebucto Head Lighthouse but Sambro Island Lighthouse and that his ship was therefore in a completely different position and on the wrong course. He ordered the rudder to be turned to port, but it was too late. Immediately afterwards, the Daniel Steinmann hit the rocks of the Mad Rock Shoal reef twice. The ship shuddered from the collision . It shot over the rocks and came back into open water.
Fearful passengers and crew came running on deck. Captain Schoonhoven instructed the first and second officers to lower the lifeboats , with women and children being put in first. While the Daniel Steinmann continued to drift towards the cliffs on the bank, huge breakers sloshed over the ship. Attempts were made to lower the anchors to stabilize the ship. Panic and despair reigned on board . A few minutes after the first grounding, there was another collision. A huge wave collapsed over the ship and carried the people on deck with it. After the Daniel Steinmann was thrown against the rocks a third time, she went under within a very short time and took several lifeboats with her that were still hanging in their davits . Less than 20 minutes had passed since the first collision.
Of the 130 people on board, nine survived, including the captain, five crew members and three passengers. Five crew members and two passengers reached land in a lifeboat, the captain and one passenger had clung to the top of the mast of the shipwreck and were rescued alive the next morning. In the days after the accident, around 40 boats took part in the recovery of the dead. Despite these efforts, only eleven bodies were found, most of which were severely disfigured. After the storm subsided, the wreck was inspected by divers. The masts protruded clearly from the water. The disaster was followed by an official investigation by the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries.
The wreck
The wreck of the Daniel Steinmann lies upright at a depth of about 25 meters 20 miles off Halifax. It is surrounded by metal planks and planks of the decking, but also by wine and champagne bottles that were part of the cargo. The wreck is a popular and widely explored diving destination.
literature
- The wreck. Captain Schoonhoven Tells the Story of the Disaster . Reprint of the newspaper articles of the New York Herald from 1884. In: The Palatine Immigrant , Columbus / Ohio, vol. 38, no. 4, September 2013, pp. 6-11
Web links
- Brief summary of tech specs and doom
- Summary of contemporary newspaper reports about the accident
- The White Cross Line in The Ships List
- The Daniel Steinmann as a diving destination
- MANY LIVES LOST AT SEA (report in the New York Times, April 5, 1884)
- THE VESSEL AND HER OFFICERS (report in the New York Times, April 5, 1884)
- Entry in the ship directory Miramar Ship Index
- Biography of Daniel Steinmann with a note about Daniel Steinmann
Coordinates: 44 ° 13'59.9 " N , 64 ° 21'56.9" W.