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REPORT ON WRECK OF S.S. FLORIZEL. Left St. John’s by the S.S. “Home,” Captain Spracklin in command on Sunday February 24th, at 12:45 p.m., to go to the assistance of wrecked steamer “Florizel.” Wind blowing a strong breeze from W.N.W., with a very high sea running the shoals off Cape Spear breaking continually. Passed S.S. “Terra Nova,” off the Cape 1:20 p.m., the S.S. “Gordon C.” about one mile ahead, passed through considerable slob ice from the Cape to within a short distance of Ferryland Lighthouse. Caught up with “Gordon C.,” just before getting out of slob ice. After getting in clear water, “Gordon C.” gained a little on the “Home,” leading on our starboard bow when wreck was reached about six minutes. Time of arrival on scene 5:58 p.m. At this time there was no sign of “Terra Nova,” astern. Both ships, “Home” and “Gordon C.” were quite near the wreck. The “Gordon C.” being nearest, and although it was not yet dark and the wrecked steamer could be seen quite distinctly, no sign of life was visible anywhere about the ship. In fact the Captain of the “Gordon C,” brought his ship around the stern of the “Home,” just about dark and reported to us that he could see nobody alive. I think the crews of both these ships felt perfectly satisfied that there was nobody living onboard the “Florizel,” as the seas were continually sweeping over the ship. The Captain of the “Gordon C,” after speaking to us, proceeded down the shore towards Renews or Fermeuse for the night. Captain Spracklin then consulted me as to whether we would also go to Fermeuse and report, I said that it was a nice moonlight night with the wind and sea going down and thought it would be alright to anchor off the wreck, so that we may be on the spot early in the morning, which the Captain, being anxious to do all possible, decided upon, and after finding the depth of water ordered the anchor to be let go. I immediately asked Captain Spracklin to let me have a boat, which after telling me to be very careful, he issued orders to have lowered. The boat was manned by Naval Reservists, as follows: Reid, and myself. The time we left the “Home,” was about 6:40 p.m. the boat being in charge of me, we proceeded to the wreck, getting to about 100 yards from the “Florizel,” which we could see quite plainly. We were so near that on one or two occasions we were able to make out anybody onboard who would have been around the upper part of the deck near the forecastle head, Marconi house or fiddleys. The seas were running exceedingly high and we were compelled to back our boat in, so as to have her head on to the sea. I then asked the crew in the boat to call out with me, in order to get a reply from anybody onboard if living. The seas were continually going over the “Florizel” at the time, so much so, that it would prevent anybody from exposing themselves to answer our call, although I feel certain some of the survivors must have heard us. One of the Naval Reservists then called my attention to a light near the smoke stack and at the same time, I thought I saw two dim lights in the bow. First we thought it was the reflection of the light from the shore or the moon; but after pulling our boat back and forth, so as to close in upon the moonlight and the light from the shore, we satisfied ourselves that the lights were really onboard the “Florizel.” After making several attempts to go nearer the ship, which at the time was an extremely dangerous procedure, and not getting any response to our calls, we decided to go onboard the “Home” and report what we saw. In the meantime if we had got any response to our calls that night, I feel sure we would have boarded the “Florizel” even in spite of such trying conditions. When we could get no reply from the ship, we thought that the lights seen onboard might have been from somewhere under the deck, clear of the water and had not yet burned out. We reported that we saw three lights when we got onboard the “Home.” The crew of the “Home” did not think we got near enough to see the lights and were of the opinion that it was the reflection of the lights from the shore or the moon. About 8 p.m., we got onboard again. Our boat was then hoisted up in davits, as it was impossible to do anything until the sea went down and daylight came. The “Hawk” arrived about 9 p.m., and after speaking to us, took a position inside of us and nearer the wreck, where she remained during the night. The “Prospero” arrived about 1 a.m., on Monday the 25th, which ship also took a position inside the “Home” and nearer the wreck. At 1:25 a.m., Captain Spracklin ordered the boat lowered again, which was manned by Naval Reservists in charge of Captain Day. Boats from the “Prospero” and “Hawk” were also there, but could do nothing, therefore all boats returned to their ships again. At 4:35 a.m., the “Terra Nova” and the “Gordon C.” arrived at the scene. At 5:35 a.m., Captain Spracklin again ordered our boat to be lowered, which was in charge of Captain Day, with four Naval Reservists and myself. We were in near the wreck with boats from the “Prospero,” “Terra Nova,” “Hawk,” and “Gordon C.” waiting for daylight. As soon as it became daylight, the work of rescuing the survivors began. The dories from the steamers, “Gordon C.” “Hawk,” and “Terra Nova” working in conjunction with the boats of the “Home” and “Prospero,” managed to save all of the survivors. At 8 a.m., all who were alive onboard of the “Florizel” were rescued. Our boat was also the very last to leave the scene of the wreck, after we had fully satisfied ourselves that nobody else was left onboard alive, all ships then rushed for St. John’s, as several of the survivors needed medical assistance. Arrived at St. John’s on Monday 25th, at 12:15 p.m. The men who took such an active part amidst such a raging sea in rescuing the survivors from the “Florizel” deserve every consideration, and I sincerely hope that the Government will take steps to procure Royal Humane Society Medals for all who took a leading part in this heroic work. Having received conflicting stories as to what was being done towards recovering the bodies from the wreck, and having been asked that a diver be sent to assist in the work, on Wednesday evening the 27th of February, I went by train to Fermeuse, accompanied by the Hon. Tasker Cook, and Diver Taylor with his full diving outfit. There we boarded the “Terra Nova” and proceeded to the wreck, which we thoroughly inspected outside and as far as possible below decks. Nothing could be done by the diver, owing to drift timber, broken cargo and debris, which were strewn all over the interior of the ship. Boats from the shore had already been onboard and had removed any bodies from the ship. As nothing further could be done in this direction, we returned to Town by “Terra Nova” arriving here about 5:35 p.m., on Thursday the 28th ult. I further telegraphed the Wreck Commissioner Mr. T. McCarthy at Cappahaden as follows:- “Use every possible effort to recover all bodies from the sea. Employ special crew for this purpose only.” On Saturday the 2nd March, arrangements were made by which the “Ingraham” was sent to the wreck, with a special crew for the purpose of further search and recovery. On arrival there, I further instructed the shore crews under Messrs. LeDrew and Lawlor to further continue their search. The “Ingraham” remained on the spot until 5:35 p.m., on Sunday, being forced to leave through stress of weather, sheltering at Fermeuse until Tuesday morning, when we returned to St. John’s, arriving about noon on Tuesday 5th March.
MINISTER OF MARINE AND FISHERIES. St. John’s, |
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