Daily Event for April 18


April 12, 1884 the SS State of Florida sailed from New York bound for Glasgow, the 371' long ship could
carry about 1,100 passengers. For this trip there were 89 passengers and 78 crewmen and a large cargo
of general commodities. The State of Florida was built as Queen Margaret for the Queen Line at the Govan
yard of London & Glasgow Engine & Iron Shipbuilding Company and launched on Aug. 28, 1874.She was sold
to the State Line in 1880 and renamed State of Florida.

It was not until late April when a telegram was received in New York that concern for the safety of the ship
was questioned. Glasgow reported that the ship had not arrived, but that no anxiety was felt about the ship,
it was thought that there had been a problem with the machinery, but since she was fully rigged for sail they
felt sure she was still afloat. It must be pointed out that there was no evidence the ship had foundered, there
was also no evidence she was still afloat, this was just a statement made by the company, and indeed all
companies of that and even current times to calm the fears of the public.

Several days went by and no word came from the agent in Glasgow confirming the ship had arrived, then on
May 3 it was reported that the SS Devon had arrived in New York carrying two empty lifeboats from the State
of Florida which they had picked up on Apr. 27th, the boats were completely empty as if the people who had
been in them were picked up by a passing ship, taking even the provisions with them. They appeared to be
undamaged showing no signs of a disaster having occurred. For these reasons much of the anxiety that was
now being felt was relieved, after all it appeared those in the boats had been removed.

The same day it was reported that the City of Rome had arrived at Liverpool with word of a passing sailing
ship on Apr. 23 which sent him signals stating that on board were the shipwrecked crew of a ship named State----, the rest of the signal being unreadable, but thought to be of Florida by those ashore. With no hard evidence to
suggest what had happened to the State of Florida, but with some evidence that she had been lost the agent,
on the same day, stated that he believed the ship had sunk as a result of a dynamite explosion. He claimed that
it was thought that several Dynamiters had been aboard. (The Dynamiters were an Irish Socialist group)

Later reports dispel the "Dynamiters" reports as false and just made up, there were even rumors that the
police were awaiting the ship's arrival in Glasgow to arrest someone, presumably a Dynamiter, this also turned
out to be false. The next rumor, again without merit, was that the State of Florida had hit an iceberg and had
foundered, but again there was no hard evidence to suggest that ice caused the loss.

Finally on May 7 the final word came, the SS Titania, which was now in the St. Lawrence, signaled that she
had on board 24 persons from the State of Florida, which had been sunk in mid ocean in a collision with a
barque. For the first time those waiting learned the fate of the ship, she was gone. Several other details were
provided by the Titania, none of them comforting. They said that at least 20 others were known to have been
in lifeboats and thought to have been picked up by another ship. The information received from the Titania also
stated that none of the survivors were women.

That evening the full details of what happened were told by the 3rd Officer of the State of Florida. He said that
at 11p.m. on Apr. 18, 1884 a barque came out of the dark and rammed the ship, the barque sank in seconds
and after looking at the damage to his ship, he knew she was going to founder as well. Captain J. M. Sadler at once began to get the boats prepared and also began waking the passengers. During the process of lowering the boats a wave washed over the ship carrying away the captain and two of the boats, these were the two found by the Devon.

With the ship sinking fast, on deck panic and terror ruled. The passengers, having been awakened to the shock
that soon their ship would be on the bottom of the North Atlantic did not take the news well, especially the
women. It seems that none of the women would get into the lifeboats, and in fact totally refused to take to
them. As it turns out one woman was saved, Jane MacFarlane a stewardess was forced into a lifeboat by the
Chief Engineer, this was the last thing he ever did as the State of Florida rolled over and sank before he could
get into the same boat.

The collision destroyed two of the lifeboats, two others were washed overboard and one of those that was
launched capsized killing most of it's occupants. Only three boats safely left the dying liner and in total only
44 people were in them. It was Apr. 20 when the Norwegian bark Theresa picked them up, most were suffering from hunger and exposure having had no time to get proper clothing or food into the boats.

The barque which had rammed the State of Florida was the Ponema, she carried 15 men. Their fate was not
known until the morning when a small lifeboat with three survivors came alongside the others in the water, the
captain and two crewmen turned out to be the only survivors of the Ponema.

With too many on board the Theresa transferred 24 survivors to the Louisa on Apr. 22, on May 5 those 24 were transferred to the Donaldson Line's Titania and landed at Quebec, the others remained on the Theresa. The ocean had claimed 123 from the State of Florida and 12 from the Ponema.

© 2009 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com




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