The Manacle rocks, on the Cornish coast, have nearly been
the scene of another great digester. The Mail steamship Paris,' of the American Line, which left Southampton last Saturday, called at Cherbourg for passengers, and while making a good run down the Channel, struck on the Lowland Point of the Manacles at about 1.30 a.m. on Sunday morning. Fortunately, the sea was so calm that the Captain was able to row ashore and wire for tugs to Falmouth, where the passengers were all safely landed soon after 7 o'clock. As daylight broke the masts of the Mohegan,' which foundered on October 14th last with a loss of over one hundred lives, were seen in the immediate neighbourhood. No adequate explanation of the mishap—official or otherwise—is yet forthcoming, though it is suggested that the hazy weather and the flood tide on the port bow may have set the liner out of her course. Officers and crew behaved admirably, but the most reassuring feature of the accident was the entire absence of panic on the part of the passengers, such perfect order prevailing that, to quote one account, the "scene resembled a slow procession of women and children walking in single file to the boats." The 'Paris,' it may be added, is at once a lucky and an unlucky ship. In 1890, on her return journey from New York, her engines broke down and for three days she was perfectly helpless, but on that occasion also not a single life was lost.
Previous page
