"Steamer Sunk in Boston Harbor The Ottomon Comes Into Collision with the H.M. Whitney of the Metropolitan Line Boston, Mass., Sept. 28 – [Special] – Within seven minutes after it left its wharf this evening the steamer H.M. Whitney of the Metropolitan line, plying between Boston and New York, was lying in midchannel with its nose in the muddy bottom of the harbor and two holes in its starboard side, made by the prow of the steamship Ottoman of the Warren line. The collision was the result of a misunderstanding of signals. The Ottoman was coming up from quarantine and the H.M. Whitney had just started for New York. They met in the channel, both vessels going at a slow rate of speed. Capt. Hallett of the Whitney says he gave two whistles and that the Ottoman answered him with two. Capt. Williams of the Ottoman says he heard only one whistle and that he answered it with one. The result was that the Ottoman crashed into the Whitney’s starboard bow near the foremast. The force of the collision knocked everybody and everything on the Whitney endwise. In an instant it filled and sank. The water tight compartments held the Whitney’s stern above water. Fortunately no lives were lost and no one was injured by the collision. The Ottoman suffered only slightly, a small hole being stove in the bow below the water line and a few of the iron plated being started. The Whitney cost $250,000 and is fully covered by insurance. Its cargo is valued at $150,000. Arrangements have been made to begin the work of raising the Whitney at once." – Chicago Tribune, September 29, 1892, p. 1.
Description: "Steamer Sunk in Boston Harbor The Ottomon Comes Into Collision with the H.M. Whitney of the Metropolitan Line Boston, Mass., Sept. 28 – [Special] – Within seven minutes after it left its wharf this evening the steamer H.M. Whitney of the Metropolitan line, plying between Boston and New York, was lying in midchannel with its nose in the muddy bottom of the harbor and two holes in its starboard side, made by the prow of the steamship Ottoman of the Warren line. The collision was the result of a misunderstanding of signals. The Ottoman was coming up from quarantine and the H.M. Whitney had just started for New York. They met in the channel, both vessels going at a slow rate of speed. Capt. Hallett of the Whitney says he gave two whistles and that the Ottoman answered him with two. Capt. Williams of the Ottoman says he heard only one whistle and that he answered it with one. The result was that the Ottoman crashed into the Whitney’s starboard bow near the foremast. The force of the collision knocked everybody and everything on the Whitney endwise. In an instant it filled and sank. The water tight compartments held the Whitney’s stern above water. Fortunately no lives were lost and no one was injured by the collision. The Ottoman suffered only slightly, a small hole being stove in the bow below the water line and a few of the iron plated being started. The Whitney cost $250,000 and is fully covered by insurance. Its cargo is valued at $150,000. Arrangements have been made to begin the work of raising the Whitney at once." – Chicago Tribune, September 29, 1892, p. 1. [show more]
"Steamer Sunk in Boston Harbor The Ottomon Comes Into Collision with the H.M. Whitney of the Metropolitan Line Boston, Mass., Sept. 28 – [Special] – Within seven minutes after it left its wharf this evening the steamer H.M. Whitney of the Metropolitan line, plying between Boston and New York, was lying in midchannel with its nose in the muddy bottom of the harbor and two holes in its starboard side, made by the prow of the steamship Ottoman of the Warren line. The collision was the result of a misunderstanding of signals. The Ottoman was coming up from quarantine and the H.M. Whitney had just started for New York. They met in the channel, both vessels going at a slow rate of speed. Capt. Hallett of the Whitney says he gave two whistles and that the Ottoman answered him with two. Capt. Williams of the Ottoman says he heard only one whistle and that he answered it with one. The result was that the Ottoman crashed into the Whitney’s starboard bow near the foremast. The force of the collision knocked everybody and everything on the Whitney endwise. In an instant it filled and sank. The water tight compartments held the Whitney’s stern above water. Fortunately no lives were lost and no one was injured by the collision. The Ottoman suffered only slightly, a small hole being stove in the bow below the water line and a few of the iron plated being started. The Whitney cost $250,000 and is fully covered by insurance. Its cargo is valued at $150,000. Arrangements have been made to begin the work of raising the Whitney at once." – Chicago Tribune, September 29, 1892, p. 1.
Description: "Steamer Sunk in Boston Harbor The Ottomon Comes Into Collision with the H.M. Whitney of the Metropolitan Line Boston, Mass., Sept. 28 – [Special] – Within seven minutes after it left its wharf this evening the steamer H.M. Whitney of the Metropolitan line, plying between Boston and New York, was lying in midchannel with its nose in the muddy bottom of the harbor and two holes in its starboard side, made by the prow of the steamship Ottoman of the Warren line. The collision was the result of a misunderstanding of signals. The Ottoman was coming up from quarantine and the H.M. Whitney had just started for New York. They met in the channel, both vessels going at a slow rate of speed. Capt. Hallett of the Whitney says he gave two whistles and that the Ottoman answered him with two. Capt. Williams of the Ottoman says he heard only one whistle and that he answered it with one. The result was that the Ottoman crashed into the Whitney’s starboard bow near the foremast. The force of the collision knocked everybody and everything on the Whitney endwise. In an instant it filled and sank. The water tight compartments held the Whitney’s stern above water. Fortunately no lives were lost and no one was injured by the collision. The Ottoman suffered only slightly, a small hole being stove in the bow below the water line and a few of the iron plated being started. The Whitney cost $250,000 and is fully covered by insurance. Its cargo is valued at $150,000. Arrangements have been made to begin the work of raising the Whitney at once." – Chicago Tribune, September 29, 1892, p. 1. [show more]
Last of four ships of the Kaiser class, she was also the last German ship to have been built with four funnels. She was engaged in transatlantic service between her homeport of Bremen and New York until the outbreak of World War I when she sought safety at Bar Harbor. She was carrying c. $10,000,000 in gold and $3,400,000 in silver. "One morning in the summer of 1914 my husband got up and looked out the window, then called me and said in a tone of utter amazement, “There’s an ocean liner in the harbor.” Everyone knows the story of the "Kronprinzessin Cecile," how the news of the war had overtaken her in mid-ocean with her cargo of $10 million in American gold and a full complement of 1200 passengers…" - "Only in Maine: Selections from Down East Magazine," edited by Duane Doolittle, foreword by John Gould, “Old Bar Harbor Days” chapter by Marian L. Peabody, Downeast Enterprise Incorporated, Camden, Maine, 1969, p. 244.
Description: Last of four ships of the Kaiser class, she was also the last German ship to have been built with four funnels. She was engaged in transatlantic service between her homeport of Bremen and New York until the outbreak of World War I when she sought safety at Bar Harbor. She was carrying c. $10,000,000 in gold and $3,400,000 in silver. "One morning in the summer of 1914 my husband got up and looked out the window, then called me and said in a tone of utter amazement, “There’s an ocean liner in the harbor.” Everyone knows the story of the "Kronprinzessin Cecile," how the news of the war had overtaken her in mid-ocean with her cargo of $10 million in American gold and a full complement of 1200 passengers…" - "Only in Maine: Selections from Down East Magazine," edited by Duane Doolittle, foreword by John Gould, “Old Bar Harbor Days” chapter by Marian L. Peabody, Downeast Enterprise Incorporated, Camden, Maine, 1969, p. 244. [show more]