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mamat
Starting member
USA
6 Posts |
 Posted - 19/10/2004 : 20:17:39
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Hi, folks,
I have been reading here on site about the Thingvalla/Gieser disaster....
Did they ever decide what or who was at fault? I read one fellow's story..Gieser's fault, someone else thought it was the Thingvalla's fault...
I am curious because my husband's grandfather and 3 of his siblings came to America on board the Thingvalla. A sister left Norway on the Thingvalla on Sept 3, 1885. The other sister left on June 24, 1886. Grandpa, his wife, and his brother left June 10, 1887, bound for Michigan. There were also some cousins with them. all three groups left from Kristiansand, Norway. The men and Grandpa's wife, ended up in Minnesota. The ladies moved out west.
Thanks for any info you can give me!
Nancy T |
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Borge
Veteran Moderator
Norway
1297 Posts |
Posted - 22/10/2004 : 10:37:14
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Hi
I have discussed this with Søren Thorsøe, who should be the one to know about it. According to the research he has been doing on this, he found that the case was never solved. The main witness, the mate on duty on the S/S Geiser, did not survive, and thus his testimony could never be heard. The mate on duty on the S/S Thingvalla said in his testimony that the officers in charge on both ships were aware that they were close, and that the S/S Geiser unexpectedly had changed course, and that made it impossible for the S/S Thingvalla to avoid the collision. The officers on the S/S Thingvalla had done all in their power to avoid the collision, and would have succeeded if the S/S Geiser had stayed on course.
At a later trail in Copenhagen nor the captain or the company was found to be responsible for the accident.
I assume that for the company this was the best solution, no one to blame, and no one to pay. Had the two ships been owned by two different companies the outfall might have been different, as it would have been in the interest of the two companies to put the blame on the other to get compensation. |
Børge Solem |
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mamat
Starting member
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 23/10/2004 : 02:29:21
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Thanks, Borge, I had thought from reading on this site, that the Thingvalla ran into the Geiser.... but if the Geiser changed course, it might have really been pretty difficult, as you say, for the thingvalla to avoid the crash....
I really appreciate your digging into this for me, and please convey my thanks to Soren, also.
(I haven't seen how to get the Norwegian letters into my computer! So please excuse not putting the
"/" in the "o")
PAX
Nancy t..... mamat! |
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Thingvalla/Gieser disaster
