| − | I was a passenger on the R.P. Rithet? on the 28th of July. I was standing off on the port side about 2 oclock having just left Capt. Insley at lunch. I saw the Enterprise coming on our port side about 3 or 400 yards distant. Her position was then apparently as if she was about to cross over our bows. We had rounded Ten Mile Point. There was no land or rocks then between the two steamers. I could see straight ahead of the Rithet on her port side. The Rithet kept on her course as it appeared to me, going in a straight line-This was before the whistle sounded. The Rithet blew one whistle, when the steamers appeared to be about 50 yards apart and I think she ported her helm because she seemed to go to starboard a little. The Enterprise blew a whistle I suppose in answer to the Rithet and appeared to have ported her helm also; but she appeared to me to be too far across to clear us. Her starboard bow was almost directly across our bow. When it appeared a collision was inevitable the Rithet sounded two bells, but the collision was almost at the same moment. The Rithet struck the Enterprise on her port bow.
| + | |