COLLISION IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 218, 15 September 1888, Page 5

COLLISION IN SAN FRANCISCO.

'FIFTEEN '■■■■-■'VICTIMS OF THE

DISASTER.

RUN DOWN IN ;THE FOG, BY

THE OCEANIC.

The steamer City of Chester, a coaster be-, longing to the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, was run down by the steamship. Oceanic, a big Chinese liner, belonging to the O and O Company, on the morning; "of. Wednesday, August 23rd. The collision occurred at 9 a.m., in a dense' fog, off • Ale'atraz Island in San Frin-: cisco harbour. The Oceanic was comingj in from China and Japan, and! tho Chester had'just quitted her pier, 1 bound up tho coast to Eureka. • The iron | prow of the larger steairior cut into the port I side of the smaller one nearly to midships' like a knife into cheese, and she sank in about fifty fathoms of water, four minutes' after contact. The damage to the Oceanic; was not material. Ten of tho Chester's passengers were lost—either crushed or drowned...; , y ,■„ •• ■.',..,' ■. „■-, ■„; . - ■■.{:,■ ■,•■ v ■■~'- . I The thick, white, low-lyingjfogi; sopreva- i ! lent at thia season, hung'across the bay, j j hiding the Golden Gate, while the tops of j ! the hills oh both sides were bathed in sun- | shine. The City of Chester had passed i Black Point Safely, and steamed, without! accident, to a point in the channel between Fort and Limo Points. Her captain states i that' the whistle was being5 blown regularly and the usual precautions were taken to i preventacollision. The fog, which is as shifty as it is dense at this season of the year, suddenly liitedi so that the viaion vvas uriobscured for a distance, of a hundred yardß. j The passengers onv the City lof Chester were engaged as passengers j usiially are on a cqasiirig vessel before she ! has cleared from the harbour. Some were in their state-rooma arrariging their effects; Bomo were on deck reading or smoking. AH were as oblivious of their fate as if the fog that hung above them was the l'oof of their friendly homes, and not the shroud of death. The first intimation of the catastrophe which was to convert fie City of Cheslier into a gigsintic coffin was the hbarae arid warning sound of the. fog Whistle of an bceftri steariiship. The next instant 4 huge black mass rushed out.of the mist ahead; and almost before the terrified passengers and the- horror-stricken officers of the coasting vessel could realise ! the danger that' was appri them, escape was impossible.: The indistinct mass had |pome like a,phantom out of the veil, of fog, and assumed, as it sped on, the fami- ! liar but none tho less terrible shape of a huge steamship. The cries of terror and 'the'shouts of warning that arose from the deck of the doomed coaster were stifled fin the inevitable crash, as the poAverful I ocean steamer plunged her sharp bow into the side of the City.of Chester;1 cutting, the i thick planks and shivering tho stout timbers as if they had beeri so much paper and matchv/ood. The City of Chester had •been struck on the port side,-near tho main hatch, and she af once commenced to fill. [The nbise of the deluge pf water as> it ' poured through thei great: rent in the side of the vessel added to,the terror of the [panic-stricken .passengers.,, Fortunately the'• Oceanio' did not at once clear the jstrickon vessel, and while the tvvo.steamers ; were locked together many of the terrified [■ passengers clambered up the chains and, bowsprit of the ocean steamship arid es"caped. .' ~ : ,', :;,-' ■ ■;. ■. '■:.. , I The scene that followed is indescribable, i ;Those of tho. City of Chester's crew and j passengers who have survived narrate; indistinctly' what Occurred, In the ,intense excitement of the. struggle _' -lor' life there was too time -to note' surroundings, and all that -has been gathered are -the individual itapressions of each survivor. Feats of heroism were happily, howeveri not altogether wanting. Though the •' Chinese - crew *of the 'Oceanic looked on with apathy or behaved with the lack of spirit so"1 characteristic of coolie sailors, there were;, some ;white /men whom tho peril of the eituation did not, daunt. By the; exertions of these, few brave ones the loss of life was rendered much less than it would otherwise.have been. : Ten minutes after being struck.the City of.•Chester sank, and wifch her all those who had : not been -'able to escape to. the Oceanio or swim a«ay before the: waters closed, over her, •;;;■' ■ ::':-,;',;'/;',, '-, .'.'" '■/■.,'