THE LOST LINER.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 10941, 17 April 1901, Page 5

THE LOST LINER.

THE WRECK AT THE GOLDEN GATE.

STORIES OF SURVIVORS.

The San Frsuidsco correspondent of the London "Daily Mail" sends the folk-wing reticulars of the wr__ of the Pacific mail liner, Rio de Janeiro, just outside ths Golden Gate on February __n_: — THE CAPTAIN'S AWFUL iHSTAKE.

Mr R. p. Schwerin, the manager of the Pacific 'Mail Steamship Company, said, in an interview with a '"Dailr Mail" correspondent to-day, that Giptain" Ward, w_o died m his cabin, where he locked himself when the truth forced itself upon him that the ship ara.s lost, was chiefly to bhune for the disaster, and was a martyr to his -ywful mis-t-ke. Captain Ward, according to Mr Schwerin's story, bad been given rigid instructions by the company's officials never to leave or enter the port in fog, and he was warned by Pilot Jordan on Friday morning not to attempt to make the harbour, as the day avas so muggy that it was impossible for the pilot to see twenty feetahead. RACING WITH THE TIDE. Pilot Jordan, in telling the " Daily Mail" correspondent the story of the wreck, said that the ship avhen she struck was going j about sis miles an hour, and the tide was j racing out at four miles an hour. It was I therefore dangerous to go any slower, and tne only th ng to be done was to keep on and I *l at< . ,-_* r f. aly * Xi could £cc % hts ne **r I I ~o llff, Sou**, -ad he figured they were | aa cii j n t_, 3 stream when the vessel suddenly I struck. Captain Ward ask:d excitedly what should ' be done, and Jordan, knowing that jrr-.t I damage would be done by the jagged rocks, said: '-Oct out all your boats at°on_> " Captain Ward. Pilot Jordan declarer, then sprang to the starboard side, and „v_ gcttnig the boats out, arlien the bow suddenly dropped down. Jordan rushed from the bridge to __ _--„_, realising that the snap avas sinking. He h&lped Mrs Wildman, the wife of the United States Consul to Hong Ivong, who wa** drowned, into a boat, and had one of Mr Wildmaa's children grasp him roiled 1 the reck : then the veesei _mk. ___ thought he avent down n_y feet. When he came up the child was gone.

He could sea nothing of tie s-teamEr or of any boats, so he struck out and was soon ab_ to climb on to pa.rt of the deck-house, on whicu one Chinese was floating. After thres hours they were picked up. THE SHIP IN TOTAL DARKNESS. Surgeon Arthur (.Neill was picked up with one Japanese and s.ven Chinese _a_ sengera by the Russian ship Harbinger, lbs surgeon was not injured, and told ore ot the clearest stories of the terrible disaster ii_ said: —

It avas e___l y 5.25 o'clock when we s.ruck, as I took note of the time by my „_, _, sl "P siiraek • r,th an a ' vf «- cra-*h. and the blow must have torn out hw* ent : . _ fide near the bow. _h_ sank very rapidly, and was under water in such a short time that no orderly effort could be mad 3to launch the boats. Almost in a moment the snip presented a scene of wild disorder. A'-a-lvall t_e passengers were asleep when the ship struck, and came rushing up in their night clothes, to find no means of escape.

"In a moment I heard Sfcor.dLngmeer Brady say he.ctildnot w or . c t ]*e pumps on account r*f this water in the enginei com. I looked down into the engine-room and was surprised to sea it full of water' Almost immediately all the electric li_hta in tl-o ship went out, and the vessel was _eft in total ca.rkness.

'•In the brief interval before ths Rio sank i Hot Jordan endeavoured to establish some order out of the prevailing chaos, and ordered the boats to be launched. I hurried ait to the boat to avhich I avas assigned, and climbed in, together with four of the Chinese crew to lower her. Two of the crew were stationed at each end to avork the fall** Thstern of the lifeboat was lowcrel too quickly and striking water she filled rapidly. When the boat waa afloat it avas filled with water up to the seams.

"I held on to the forward tackle, wait-no* for the order to let _-o, when Jordan said lake this lady.' The avoman started to climb -lioun the ladder, and just at that ruem-nt the ..h : p gave an awful lurch. It looked as if she avould fall on top of us and carry us under, but it washed us away The woman on ths ladd.r fell towards us into thi water, and I did not see her again "We avere afloat probably tavo hour*- before aye were picked up, in total darkness, and most of tih-e time drifting we kr.sav not where, with a thick fos. hanging cter us and chilling U3 to the marrow. Finally w=> hc_:d a ship's bell, which turned out to be -hat cf tha Harbinger, which had anchored outs-d>e m toe fog the night before. About tfce same time a costing steamer came in siglit. I stood up and are all s-houted The captain responded from the "bridge We went aboard th? Russian snip and received a hearty welcome. ' I

"I think it could not have been mora than five minutes aftar the ship struck before she went down.

Captain Ward was to have been married in tIK spring to Miss Lena Jacobs, of San r-rancisco.

The early stones of attacks by the officers I? v -." "** ° n *** 'P ass e--gers are not borne out by the statements of any of the survivors.

Of the 122 known to have been lost, the -4 ; officsrs. 19 ; crew (Chinese), 36 steerage (Asiatic) 43. Thus it apoc_rs that seventy-nine of thoss drowned were Asiatics It does not seem probable, from all accounts that as great an effort was made to save these as to rescue the white men and women.