A TRAGEDY OF THE SEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13537, 7 September 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

A TRAGEDY OF THE SEA.

«*. NOT A WOMAN SAVED. News was received on Sunday, July 21, , that during a heavy fog oft' the coast of California' the previous night the passenger t.earaer Columbia, from San Francisco, was. run down and sunk by the lumber? ■: laden schooner San Pedro. Sixty-nine of those on board were drowned, and a scene of awful panic prevailed on board the doomed ship. Shelter Cove, Medocino County, where the tall cliffs- rise, almost perpendicularly from the water's edge, was where the disaster occurred. The Columbia was steaming north at an easy rate, having left San Francisco for Portland., Oregon, on the Saturday at noon. All on board.were asleep at midnight, except the lookout and the officer on the bridge. Suddenly out of the fog loomed j the San Pedro, southward bound, and, according to the Columbia's survivors, evidently out of her course. The whistles were blown, and frantic efforts were made by the helmsmen of both vessels to avert a collision, but without avail.

The San Pedro, heavily laden with lumber, struck the Columbia' on the port bow with such terrific force that the latter was cut down to the water's edge. Through the immense hole in her side the water rushed in great volume. A wild panic ensued among the pas.senger who included many women and children excursionists, and a furious fight rayed on the sinking ship for life-preservers. Some of the men even fought with knives for the possession of a. chair or a uenc'ti which would keep them afloat. Not a woman was saved out of the number that were on board. Many men tried to save their wives, but in several cases the latter refused to desert their husbands, preferring death with them. °

Captain Doran acted up to the best traditions of the sea. He calmly stood on what was left of his bridge, and gave his orders through the megaphone. When his vessel gave her final plunge five minutes after the coihsion he made no effort to save himself, and went down with her. Four lifeboats were successfullv launched, each loaded to the gunwale,' and the San Pedro saved a large number of the. passengers and crew, who clung to the schooner. Many who tried to swim to the San Pedro were sucked down in the vortex made by the Columbia as it sank. The San Pedro herself was saved from foundering by her cargo of lumber, but she drifted helpless for a couple of hours, until the steamer Eoanoke came up and took her in tow, having first received the Columbia's survivors, for whom she had better accommodation. The San Pedro was towed to Eureka, where some 150 survivors were given shelter.