FIFTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22622, 9 January 1937, Page 6

FIFTY YEARS AGO

A SHIPPING DISASTER Following is an account of a niaj° r shipping disaster near San Francisco from the. Xkw Zkat.and llekald 0 January 9, 1886: — "A terrible marine disaster occnrre at the San Francisco Heads. At three o'clock in the morning the whales barque Atlantic, which sailed on t ® previous day on a cruise of the o,lt Pacific, drifted on shore and became , total wreck. She had on board a crc " 40 men, about .SO of whom n drowned, although there is a life-sa^ i « station in the vicinity. The cause the disaster is due to several reaso ' The steam-tug that towed the vess® sea dropped her before she had g her sufficient offing and just when - had let go her tow-rope the wma and a heavy fog covered everything a pail. The captain had no bearings knew he was being carried inshore . the current, and let go two auch ? rs n( j prevent it. The anchors dragged • meantime the waves tore the ves f e -| or 3 pieces and drowned the liaploss_ sa in the heavy sea. Some of the tun picked ii]) on the shore were lo un . be so rotten as to be crumbled e in one's hand."