Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-02-07
WHO WAS TO BLAME.
The Columbus Investigation Con0nuea-
The QuarteFnaster's Evldence-
A Heartless Captain.

tes,iuopy He was in tie watch till mid
night. when he turned in and was asleep
when the ship struck. He vas able to reach
the rigging. He spoke of Mr.. Harding a.
man Of temperate habits. The witness spoke
of the ioy expressed BY passengers in the rig
cling when a steamer passed BY, and of their
subsequent despair when no notice was taken
of them. Saw the chief engineer he was
on the raft with the mate, second mate, third
assistant engineer, pantryma and
waiter.
The first witness this morning was the
auartermasser of the wrecked steamer. Rod
eriek Mcdonald, who was sworn. He tesfl-
fed that he was So years old, had followed
the sea Is wears and had been mate of sever
al vessels He had beer on the City OF
Columbus as quartermaster since August last
Was not very familiar with the course TO
Savannah He did not know many of the
lights along the coast and could not name
them. He did not know the courses from
light to light. He went on the watch as
wheelmaa on the night of the disaster AT
midnight He did not remember what course
was given him when he took the wheel. Mr..
Fuller, the mate, gave him the course after
they had passed Cross Rip. Fuller remain
ed in the pilot house considerable time
after Mcdonald took the wheel. The mate
left the pilot house at shout quarter past
two. he gave the witness several courses
while in the wilot house, but he could not re-
member what they were. The witness did
not know how many courses the steamer was
accustomed to steer by after passing Nsbski.
Captain Wright was not in the pilot house
after he came on duty till after seven bells.
He was not out of the pilot house more than
three quarters of an hour. The captain gave
the witness an order to steer southwest by
west. The second waite was there, The
order was given directly to the witness and
he repeated it to the captain. He did not get
this order from the mate. He did not know
whether the port window in the pilot house
was open that night or not, nor whether it
was closed after the captain left or not.
There was no frost on the windows. The
vessel was steered by steam. 1t required
very little physical power to steer her. The
pilot house was heated by steam.
The witness knew Edward Leary, the bow
Waterman for two months. The bow watch
man was not more than thirty or forty feet
from the pilot house. The pilot could easily
hear q call from the bow watch. He did not
hear any announcement Of the bOuy of Gay
Head. Leary came aft and talked with the
second mate. He did not know what passed
between them, nor did he see any buoy at
any time, He had never seen a buoy, nor
did he ever know there was buoy there.
The second mate ordered the helm to be put
hard aport, which the witness did. Captain
Wright at that instant stepped into the pilot
house and called "hard aport" He then
rang two bells to stop the ship. The witness
did not remember having heard the bells.
The captain then gave the bells to back the
ship at full speed. The witness did not
know whether the ship went back or not. He
d., tI,ax ID Ia
not tell whether the ship was backing with
out landmark. The ship did not seem to
strike hard She bounced up and down a
few times after she struck. Thought the
ship had struck on the fore foot.
Tine vessel listed within ten minutes after
she struck. She went down until the rail of
the hurricane deck was in the water, which
then began to run into the main saloons. The
witness left the ship before daylight in boat
No. belonging to the ship, He had charge
of boat No. ., forward on the starboard side
He tried to clear away that boat but could
not. Boat No. was on the port quarter
which was the lee quarter. There was a
crew Of five assigned to boat No. 2. Two
passengers. two of the ships crew and the
witness got away in boat No. 5. They had
oars but no bailer. The plug was not in the
boat. They landed two miles below the
light. The boat was broken and full of wa
tee when they got into her, and it was no use
bailing. They used to have boat drills in
port, The last drill was in Savannah on the
trip before the last one made.
The witness said he had no conversation
with the captain or owners relative to his
testimony. nor conversation with the second
mate relative to the police ball did not know
he was there. He had seen the second mate
''nodding'a little when on duty. He did
not know how Gay Head light bore. Alter
the captain went below the light appeared
closer than usual. The door between the
pilot house and the captains room was never
closed. The witness saw the captain sitting
in his room after he left the pilot house
The ship was nearly on her beam ends
when the witness left her. He thought that
the water, rushing in on the port side, and
the wind being on the starboard side, caused
her to list. The bottom of the ship was
nearly fiat forward of the foremost. He did
not see any of of the matches come off. He
could go from the forward to the a, er part of
the vessel at any time Al .er she struck. lie
got ashore about o'clock, made his way to
one of the houses with Edward Leary, and
got man to come and help the passengers
in the boat to get ashore. He could see
across the sound when they landed. He was
not on board the ship the night before she
salteu out Was NJ Hone ne snip was pass
ing Nebska light when Capt. Wright ordered
the witness to steer southwest by west He
got no other course after that, but was steer
ing that course when the ship struck The
second mate told tile witness after the W illness
got the order from the captain. rot to steer
any to the leeward of that course. He did
not think the second mate was "nodding'
on the night of the disaster. The wind was
the starboard bow when she struck.
The witness knew it was after half past
three when the vessel struck, because he
struck seven bells some time before was
not asleep at the wheel; think it was not
over 10 minutes after the ship struck before
the captain ordered the men to clear AWAY
the boats; don't remember hearing the cap
tain give any orders to the second mate re-
garding the course. When the captain came
into the pilot house after the vessel struck.
he remarked: Heres the buoy; I'm out
side of it,
Edward Leary, bow Waterman, testified
that he called out buoy on the port bow when
he saw the buoy he got no answer from the
pilot house and ran there and told the second
mate about seeing the buoy; Immediately
after that the ship struck; never heard anv
answers to my calls; never had instructions
from any one to insist on getting answers
from my calls to make sure they we're heard
was not the regular watch; it was Is minutes