Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-03-16
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LANCASTER. MARCH 10. 1856
The Oregon Disaster.

IQe Ou1cer III charge VI tnc OIcBoH at ehc
time of the collision with an unknown
schooner says that though the night was
starlit, he did not see the vessel until it
was too late to change the course Of the
Oregon, though the order was promptly
given by him to do so. He says that the
light shown from the other vessel was
white light, and apparently that from a
lantern held aloft by some one on board as
. danger signal to the great steamship
bearing down upon the little one. The
Oregon's officer thought it was a pilot
boat, and as he knew the captain
did not desire to take on pilot
until he got to the bar, the order he
gave was intended to sheer the Oregon off.
No cries were heard from the other vessel,
which is supposed to have stink at
once, after drifting away upon delv-
ering the sideling blow upon the Oregon
which tore 30 big a hole in her that she
sank despite her water-tight compartments,
which her captain says were all closed.
As the other boat was sunk with all on
board, this is about the substance of the
information we are likely to have of the
accident though some of the passengers
of the Oregon are said to declare that they
saw red light on the schooner.
There will certainly be great difficulty in
the public mind in accepting the state
ment Of the officers Of the Oregon that
with two officers on the bridge and several
men on the lookout, on night free from
mist and with the stars shining, they did
not observe the schooner until it was so
close to them that the course of the Oregon
could not be changed at all. 1t is most
improbable that the schooner was without
the usual colored lights, in the position
in which she was right in the opening to
the port of New York and in the track of
many ocean steamers. 1t was position of
danger, in which her signal lights would
surely have been burning. Her master was
evidently conscious that the steamship
threatened him and was turning the vessel
away from her. Masters of little schoon-
ers do not willingly get in the way of great
steamships travelling at the rate of eigh-
teen miles an hour.
The only rational belief in this matter
must be that the schooner was seen by the
lookout on the Oregon in time to have
avoided her, and that the commander had
some reason for not avoiding her. 1t may
be that the explanation is found in the
fact that he thought she was pilot boat.
twill be remembered that short while ago
q pilot boat was run down by steamer she
was seeking to board about this same local.
ity. Then thesteamer struck the boat astern
In and just rode over her. The inference is
that ocean steamship commanders have
little egard for pilot boats, and feel little
inclination to avoid destroying them,
when they persist in pressing upon
them their unwelcome service. With
their great size and strength they
know that they are in no danger from
themselves from pilot boat collision, and
they incline to let the little fellows take
care Of themselves and if they get hurt
consider that it is their own fault for their
presumption and foolhardiness. The
pilot carries his life in his hands when he
seeks the vessels that the law requires to
take HIM on board and pay him well for
services that they do not want.
This theory will explain the indifference
of the Oregon to the approach of the boat
that sent her down. Instead of being a
light pilot boat it was heavily ladened
merchant schooner, with weight enough to
tear out the side of the Oregon when the
latter struck her, as though she had struck
rock.
And the hesitation to believe all that the
oregon's commander says, will not be les
sened 10y his declaration that the doors in
the water tight compartments were all
closed. If SO the vessel would not have
been sunk by breach made in not more
two of the nine; unless we are to believe
that the dividing of ships hull into
water-tight compartments is wholly inef-
fective to save her from sinking; which
our previous experience does not teach
rs. Nor will the Oregon's commander
gain credence to his story by his further
declaration that the ships boats were sufii-
Gent 70 have saved all on board though
tnere mad been no vessels near to take off
their loads. The facts clearly seem to be
quite otherwise.