Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-12-18
LOST AT SEA.
The Whaler Atlantic in the
Breakers
OFF THE GOLDEN GATE.
A Kotten Tub Goes to Pieces IN
the Waves at Dead of
Night.

Special to the Herald By the associated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO, December l7.-At
2:3O o'clock this morning the whaling
bark Atlantic was driven ashore mile
and half below the Cliff House, and
went to pieces in a few minutes, not a
spar remaining standing. The wreck
was strewn along the beach three Oh
four miles. About twenty-five men are
believed to be lost. The Captain and
mate, with lighter and ten men were
saved. At the time of the disaster a
dense fog and heavy sea prevailed. The
Atlantic left here yesterday afternoon
for cruise in the South Pacific, after
which she was to proceed to the north.
The Atlantic was an old vessel, having
been built in 1851, was 25l tons register
and owned by J. and w. 4. Wing, of
New Bedford. Mass. She was com.
manded by Captain Warren.
Following is Captain Warren's state
ment of the wreck: "IVe were towed
out to sea yesterday afternoon. There
was heavy head swell. and the wind
currents were so strong that we could
not get out of the swell. we let go
both anchors. but the sea swept the
decks and was so heavy the anchors
could not hold aud we dragged ashore
and struck at 80 A. NJ. The men were
being washed off during all this time
by the waves which washed over us.
The vessel went to pieces an hour and Il
half after she struck. There was very
heavy fog and it was pitch dark. We
succeeded in lowering two boats, but
both capszed before getting two
boats length from the ship. The
first boat contained H. S. Doty, first
mate, Anton Perry, third mate, and four
or five of the crew, and that was the
last we saw of them. La the second
boat were myself, the second mate, King,
and fve men. When we were swamped
the sea carried us in until we touched
the bottom, when we dragged ourselves
ashore. During the time the ship re-
mained together the life-saving crew
shot line over her wreck, but they
could not pull the rope on board because
it became entaDgled with the floating
wreck as the fog was too dense for any
thing to be seen." The captain and crew
number twenty six persons. Of these only
ten are known to have been saved. The
remainder are believed to have been
drowned.
LATEST DETAILS or THE DISASTER.
The latest obtainable returns give the
number of saved as eleven. Up to a
late hour this afternoon but one body
has been recovered. 1t was recognized d
as man known as "French Joe. :"
When the Captain left the vessel she
was still holding together although there
was a great breach on the ''starboard
side" and the bowsprit had been carried
away. 1t was high tide at the time and
the force of the waves steadily drove
the wreck towards shore, and as soon as
she reached the point where she struck
ground with the passage of each breaker
she crumbled to pieces. All saved agree
in stating that the vessel was so old and
rotten that she was unfit for whaling
cruise. A rumor prevailed in the city
that large portion of the crew was in
toxicated at the time of tho wreck and
that twenty-five were down below Sleep
ing off their intoxication. Ii this is
true it is thought a number of bodies
will be found under the hull of the ship.
1t is also said there was $50, ZOO in coin
on board. There is much doubt ex-
pressed as to the number of the crew on
the ill-fated bark when she left port yes
terday. The custom house list shows
AZ, while the captain states there were
but 80. The captain and pilots express
the opinion that the arrival of night in
duced the captain of the tug which
towed the vessel out to part company
with the whaler too soon; for they as.
sert that as food tide would set in
strongly about 10 o'clock the vessel
should have been towed to the automatic
buoy four miles further out in order to
get beyond the inshore sweep of the in
tide.
Claus F. Kroger, keeper of the life.
saving station, says that the first kuowl.
edge he had of the disaster was when
the captain and half dozen men made
their appear lnce az the station about
o'clock this morning, when he was told
that many of the crew were still on the
wreck. Rockets were thrown up from
the beach as signals, but were utterly
useless as the fog was so thick. Finally
the wreck was located and endeavors
made to rescue the men, but to no
avail.
John G. Gallaghan and Captain Nc
Gregor had signed articles and were to
Join the Atlantic at Honolulu. Gallag.
han was to supersede Doty as first mate,
and McGregor was going on as master.
The sand along the beach was almost en-
tirely hidden from sight by the vast
amount of wreckage, consisting OF tim
bers, planks, spars, ropes, all kinds of
rigging, boxes, life-boats, crushed into
shapeless masses, and countless materials
nsed in the construction of the whaler.
The news of the wreck spread rapidly
through the city aud brought large
crowd to the spot at an early hour, and
during the entire day hundreds of people
were rushing up and down the beach
searching among the wreckage for the
bodies of the drowned sailors and off.
gers. The Coroner and his assistants
were early on the scene. "Look there"
said he, picking up O piece of plank
from the ships side and pulling the de-
cayed wood to pieces with his fingers,
A'that ship was not fit to send dog to
sea in."
One of the first persons to go to the
scene of the disaster from the city was
Major j. T. Blakeney, Superintendent
of the Life Saving Service of this dis.
trict. When asked why the men OF the
station gave no assistance to the wrecked
crew, he said: 1t is very unfortunate,
and no one regret it more than we
do. 1t is only fair to say that they did
everything that men could do, but their
efforts were utterly fruitless. Referring
to the rottenness of the ships timbers he
said: ut seems to me that rigid and
unsparing investigation should be or
dered, and those responsible made an
example of. Lives are too valuable to
be ieopardized in such ships, and in my
opinion this is little short of cold. blood
ed murder.
The Post this evening editorially says