Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-19

sergers, assert that there was no hole
in the 0regon's side above the WAFER.
line, and that therefore the damsgecouid
not have been done by . schooner or
any other sailing craft, but must nave
been caused by something beios 'ae
water.line. Captain Cottier has only
claimed that one Of the holes vas IN
part above the water.linc. Then, too,
the seafaring men who do not eeiieve
that the Oregon was struck cy
schooner, bring forward this az
gument: The steamer was struck
three times. She was moving ~
least eighteen miles an hour, or
about n mile in three minutes. 1t
schooner struck her and reboundtd, as
il Is claimed, they say it would have
been utterly impossible for her to have
recovered from the shock and have re-
turned to strike the Oregon twice more.
The impetus Of the steamer, to say no.
thing Of the fact that her engines we're
running at full speed, would have car
RED her beyond point at which a
schooner would have struck her again.
The first officer Of the steamer Dorset,
of The Bristol Line, which arrived in
port Yesterday, and three Sandy Hook
pilots seen by a Times reporter, do not
believe, after q careful perusal of
all the published accounts OF
the collision, that the Oregon was
struck by schooner. Said the Bor-
sets chief officer alt is the easiest
thing in the world to be mistaken about
lights at sea, nd, while Mrs. Hurst
thought she saw red light, am mo-
rally certain from my own experience
Of twenty years that she couldn't have
seen it through the headlight OF her
cabin, but that she saw what often de-
ceiyes old mariners-the reflection OF
the light in her state-room. won't
believe such a red light was afioat on
the unsupported statement OF any
woman" Her story had about the
same weight with the pilots. who be-
lieve that something besides schooner
was the Cause of the Oregon's sinking.
Curiosity in regard to the identity
of the supposed schooner has not
been allayed. At the Maritime Ex-
change Yesterday some of the ship
brokers looked over the lists Of large
coastwise schoOners now said to be
overdue, but what they found signihed
nothing, for reports from Hampton
Roads say that at least 200 loaded
schooncrs are lying there for sailing
weather. and that some of them have
been there more than month. The
heavy northwest winds have made nor
thern vOy ages in sailing vessels SLOW
and perilous Of late, aud many craft
have put in at various refuge har-
bors within a week. A dispatch
to Henry Clews Il Co., over
their private wire from Taun-
ton yesterday said that the schooners
owned by Taunton men and supposed
to be in the vicinity of the collision on
Sunday morning were the b. c. French,
the c. a. Briggs, and the Mabel Phil
lips. The French left Baltimore on
Friday, loaded with 300 tons OF coal.
She could hardly have reached Fire
island by Sunday, even if the wind and
sea had been in her favor. The con-
trary was the case. The Phillips was
delayed in reaching Baltimore, and
was not loaded until Tuesday. The
Briggs is yet to be heard from. Cap
tain Williams, of New Jersey,
who owns the three-masted schooner
job jackson, is much worried lest his
vessel may have met the Oregon. She
was loaded on March 9TH at Norfolk by
Castner & Co., and was expected at
Boston on Sunday. The Jackson was
a powerful craft, such as would have
been liteiy to &c serious damage ia case
of collision, cean With an ocean
steamer. Anxiety for the Eva - 81
ris and the Taulaue, which were loaded
by the Chesapeake and Ohio Coal Com
pany at Newports News ten days ago,
was relieved yesterday when both
vessels arrived. The R. G. Dun and
/. A. Robe, bound from Baltimore to
Boston, also reported. The Charles
Il. Haskell, the Spartan, and the Maud
Sherwood, from Baltimore to Boston,
have not yet reached their destination,
but special anxiety is not yet felt for
them. All the coal-company officers
and shippers agree that the vessel that
struck the Oregon could hardly have
been smaller than C lG0e-thousand-ton
schooner, and it is tn. general belief
among such persons tlat schooner OF
that size loaded with coal would have
gone to the bottom at once. A schooner
SO large would lie worth l,om 100000
to $500 and her cargo about 90
ton