The morning call., 1891-06-28
THE WRECK OF THE PALESTINE.

The loss of the collier Palestine on the bar
is a remarkable occurrence. 1t lacked an
hour and half of low water The ship
was drawing a feet, and at the place where
she was supposed to have struck there should
be SO feet of water, or 5h fathoms, at three
quarters ebb. The sea is described as
"choppy." One Of three causes must have
led to the disaster: either the ship was not
in the channel or the waves were tall
enough to lift the ship so far out Of water
that when she fell back into the trough she
found its surface some twelve feet below
the ordinary sea level, or the bar is a shift
ing bar as TO its height-that is to say, that
the silt from the river and the sand from the
ocean occasionally bring it two fathoms
nearer the surface than the charts allow.
Any one Of these theories may be true.
Twelve feet would not be an unusual
height for the breakers which roll in from
the ocean and reveal the existence Of the
bar Scoresby figured that the linear dis
tance between the top Of a storm wave and
its base was thiriy-seven feet, and modern
mete0rology regards this estimate as in
sufficient. If the sea was running high on
Friday morning it is easy to conceive that
there may have been moments between the
succession of waves when the ordinary 81
fathOms on the bar was reduced to four
fathoms or less. This theory derives con-
firmatiOn from the fact that when the Pales-
tine first struck the captain found 81
fathoms with the lead; but it is contradicted
by the fact that quarter Of an hour after
she struck again, not once but repeatedly.
Again, it is not difficult to believe that
the height of the bar varies. Bars are
formed by the collision of river silt drifting
outward and ocean sand drifting inward.
The cause which created them never ceases
to operate The Sacramento is still pouring
its solid contents into the ocean and the
Pacific is still throwing up sand on its
shores as they did throughout past time,
though the accumulation of solid matter on
bea ch and bar is generally so gradual as
hardly to be noticeable. 1t is easy to i'm
agine that il may at times become more
rapid, and that the dimensions Of the bar
may vary, sometimes quite Unexpectedly.
The bar at tie mouth of Eureka Bay
changes with every tide, and the depth of
water On the Mississippi bars varies with
the volume Of water discharged by the river.
The depth which the charts mark for our
bar may not be fixed measure And on
the chance that it may vary, soundingS
should be taken by the Coast Survey at
regular intervals 10 detect any change which
may be taking place.
Still the chances are that the Palestine
was lost because she had been driven by
the ebb tide out Of the main ship channel
upon the south end Of the bar. The chan
mel is wide enough and the marks are plain
enough; no prudent captain should lose his
way in daylight and fair weather. Blu
accidents will occur to the most careful
mariner. The captain of the Palestine
pro oably entered the channel near its
southern wall, very little north of east of
the whistling buoy; the tide struck him
there and drifted him upon the shOal lying
south Of the channel. When he struck for
the last time he was probably in not over
four fath0ms. His ship backed off to sink
in fourteen and a half fathoms, Just outside
the southern line Of the main ship channel.
1t is announced that by Monday a buoy
will be anchored on the spot to put incom-
ing vessels on their guard, and that in the
meantime a pilot-boat will cruise in the
vicinity. Precautions cannot be taken too
soon nor be too effective. The worst of a
wreck at the entrance of a port is that it is
likely 10 cause others. Unless vigilance is
used the loss of The Palestine may be fol-
lowed by disasters which may involve a sac
rifce Of life.