The morning call., 1891-01-03
RESCUED MARINERS.
Arrival of the Crew of the Aban.
dOned Ship Struan.
The Men Were Taken Of the Vessel and
Brought to This Port by the lamar E.
Marshall-Captain Skogland's Story.

The officers and crew of the Norwegian
ship Struan, which was recently abandoned
off the coast up north, while bound from
Port Disc overy to Melbourne. arrived safely
in port yesterday afternoon on board the
tug Vigilant The Vigilant had received
them from the British bark lamar E. Mar
shall, which had taken them on board
when they abandoned the Struan in water
logged condition nearly three weeks ago.
Owing to the long time that has elapsed
SINCE the abandonment of the ship was first
reported, and the fact that nothing had
beenh card Of the crew. the general impress
sion among shipping men here was that all
hands had been lost, and great was the sur
prise when the news was received on
Change that the Vigiant was passing in
with the full crew on board.
The news was quickly bruited around the
front, and when the Vigilant made fast at
her berth at the foot of Folsom q large
crowd was present to meet her. The tug
had in tow ships iolly-boat containing
two sailors. This boat was the one in which
the crew Of the Struan had made the trip to
the vessel that rescued them, and that the
boat had had hard usage was shown by the
fact that she was stove in on the port quar-
ter and had been patched up with boards.
AS soon as the tug touched the dock she
was boarded by John d. Spreckels, who was
closely followed by CALL reporter. Cap
tain Ed Mccoy of the tug said:
~ was outside the harbor this morning
Seeking and saw a British bark standing
in. When l got near her, which was about
three or four miles inside the North Faral-
ZONES, found that it was the British bark
| he q ms
that lie had a shipwrecked crew oil board
and that he was putting into this port to
land them. He asked me to take them off.
A heavy swell was on, so that l could not go
alongside the vessel, but they put out boat
and | soon had the eighteen men of the
Struan on the tug. l took the boat that
they came in in tow and the Marshall then
stood out TO sea after asking TO be re-
ported
Captain Mccoy then introduced Captain
l. IL. Skogland master of the'ill- fated ship.
Captain Skogland is a fne-looking man
about 80 years of age and like the rest of the
crew bears no evidence of the hardshipS
encountered on the Struan before she was
abandoned. The captain wore long ulster
and sou weSter and had on ali the clothes
he saved from the ship. He told the follow
ing story of the disaster:
THE CAPTAINS VERSION.
1--WE left Port Discovery for Melbourne"
said the captain, ION November oath. Our
cargo consisted of 1,157,062 feet of pine
lumber in the hold and l0S.429 feet of the
same on deck. We had pretty fair weather
down to the Straits of Fuca, but after pass
ing CaI FlatteTy we had one or two mod
crate blows, nothing very serious, however,
and We sustained no damage.
ION December Sd though we encountered
a strong gale from the northwest, accom-
panied by heavy sea. The gale lasted
twenty-fOu hours and was terrible one.
We were then in latitude 430 north, longitude
1340 west. The barometer was down tn
$3.50. We had the three lower topsails,
main upper topSail and foresail set and they
blew clean out of the bolt ropes. The screw
of the steering wheel broke and then for
awhile we steered her by means OF tackle
on the tilier.
"Then the tiller went, and shortly after
ward part of the rudder carried away and
we were helpless. We managed to bend
foreSail, two topsails and jib, and tried to
steer her but found it impossible, as she
would come up in the wind. We did make
little Roadway one day, going sixty miles
Seas were continually breaking completely
over the vessel, and the ftrecastle and cabin
were full OF water. Part Of the mates room
ait and part Of the forecastle on the port
side were washed away, while the galley
was almost wrecked.
TIE FRESH WATER SPOILED.
During the twelve days we were on the
vessel after the storm began we only had
the galley IRE lit once, and then we got
some hot coffee Soon after the rudder
broke we found that the ship was leaking
badly and the hold was quickly filling. 1t
was no use pumping Either the fresh
water tank leaked or the man-hole cover
became loose and salt water got into the
tank and rendered brackish our only supply
OF fresh water. 1t was undrinkaDle and
we suffered greatly from thirst
After drifting for three days heavy rain
fell and we caught several buckets of rain
far h &c 4 ,1nl -
full each day. AS we found that we could
not steer the shtp-the seas were making a
clean breach right over her and we thought
She would capsiZe-I determined to cut away
the masts and tighten her. We cut the lam
yards of the rigging and the manmast went
by the deck. The mizzentopmast and the
Observation-Disclosures also went over the side,
and then she rode easier.
I'VE drifted and drifted, hoping that
vessel would heaye in sight, and kept a
all the time and all our deck-cargo was
washed overheard.
A SAIL IN THE oFFING.
"On Sunday, December 14th, we sighted a
sail in the offipg and we placed another
signal OF distress at our Observation-Disclosures
head. While setting the signal John Hauge.
one Of the crew, fell from the cross-trees to
the deck and had both his legs broken above
the knees. had him carried aft and band
aged him up as well as l could.
The bark evidently saw our signals and
bore down to us. She stayed by US all night
and the next morning at o'clock we aban-
doned the Struan and went on board OF her
in our own Doat, making two trips. A heavy
sea was running. and 1t was very risky, but
we accomplished it safely, except that our
boat was stove in aft. We hoisted the boat
on board and that is it you see now astern
of the Viglant
The bark we boarded was the lamar E.
Marshall bound from Tacoma to Sunder-
land, England. We were nineteen days on
board of her, and the captain and crew did
ali they could for our comfort The captain
was putting ia to this port to land us when
we met the tug, who brought us here as
you see."
THE INJURED SAILOR.
John Hauge, the injured sailor of the
Struan, was seen lying on a mattress in the
cabin OF the NIgilant. He is a young man,
y years Of age, and a native of Haugesund,
Norway, from which port the Struan hailed.
de has been sailing on the coast for the
isst three years and recently left the U. S. S.
SorWln on the Sound and shipped on the
otruan. lie says he was climbing the rig
ging and was nearly on the cross-trees To
MOIST the signal of distress, when a ratline
~ .oH h anu ne leli, striking spare spar on
the Doat skids aud breaking both legs.
soon after the Vigilant docked Henry
Luna, consul OF Norway, visited the dock.
ana mad Hauge sent in an ambulance to the
M MA me. hospital. The captain, officers and
The rest OF the crew were provided with ac-
commodations at boarding-houses.
Captain Skogland owned large interest
IN the Inflated ship himself, and says that
ne does not know, until he hears from home,
whether she was insured or not
THE FATE OF THE sTRUAN.
Nothing is definitely known as yet as to
the fate OF the Struan. She was abandoned
on December 18th in about latitude ago 2Y
north, longitude 1899 west. On December
18th the snip Ericsson passed her off Cape
st. George, standing in shore, and the bark
Northwest next sighted her little further
north. On December 9th the steamer
Scotia sighted and boarded her and tried to
tow her, but the hawser parted. She was
then In latitude 45o 6 north, longitude 1919
10 west. Since then she has not been re-
ported
The steamer Scotia, which left for Tilla-
nook on Thursday, had orders to look for