The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-01
WHERE IS The PENING?

TIE anxiety regarding the steamship City
OF Picking is becoming acute. especially
among those who are familiar with nautical
affairs.
The last that is known Of ler is that she
sailed from Yokohama on the oh of Janu-
any and should have arrived here on the
24th. She WAS in good repair; her machn-
ery had Just been Overhauled; her COM
partments are believed to have been tight
when she last left this port She bad ten
cabin passengers, ninety-thTee Chinese in
the steerage. full crew and. it Is said, six
months provisions on board.
It is easier to define the accidents which
could hardly have befallen her than those
which she may have encountered. 1t IS
hardly possible that she could have cOlIided
with a vessel in a sea where a sail is hardly
ever seen. She cannot have struck an ice
berg. for there are none in the waters she is
navigating. Nor can she have run upon a
rock, for there are DO reefs or shoals in the
course she followed, whether she took the
northeIn or the southern passage. She
was almost too sound a craft to have foun-
dered, or to have been upset by gale. The
range Of possibilities may thus be said to be
narrowed down to the chance that her
machinery broke down. that she lost her
propeller. or broke her shaft, as the
Cunarder did the other day, or disabled
some other essential portion of her engine.
Assuming that one of these accidents did
occur, what happened next? The natural
answer is that she is pursuing her voyage
under sail.
But it is not easy for a steamship like the
PekiBg TO make Roadway under sail with
her propeller dragging in the water behind
her. The sail area OF such vessels is small,
and it is about all they can do TO keep their
head to the wind. We observe that friends
Of Captain Searle and officers of the Pacific
Mail Company saws that the Picking could
make one hundred miles a day under sail.
1t is TO be hoped that they are right, but the
Cunarder the other day could net make any
Roadway at all when her shaft broke. / !
she does not drift TOO far out OF the lane in
which the China ships run. there is a fair
chance that she VIII be sighted by one of the
Occidental and Oriental ships or Of the
Canadian ships or Of her sister ships; and
# she is not heard Of within a day or two
steamers viii undoubtedly 90 out in search
OF her for the sake Of the vast salvage her
rescuer would be entitled TO. But the ocean
is large place.
Two similar accidents will occur to the
reader. Twenty years ago the machinery
Of the Great Eastern broke down in mid
ocean aud the vast hulk became helpless.
Her sail power was so small that it could
not prevent her falling of into the trough
Of the sea- She began to drift with the
gulf stream, and was heading for Spitz-
bergen and the Arctic Ocean with strong
OH hot ard hau
died of hunger before landing was made,
when young American engineer devised a
splice for the broken shaft and she worked
her way into port. Only a few years ago
the San Pablo broke down on a voyage from
this port to Japan. With her after a time
the difficulty was that the fuel gave out, and
the captain had to make a landing on some
| uninhabited island and cut wood for fuel.
Between San Francisco and Yokohama
there are but two island groups in which a
crippled snip could find refuge. One of
these is the Hawaiian group, where the
Picking may be at this moment. Tie other
is the BONN Islands, in about 20 deg. north
latitude and al deg. east longitude. They
lie about 1900 miles from Japan. In one Of
the Islands there is small town, Inhabited
by Europeans and japanese, where coal
anu pIOflSlOHS cdh De got. DeIHceD TIE
Bonins and Hawaii there are few vol
| canic peaks, 10 one OF which ge0graphers
have given the name of the Clark group. 1t
is not known whether they contain shy har-
bOrs and it Is pretty well known that they
are uninhabited at the Picking broke down
Within 2000 miles Of Japan she might make
for Port Lloyd on the Bonins. If the acct
dent happened within 1000 or 1900 miles
of the Sandwich group she would make for
that. 1t is satisfactory TO know that Cap
tain Searle is an experienced and judicious
sailor ana that he will be likely to pursue
the wisest course in the misfortune which
| has befallen him.
The event viii impart strength TO the
movement for a submarine cable across the
| Pacific 10 sea as smooth as that ocean is
disabled steamer could communicate with
the Hawaiian or BONN islands by boats,
and so aIlay the anxiety of those who have
| friends on board. But il has not been OBJ
| served that any effort is being made at the
| present session of Congress for an aypro-
priation to continue the survey.