The record-union., 1894-12-14
Special to the RECoRD-UN1oN.

many anxious minds concerning her
safety. She was heavily loaded with coal
when she left Nanaimo nineteen days
ago, and when shipmasLers who were
| lucky enough 10 reach port told of the
awful gales that were blowing out at sea,
there was some apprehension felt for the
India. She was sighted far of the land
early this morning, and about noon she
was headed for the Golden Gate in tow.
Great holes yawned in her bulwarks,
and her rigging was tangled. Ropes,
sails and fittings lay about the decks i'll a
confused snarl, and the crew was hardly
able to make the tugs hawser fast when
they were taken in tow.
Captain Merriman says he does not
know how they managed to weather the
storm, and his presence in port to-day, he
claimed. was entirely due to the heroic
work OF the crew. For eleven days and
nights they stood continually at their
posts and never fiinched. The ship was
off Cape Blanco when the gale first struck
her. That was on Decem ber lSt and the
long battle with the waves commenced.
Soon after the sea broke over her, and as
she rolled in the huge pillows seams in
her hull opened and water spurted into
her hold in many places. The pumps
they served TO keep the hold clear for a
day or two, but during particularly
heavy blow wave that broke on deck
smashed III the doors of the engiue-room
and the fires under the boilers were eX-
tinguiShed. From that on the men were
compelled to work the pumps to keep the
ship from sinking. The decks were al
most continuously waist deep with water,
and the men were compelled to lash
themselves i'll place to keep from being
washed overheard at every roll of the
ship.
For six days the ship weathered gale
after gale. successfully, with the exception
OF losing few sails, but on the seventh
the wind seemed to have joined forces
with all the gales of The preceding six
days, determined on destroying the ship.
The seas, too, rose and washed the shin
about more dangerously than before.
She rolled frlghttu!ly, and Captain Mer-
rlman said the old collier actually dipped
her yards IN the sea, in the blow sail
after sail was torn out Of the hold ropes,
and before new ones could be bent she
was in the trough of the sea, thrown al
most on her beam ends by the gale. Her
cargo shifted TO starboard, giving her
heavy list. She lay almost on her side,
with the starboard under water and seas
rolling over her. The men were called
from the pumps. and. haeded hxrhe tSe-S,-
tain, every man on board, wlth tnDo1ow
centjnn ot-Hn5, and for over fifty hours
they stayed below, at last succeeding in
righting the ship.
In the meantime the galley had been
washed clean, ana 1t was day after the
ship was again put on an even keel be-
fore anything could be cooked. The
men were faint for the want of food, but
kept at their work. and the ship arrived
port without further mishaps.
While the ship was in her greatest peril
the schooner General Banning. bound
from Gray's Harbor for this port, was
sighted, and she was asked to stand by
until the danger was passed, but she had
all she could do to take care of herself,
and in a few hours afterward she was out
OF sight.
The last three days of the trip were
pleasant, but when the India was toWed
IN she had about four feet of water in her
hold.
The steamer Willamette came into to-
day from the Sound with cargo of coal.
She was nearly three days overdue, and
accounts for the delay by the storm. Off
Cape BIanco she was hove to for seven
teen hours, and her Captain reports the
storm the most severe Of any he has ex-
perlenceu on the coast.
The steamer Walla Walla came in early
this morning from Puget Sound ports,
nearly day behind time.
Great anxiety Is being felt for the safety
of the steamer MOnSerrat, which was to-
day three days overdue from Nanaimo.
Captain Merriman says that if she got in
the same gale as the India she will never
reach this port, as she was heavily loaded.
News of the arrival of the ships st.
John and Glen Luis at Portland is being
impatiently awaited by the local agents.
Both vessels left i'll advance of the Scot
tish Dale, which was towed into Port
| Townsend yesterday in i disabled condi-
T. /, al,
encountered the same gale, and, as they
were III ballast, it is thought that they
have had a rough experience.
PERIL OF GHTHoUSE-KEEPERs
ASTORIA (Or.), Dec. l3.-The lighthouse
tender Column bine returned at O'Clock
this evening from Tillamooli Rock. hav-
| ing left for that place ut daylight this
morning TO investigate the reported dam
| mage to the lighthouse from Sunday s
| hurricane. The sea was too rough to get
within speaking distance of the rock, and
| it was found impossible to land any one
| by means of the derrick and basket. The
| Columbine went around tho rock several
times, and could easily see that consider
able damage had been done. The sharp
/ top OF the smaller rock at the south of the
main rock on which the lighthouse stands
, is gone, and various other places sho W
| that huge boulders have been torn off by
| the force of the storm.
/ Chief Keeper Pessonen signaled that
| they were ali we'll, and that he would
send his report off III bottle attached to
a buoy. This he did, and it was soou
| picked up by the waiting steamer. An
| Associated Press reporter was shown the
statement by Lieutenant Blish this even
| ing, upou the arrival of the Colum bine
and from its contents is learned the ful
horror of the awful storm on the isolated
rock, and the dangers the men were sub
jected to.
between II a. NJ anu p. Il. on Sunday
last the worst hurricane ever experienced
on the coast ragged around the lighthouse
! Great mountains of water rolled in from
the southwest, and breaking against tht
blse of the rock. would run up its steel
si0e and spend It's force on the building
which trembled and rocked as if ready K
tum bic into the raging sea. by noon th,
storm was on in all its fury, and the sea-
! rolled higher and higher.
! great crash OF glass, shortly ate
noon, told of the damage caused by tht
| waves and fragments OF rocks that haC
| been torn loose from the main rock, anC
hurled against the outer glass that pro
tects the costly lenses Examinatior
showed that the panes were all broken
the lenses ruined, and the clock machin
cry that revolves the light so badly dam
aged as to render it useless.
The force of the wind and waves car
\ be judged when it is known that th