The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-12-19
Ship j. r. Brown and Bark Sea
King on the List.
SOME HOPE FOR The COLUMBIA
The Montserrat and keweenaw Now
Eight Days Overdue.
Germanta's Age IL Against Her-sman
Hope that Euhsr OF the steamers
viii Bs Seen Again-Mer. Than loo
Men Drowned.

San Francesca. Dec. 1s-The Pacific
Coast Steamship Cempany's steamer
UInatilla from Puget Sound, due yester-
day morning. did not get in until nearly
midnight last night. The Umatllla re-
ports bad weather all along the coast.
The State OF California. also overdue. ar
rived early this morning. after very
rough passage from Portland.
Neither steamer brings any news OF
the missing vessels keweenaw and Mont
ssrrat. The faint hope is stiil held cut
that one vessel may be assisting the 9TH
er. There are a Few who cling to this
belief, and those who were earnest sup
porters at the start have very little 10
say. In an interview with Capt Mosher.
the captain asserted that he did not have
much hope Of ever seeing the TWO steam
ers He explained that there was every
likelihood OF the keweenaw having bro
ken down. Blackburn. fearless as he was.
went to her assistance and during the
struggle TO get a hawser to the hewee-
nav, both vessels collided and went down.
The wherea bouts of the barks Column
bia and Germanta are not known. While
fears are not expressed for the Column
bia considerable anxiety is felt Tor the
safety of the Germania- The latter YES
sci is nearly Is years old. and with coal
cargo there is fear that she did not come
through the gale successfully.
The ship J. Il. Brown is fifteen days
out from Nanaimo with coal for this
port, and the bark Sea King sailed day
later than the j. Il. Brown from the
same port and for the same destination
Both were in the worst of the storm be-
tween Cape Flattery and Cape Blanco,
and il is feared they are lost
Port Townsend, Dec. 1s.-Special.-Lit-
tie or no hope is entertained here by
shipping and tugboat men for the safety
OF the steamers Moutserrat and Wewee-
naw and the ships Columbia and Ger
mania The crews of the four vessels
number about ninety persons. and the
consensus of maritime opinion is that
they went down with the vessels in the
same manner as did the late illfated
Ivanfoe. Some people. however. cling 10
the opinion that the Columbia will turn
up safely for the reason that. bad she
been lost, vessels coming up the coast
would have encountered quantities OF
floating lumber. She was seen by a Brit
ish vessel the day after she left Clal-
lam Bay, off Cape Flattery heading TO
the wset before a brisk east wind 1t
Is improbable that she got around
and reached the coast again, though she
might have done so IL she became dsa-
bled and tried TO return to the straits.
Again. later reports from Cape Fiattery
say that the lumber which was reported
cast ashore north OF the Ozeatti river has
been there for two or three weeks. and
may have been the jtttisoned deck load OF
some outward bound vessel These sur
nises are however. of a very dubious
character and easily succumb TO the cold
belief that the missing ships and their
crews will never again come into an
earthly port There Is hardly port on
the Pacific coast but where some OF the
missing men are well known. and a gen
eraI feeling of sorrow for their presumed
unfortunate ending.
OF the lost vessels, the Montserrat, per-
haps. is the most widely known
She first came into notoriety three or
four years ago, when she began black
birding in III South Pacific seas. The
coffee planters Of Central America en-
gagged natives under contract to work on
the plantations. but the wording OF the
contracts made them little more than
slaves. Under various pretexts the ma
tives were coaxed on board and then made
10 sign contracts and leave their coral
island homes Capt. Ferguson. the con-
tractor. took several hundred over TO
Central America in the brig Tahiti, which
on the last voyage turned turtle and
all hands were drowned Capt Ferguson
then engaged the MoutseTTat to complete
the contract. Blackburn took about 800
natives from the Gilbert islands 10 Qua
tenala. At one time Capt Blackburn
commanded the steamship Wsila waIIa,
plying between San Francisco and Puget
sound