Evening star., 1895-06-01
STORY OF THE WRECK
Details Of the Sinking Of the
Colima.
STEAMER BECAME UNMANAGEABLE
Would Not Right Itself When the
Load Shifted.
EAMER BECAME UNMANAGEABLE
EXPERIENCE OF SURVIVORS


special from Mazatlan says:
The steamer San Juan has arrived here
with the twenty-one passengers picked up
on Tuesday from the wrecked Colima
From them your correspondent has learned
some of the particulars of the dreadful dis
aster which happened on Monday at noon,
when the Colima was about twenty-eght
miles out of Manzanillo and ten miles from
shore. All the rescued are badly bruised
They were all picked from pieces of wreck
age and Rats with the exception of A. ].
Sutherland. who had ciung to boat after
it had capsized five times and drowned all
the other occupants.
AS all were afloat in the fiercest gale of
the year and buffeted by the waves for
twenty-fouc hours, they are hardly yet in
condition to tell connected story of the
wreck and the experiences of their escape.
but many Interesting particulars have been
obtained.
The steamer was heavily laden and had
large deck-load of lumber. When the
storm struck her she made bad weather of
1t, the captain having great difficulty in
keeping her head to the sea. The wind in
creased in fury until 1t is said to have
been the fiercest storm known along this
coast in twenty years. The sea rose rapid
ly. waves washed over the vessel and
started the deck load. AS the waves rose
and the storm increased the managing of
the steamer became impossible and about
noon her head could no longer be kept up
and she preached to. Once in the trough of
the sea mighty wave struck her and she
was thrown on her beam ends This wave
struck her with such force that the steam
er trembled as If she had run upon reef
and most of the passengers thought this
the cause of the shocks. This gave rise to
the first reports that the ship had struck
on reef.
Whether because of the heavy deck load
the shifting of the coal and cargo, or the
force Of the storm, the steamer would not
right herself. The passengers were pretty
badly stunned by being pitched about, but
rushed up on deck in panic. Here they
met another danger. The gale tore part Of
the deck load of lumber from its fasten-
ings, and whirled the heavy planks about
with appalling violence. Many were struck
and manned. At least one passenger was
killed by having his head crushed by one
of the flying timbers.
In their terror the passengers made few
mental notes of their surroundings at this
juncture. The survivors say. however that
the officers Of the steamer were brave and
active. Capt. Taylor stood upon the bridge,
his first officer, De Griffiths with him. At
an order Griffiths rushed aft to superintend
the launching of a life boat, No. 5. Sec
ond Officer Langhorne was at the boat No.
=, and succeeded in getting it launched and
filled with passengers.
Then down went the ship. and Lang
horne's boat was capszed. All in the boats
were supposed to have been drowned
Went Down With the Ship.
Capt. Taylor went down with the ship,
sticking to his post. AS the ship pitched
downward he blew three blasts of the
whistle. supposedly as signal of goodbye.
Then he disappeared beneath the waves.
All the passengers praise the captain for
his GOODNESS and heroism. The last they
saw of him. he stood at his post the waves
and wind dashing and washing debris all
about him, and the wall of that whistle
will sound through their dreams for years
to come.
Down went the engineers and flremen at
their posts. Freight Clerk Berry was in his
room at the time Of the final plunge.
officer Hanson's Experience.
Third Officer Hanson was saved. AS the
steamer sank he cut some of the lashings
of the. deck lumber. Then he jumped or
was thrown overheard on the weather side
of the vessel and reached the deck house.
This had been torn off and washed away by
the great wave which threw the Colima on
her beam. There Hanson clung, buffeted.
for twenty-four hours. He saw men and
women sink about him, but was powerless
to aid them
Hanson says that as the steamer founder
ed her boilers burst. The deck burst under
his feet as he left the ship. Ten other men
were thrown into the sea with him.
The bursting of the boilers tore off the
deck and threw part of it over at least
dozen men who were struggling in the wa
ter. drowning them all. Flying debris hit
others. Hanson says the deck fairly
burst under his feet as he left the ship.
Two life RATS were seen to be atloat. On
one were three men, and on another six.
including J. A. Childburg of Seattle Wash,
who seemed to have been a leader In the
work of launching the raft.
Those in a position to take in their sur
roundings saw many who clung to bits of
wreckage and the lumber from the deck
load. The gale caught this wreckage from
the crests of the great waves and beat the
struggling urfortunates with it, One mans
skull was crushed by whrling plank as
he was about to climb upon a life raft.
The dash Of the sea made each timber
menace as well as a hope.
Fearful Fight for Life.
So the fight for life began. There was no
hope for women or children and small
chances for men in such storm. Many of
the women and children must have re-
manned in their cabins. The completely
nude bodies of the stewardess and two
other women came floating by the deck
house some time after the steamer sank.
All were dead, and the sight was so dis
tressing that Officer Hanson and the others
on the deck house pushed the bodies away
with pieces of Scantling.
Prof Harold Whiting of the California
University made heroic effort to save his
wife and four children and the nurse He
got into boat in which A. ]. Sutherland
and others were. The boat was soon
swanped. Then it was righted, after being
overturned. The women were dropped
despite all efforts to save them. Some were
killed or stunned by the flying debris
At last only Sutherland was left. He
climbed upon the seats while the life boat
was overturned and SO foated with the
boat acting a protecting shield. Air
came to him through the broken sides of
the boat. Sutherland says he was on the
weather side of the steamer when she went
on her beam ends, but slid over to the lee
side and fell into a boat. AS the steamer
went down mast part of the rigging
took the boat under water. When it came
to the surface Sutherland crawled into it
again.
Then he picked up Prof. Whiting, Mrs
Irving and another lady, supposed to be
Mrs. Whiting. Almost Immediately the
boat capsized, and, has been reported,
went over no less than five times drowning
Prof. Whiting and the two women. Then
it was that Sutherland came up under the
boat and remained there. protected, as he
tells, from the flying timbers and debris.
The survivors drifted about for twenty
four hours, in what Capt. Pitts of the San
Juan says was the hardest storm exper-
fenced on the coast in twenty years. OF
course, none but the stoutest could sur