The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-14
THE WORST OF ALL.

The steerage messboy of the Colima has
added the eliminating touch of horror to
the story of the wreck. 1t had been already
shown that the ships officers prevented
the steerage passengers from securing life
preservers, and beat them back when they
clamored for escape to the deck. The
messboy finishes this chapter by declaring
that at the last, while the ship was still
afoat, the deckload of lumber slid over
and closed the companionway and forced
the Storage passengers to "drown like rats
in barrel" Considerable time must have
elapsed after this closing before the ship
went down, for the messboy, being famil-
lar with the ship, had time to climb up
dumb-waiter and escape through the cabin
to the deck. AS he was the only one who
could have escaped from the steerage after
the closing of the companion by the lumber,
he is the only one who can give testimony
on that point; and as he was an employee
Of the company, it is not to be expected
that he would resort to untruth in so dam
aging a statement.
1t had been supposed that the story of
the deckload of lumber had been sutfi-
GENTLY terrible. That it made the ship
topheavy and assured so deep rolling as to
shift the cargo are matters upon which
there is no prevalent doubt. That it then,
when cut loose by the third mate, should
have closed the companion of the steerage,
was just what might have been expected.
Had the lumber been thrown overheard
early in the storm the probabilities are
that the vessel would have been saved.
Another amazing piece of information,
from yUifnocaac Js that tho
large bow portfolios, over four feet by two
in size, used for loading, were not only
wide open, but were SO blocked by cattle
pens that it would have been impossible to
close them in storm. AS these openings
faced the storm they necessarily shipped
water constantly to their full capacity. 1t
is altogether reasonable to believe that
they were left open in order to supply the
livestock with air; but that the pens should
have been placed so as TO make it impossi-
BILE to close them would seem incredible
did we not know that many other ordi-
narily incredible things were done on the
Colima. Although the ship wore the
storm all night there seems to have been
no effort at any time to close these danger
Gus openings.
Stories of the toploading of the Pacific
Mail Company's vessels with lumber are
multiplying since this disaster. 1t would
be unreasonable to expect any vessel SO
laden to pass safely through heavy storm.
The Inspectors of Hulls and Boilers have
widened the scope of their investigation
since there arose the popular outcry against
their apparent desire to shield the Pacific
Mail. They are now hearing the testimony
OF others besides the employees of the COM
pany, but they have not yet assumed an
attitude to win the entire confidence of the
public. One point which they assiduously
bring out from all the witnesses is that the
increased ferceness of the hurricane i'm
mediately following the sinking of the
vessel would have made it impossible for
any ship of the Colima's class to keep
afoat.
This happens to be utterly foreign to
legitimate purposes of the inquiry. In
the first place, the testimony of men
struggling for their lives in the water can
not be highly valuable when it comes to
comparing the strength of the storm while
they were on the vessel with that which
followed her laundering; and in the Sec
ond place, nothing could be more absurd
than to excuse the wreck by imagining
worse dangers that came after it.
The CALL has no desire to be unduly
harsh with the management of the Pacific
Mail, but it holds life to be more sacred
consideration than the profits of the COM
pany, and utters but common human
sentiment in demanding that the right. of
life be respected.