Birmingham age-herald., 1895-06-07
THESE STORIES THRILL ONE The Wreck of the III-Fated
 Steamer CoIima AS TOLD BY THE SURVIVORS Her Cargo Seems to Have Shfted-lnde- scribabIe Scenes of Horror-There
 Was No Discipline

San Francisco, June 6.-The steamer San Juan arrived this afternoon from Panama and way ports with survivors of the wrecked Pacific mail steamship Coli ma. As soon as the marine observer reported the ship, two miles out, the water front became the scene of consid- erable excitement. The Pacific mail dock was besieged by curious crowd that blocked the street. As the revenue cutter bearing the customs officers and news paper men neared the ship, some of the Coimas rescued passengers, with band aged heads, were seen leaning on the bow rail.
 Just prior to the arrival of the report CTS, however, the Pacific Mail company's tug, AIllen Griffith, came along the San Juan and took off Third Mate Hansen
 of the lost ship, who more than anyone
 else could throw light on the cause of
 the wreck. There was a general disin- clination among the surviving passengers to give any information the only reason given for their refusal to be interviewed
 being that under the circumstances they did not feel disposed to talk. George D.
 Ross, formerly the boatswains mate on
 the cruiser Olympia, who was on the way to his home in New York, gave the
 United Press representative the follow
 ing graphic account of the wreck:
 We left Mazatlan Sunday, May 26. at o'clock D. m., with a fair breeze blow ing. Toward o'clock in the evening the wind increased a little and-oontinued blowing pretty fresh all night. Next morning at o'clock the wind moderated considerably until about 9 o'clock, when it again came up and steadily continued to gain in violence until it acquired the proportions of a hurricane. The wind
 lA4HY in trtIC Ctgt ifaor chi f,
 list badly to starboard. The Colima labored heavily, and it was evident that
 we were in very preoarious predica- ment. The greatest excitement pre- vailed on board. and the faces of the passengers plainly showed that they were keenly alive to their perilous posi- ton.
 Unfortunately, just at the last mo- ment, fatal blunder was committed by the third officer who cut the lashings of a deck load, consisting of 32,000 feet of lumber. Some of this was washed into
 the sea and what reniained on deck was driven about, knocking down and maim-
 ing those whom it struck. A particu- larly heavy sea struck the ship, tumbling the foremast and sinokestaek. Shortly before this, however, a succession Of huge waves had punched a hole in our starboard bow, through which the sea poured.
 W omen ScTedDieu anu TuSleu up tle companionway, imploring the men to
 save them. The ship gave a couple of heavy rolls and an enormous sea climbed
 on us, smashed the hurricane deck, and
 with one mighty lurch the ship went down. As she was making her last | lureh l dove into the sea, and when I came up she was out of sight. People were floating around clinging to all sorts of wreckage and some sinking under our very eyes.
 Some who had managed to grasp hold of boards or blanks were knocked sense less and drowned. The force and effect of this floating mass of lumber cannot be desribed It caused the death of many who might otherwise have been saved.
 'It is difficult to say to what cause the wreck of the Colima is attributable. She must certainly have shifted her cargo, as her strong list to port showed. I firmly believe that but for the shifting of the cargo the ship would have ridden
 out the gale. I had been in the water some little time clinging to one object or another until I managed to get hold of
 a good sized piece of the hurricane deck,
 upon which I climbed. I drifted about for some time, when l observed rather effeminate looking fellow on another piece of wreckage close to me. He seemed about to give up, so l seized his raft and hauled him on to mine. We
 made the rest of the trip towards shore together He turned out to be Thornton. We were the closest in-shore of any of the survivors, and were picked up by the l first officers boat of the San Juan after being twenty-three hours in the water. Ross was severely cut about the head by floating wreckage and had numerous | other cuts about the body
 T. J. O'Reil, an electrician, on his way to Mexico, gave about the same version of the commencement of the storm. He said the Colima during the height of the storm listed so badly after each sue oeeding rush of waves that she did not recover About g o'clock on the morn ing of the wreck" he said, "1 went be- low to the steerage quarters and noticed water coming into the starboard scup- per Shortly afterward quartermaster came down, saying the captain wanted to see the engineer The latter went on deck, but returned to the engine room in three or four minutes looking like dead man. His face was ashy pale. That was the last seen of him."
 When OReil was telling this part of the story a. relative of the engineer, who had boarded the steamer with the re- porters broke into tears and shook con VulsiVely.
 By this time" O'Reil went on "the steerage passengers had all gone below,
 when the seven men-of-war men from
 the American cruisers Olympia and Phil
 adelphia tried to console those around them One of these finally told us we
 were doomed. We shook hands, said
 goodbye, and he knelt on a sack of
 flour and said his prayers. I then
 started to go on deck, but the ship listed
 so badly I could scarcely make my way