The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-02-18

wreck and made fast her line. This was
about twenty miles off Point Reyes, and
then the hard pull for home began, which
was to last over thirty hours. On ac-
count of the awkward position of the
wreck in the water, lying on her port
beam, the tug could not put forth all the
strength of her great machinery, for fear
of wrenChing the ancient schooner asun-
der. Consequently 'slow belI' was the
speed run under. The tug and her tow ar
rived off the harbor about O'Clock Satur-
day evening, but did not attempt to come
in till a favorable tide yesterday morning.
On arriving off the foot of Hyde street
the captain of the tug pushed the wreck as
far inshore as the depth of water would
permit and making fast to the mast-tops
of the schooner succeeded in hauling her
to an almost upright position.
No examination of the interior of the
hull can be made until the schooner is
placed on an even keel and pumped out,
which will not be done till o'clock this
morning, providing, of course, that there
ere no breaks or leaks in the hull.
The vessel lies with her masts on an
angle of about 80 degrees and the port rail
under water. No damage of any import
ance can be seen about the woodwork, but
the deeply sunken port side may contain
evidences of 4 collision with some other
vessel or floating object.
1t is In the rigging that plain indications
of the cause of the disaster may be found.
When she went over every sail was set
main, fore, iib, flying jib and topmast stay
sail-proving that the blow, whether from
a squall or a colliding craft, came in the
midst of a comparative calm. The canvas
was torn either by the wind or by the force
of the sea, and the towing of the wreck
through the waves dragged almost every
stitch of sail from the booms.
Looking at the melancholy Spectacle of
submerged hull, broken light spars and
shreds of canvas hanging from aloft, the
question arises, where is the crew? The
schooner's boat, which had been hoisted on
deck when she left Lversens Landing at
dark Tuesday evening to escape lea shore
in the threatening storm, is gone and there
is possibility tibet the five men were en-
abled to board it and drift away before the
gale that capsiZed their overbalanced craft.
The names of the persons who are either
lost at sea, aboard OF some rescuing vessel
or confined In their sleeping berths down
in the submerged cabin of the wreck
are: Charles Omundsen. captain and part
owner; Martin Laurensen, mate; and
George Rogers, cook. Nothing can be
learned regarding the two sailors who
bunked in the forecastle, and inquiries
made at the Office of n. Iversen failed to
elicit any actual information regarding
them. Men for schooners and small crafts
here are not procured through public
office, but hired on board the vessel BY the
captain, often for the trip only.
1t is learned that the Ocean Spray left
this port last Monday arriving at 1versen's
Landing, a small cove about six miles
above Point Arena, and went to sea Tues
evening, the captain not feeling secure at
the moOrings close to shore.
Mr.. Iversen does not believe that his
vessel foundered in sudden squat.
"Why," he said, 'she was as stiff boat
and as firm on her keel as a house; and,
besides, she had as cargo, l think, fifteen
tons of ballast, besides several tons OF
grain and general merchandise. Before
she would have gone over the masts and
sails would have gone out of her.
81 believe she was struck and mashed
by a log or some other vessel, and / think
the men may have been picked up, though
some of them may be lying dead in their
hunks, and the rest in the sea. l can't IN
derstand why Omundsen left the landing,
as l gave him explicit orders to stay there,
no matter how hard the wind blew, as the
moorings were perfectly safe in any kind