The herald., 1895-06-07
CAUGHT IN A CIRCULAR STORM

aster; the wind was blowing a hurri-
cane. and that with the heavy swell was
the cause. Hansen did not consider that
the Colima was in danger until the last
couple OF minutes. when she gave the
final list. The ship rolled with the
swell, which filled her main deck on the
starboard side with water and she did not
have time to recover herself before the
second swell came. pinning her down
and showing her over hard. The third
swell that came showed her down. These
swells came in quick succession and the
ohcers could do nothing to save lives.
it was the worst storm Hansen ever saw
IN IN an experience of thirteen years at sea.
1he two other members or the crew cor
1oDborated Hansen's statement.
Because OF the criticism of Captain
Fits. commander of the San Juan, to
the effect that he had not spent suif cient
time In cruising for survivors, II. y.
Schwerin. general manager Of the Pacific
Mail steamship company, made partic-
nlar inquiry into the efforts of Captain
Pitts to rescue people from the RATS and
the wreck kage. Captain Pitts informed
the general manager that he was $50
miles south OF the place where the Co
lima foundered when the fearful hurri-
cane struck the San Juan. He reached
the place of the disaster about eighteen
hours after the Colima had been sunk.
Seeing the wreckage he began the search
for survivors ard cruiSed for seven hours,
going as far as twenty-five miles to lee
ward OF the place where the wreck oc
Cured until he had passed all the wreck
age.
MIR. Schwerin says he is satisfied from
Captain Pitts statement that he did all
he could to rescue the survivors and was
diligent in the search.
Captain Pitts describes the storm as
the most severe he has ever experienced
his twpnrv + at
Based on PASSENGERS Stories
SAN FRANCISCO, June 6.-The Call
in its account of the wreck Of the Colima.
as told by the surviving passengers, says:
The ship was overloaded, badly loaded,
top-heavily loaded-all agree to that.
When the gale struck her she weathered
it but badly. Then she careened. There
was list to starboard and she did not
right again. Men called out to the cap
tain to cut away the deckload of heavy
spars. The captain was obduIate. He
knew his business, or fancied he did.and
would brook no suggestions from what
he called the terrified and panic-stricken
passengers. And they probably were all
that he called them, for they could see
death staring them in the face, while the
captain remained blind. The pity of
that blindnessl 1t cost more than $50
lives-that blindness, that obdurateness.
The ship listed more and more. With
apprehension everybody waited. held
their breath, till she sould bear up and
listed still more. Then she lost her steer
ing power. The captain rang for more
steam and would not cut loose the deck
load that might have saved her. Steam
could not save her. The engines were
taxed to their utmost; still the vessel
listed. The panic grew worse the fear of
death more intense. Then the captain
gave orders for crew to keep the passen-
gers within bounds. Whether these or
ders went so far as to withhold life pre-
S ,rvers from the passengers and to per-
NIT those who sought to do so TO come
chance of battling with the waves is not
known at this time. Perhaps some fur
ther investigation will shed some light
on this point.
AT all events the effect of these orders
was to turn the crew and subaltern
officers into band of tyrants who acted
as though they sought to prevent any
one from escaping the doom that yawned
before them. Steerage and cabin passen-
gers say they sought TO obtain life pre-
servers and were forcibly restrained from
doing so. Down in the steeIage a guard
was posted at the companion way door
and those who escaped to the deck IN
time to cast themselves into the sea be-
fore the vessel went down did so only by
main force by kicking and lighting their
way past the guard.
Those who were saved were some of
those who were wiser than the captain,
and had wit enough to throw themselves
into the fUaming sea before the Colima
gave her last list to the starboard. AS
she did this the captains whistle SCUM
ded to cut loose the deckload of spars.
1t was too late then.
One OF the rescued ones tells the scene
which followed very graphically:
81 stayed on the ship until the last
moment. and when l came to the surface
after my plunge in to the seething waves,
look ksd back and the Colima was not in
sight. AS quickly as that she went down
ana scores were drowned in the steerage
and cabin. | caught a floating piece of
timber and held fast. All around me the
sea was covered with wreckage and every
every now and then human body f1oated
by. Sometimes it was woman. some
times Il man, but their faces were all
turned upward. All that day all those OF
us who found foothold on the hurricane
deck raft saw bodies floating past. They
were all dead"
to be a catastrophe aginst which no dam
ages may lie in the law. although from
the stories OF the survivors-and they are
all of the same tenor-it is plain that
human skill and foresight might have
prevented it.
$dptatH f'htS uasty
But this is not all. One of the rescued
charges that Captain Pitts of
the San Juan YVES too hasty in leaving
the scene OF the disaster on the morning
OF the 2Stll ult.. after he had rescued a
of the shipwrecked men; and
this statement is corroborated by Captain
Long OF the steamer Willamette, who
was passenger on board the San Juan.
The captain was not satisfied with the
efforts that were beng made to search for
the shiwprecked people. He raised a
voluntary crew on board and asked Cap
tam Pitts to let him take one of the san
.]uan's boats and go out to search. Cap
tain Pitts refused.
Captain Long went to the purser of the
San Juan. After much pleading the
purser told him to SO ahead. Captain
Long then took it upon himself to have
one of the boats lowered. He and his
crew came back with six more of the
men. These six, in all prob
ability from the statements made by Mr.
Oriel and Captain Long, would not have
been saved but for this disobedience to
the orders of Captain Pitts. 1t was
0 clock Thursday morning when the first
man was picked up. At
10 10 o'clock, two hours and three-ouar-
ters later, Captain Pitts. in his unseemly
steamed away from the scene
I crhaps there were others to save; per-
haps there were not.
Thrilling Story
A. J. Sutherland Of Seattle. who was
one of the heroes of the Coima disaster.
tells u very thrilling and graphic story
,f his experiences during the hurricane
hat swept the steamer from the seas.