The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1895-06-07


Pitts. commander of the San j uan. to the
effect that he had not spent sufficient
time in cruising for survivors. r. z.
Schwerin, General Manager of the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company, made par
ticular inquiry into the efforts of Cap
tain Pitts TO rescue people from the RATS
and the wreckage. Captain Pitts in
formed the General Manager that be was
$50 miles south of the place where the
Colimia 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, and cruised for seven
hours, going as far as twenty-five miles
to leeward of the place where the wreck
occurred, until he had passed all the
wreckage.
Mr.. Schwerin says he is satisfied from
Captain Pitts statement that he did all
that he could to rescue the survivors,
and was dligent in the search.
Captain Pitts described the storm as
the most severe he has ever experienced
in his twenty-five years at sea.
PAssENGER's THRILLING EXPERIENCE.
A. j. Sutherland of Seattle, who was
one of the heroes of the Colima disaster.
tells a very thrilling and graphic story of
| his experiences during the hurricane that
swept the steamer from the seas.
Throughout the hours of anxiety and
dread he preserved his mental faculties.
and observed all that passed around him
with an extraordinary calmness.
"Everything was quiet when we were in
Manzanillo harbor." said he, "but imme-
diately we went out to sea 1t began TO
blow and become rough. Two hours out
! the wind began to increase steadily III
fury, and kept on getting worse, until
the steamer collapsed. During the night
the sea was growing more and more ter
rible, but yet it caused no great excite
ment aboard except among some nervous
passengers. 1t was only an hour or two
| before we went down that any real signs
| of alarm could be seen among the pasSen
| gers and craw.
| Professor Whiting was The worst
| worked up man in the cabin, and We
| young fellows kept joshing' him about
| his fears. Why, really, five minutes be-
| fore the wreck did not realize the dam
ger. Something like two minutes before
the ship listed the Captain told me it was
all up. we are going down. said he.
a cyclone is coming upon u.s. Both lie
and the officers were expecting a terrible
storm, and made all preparations tor it.
The glass fell down at Once-so fast it
frightened them-and they took the plugs
out of the steering apparatus SO as to be
ready TO steer from the stern, lashed
down everything securely and took in
awnings.
"Just at the time of the collapse it got
very dark, but the real darkness came on
when we were on the wreckage floating
about. That was the most awful hurri-
cane I ever saw, and Pve been through
Kansas cyclones. l never saw anything
like it before. Some things tore loose
from the stern, and they were lashed fast
by sailors at imminent risk of their lives.
n s"The whole thing went to pieces at
once-say from three to five minutes
from the time the steamer listed until she
sunk. AS she rolled, all the while listing
deeper, the lower tier of staterooms were
filled by water by every successive sea
that swept over us. The women and
children were in the rooms holding on to
something to save themselves from being
battered to death by the pitching and roll
| ing. 1t was utterly impossible To keep
your feet. even while holding fast with
your hands to the railing or whatever you
could grasp.
After we took the last fatal list the
cabins started and l climbed up to the
top of the hurricane deck. | realized
then we were gone. Both rows of cabins
and everything above the hull crumbled
away like q bit of soft brick instantane-
ously. l was then outside amldships,
hanging onto rail behind the stays, or
ropes that stay the masts, and scram bled
L
the deck-houses and two rows of state
rooms go board. A mast fell upon
! the boat and showed it into the water.
| Then l was OFF the ship. The cabins
were coming toward me, churning and
crunching into splinters and crushing the
! people who were washed away with
them. Above the roar of the gale / could
hear the screams aud yells. The wreck
age and men and women were mixed up
| in trightful mass as the tim berS were
crushing out lives before my eyes. No
| one could have escaped from that awful
mass Of broken timbers that kept on
churning and smashing in the waves.
ss"Only the bare hull was lett with masts
sticking up, for everything above the
iron was swept away. During the listing
even the hull was filling up with water,
| but she kept afloat, though very far
| down. Suddenly there was an explosion.
| The masts raised back of the water, and
the hull lifted up, and then she tilted and
went down in an instant, stern first. l
don't think there can be any question
| but that the boilers exploded. / learned
that there were explosives stored far aft,
| but the explosion was amidships. 1t
tore the hull to pieces, and the Colima
sank like flash.
There were a number of women and
| Chinese down in the steerage who would
not be let up on deck, and they never got
out alive. Everyone of them went down
in the ex xplosion with the hull The first
one 1 saw near me was Mrs. Irving, and
then stout lady who came up near the
lifeboat which was lucky enough to be
| thrown against. | pulled Mrs. Irving
into the boat, and after her the other
lady. They had been taken from their
stateroom little while previously by
officers, as the partitions had been
smashed by the waves, leaving an OPEN
Inr Irlfn n JirlIy ,lxy
by that mere accident that they were not
ground to death in the wreckage of
cabins. Twice these ladies were thrown
out of the boat, and twice | got them
back. Then Professor Whiting came
alongside. and pulled him into the boat.
He acted as if he was out of his head.
''We tipped over repeatedly, Mr.. Whit
ing and turning the boat over once in at
tempting to drag the stout woman In;
but we got IN again. and WHOM we came
right, MIR. Peters was hanging onto the
stern. l went 10 save Peters, when again
the boat turned over In the awful sea. 1t
was then L lost sight of Whiting. The
large lady was struck by wreckage aud
disappeared. 1 never saw either Of them
again. Mrs. Irving held on to the boat
for half an hour later with marvellous te-
nacity. 1t kept turning over, but every
| time l came up found her hanging on TO
some portion of the boat, and helped her
all l could. Once / got astride the keel
and held her up by leaning over to one
side and holding her firmly by the hand.
| But this could not be sustained long. and
as the boat tipped went over. As L
came up tried to tip the boat on its keel.
and then L lost Mrs. Irving. She sank
from sheer exhaustion after a noble battle
for life. Peters sank too, but I never
saw him again, though he was saved.
"When we were in the water the worst
trouble began, for 1t was only then that
the hurricane struck us with its full force.
The day was black ened and the rain fell
| in solid masses. 1t was not a cyclone,
but circular whirlwind, that caught us
| in ito very center and would draw the