The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-06-01
BLEW A LAST GOODBY
Brave Conduct of the Wrecked
COlima's Captain.
Stayed by His Ship to the Very
Last.
SOUNDS HIS WHISTLE.
Then He Went Down in the
Raging Waves.
Story of the Shipwreck as Told
by a Survivor.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 1.-An Ex-
aminer special from Mazatlan says: Inc
steamer San Juan has arrived here with
the 21 passengers picked up on Tuesday
from the wreck of the Colima. From
them the correspondent learned some of
the particulars of the dreadful disaster,
which they say happened on Monday at
noon, when the Colima was about 70
miles out of Manzanillo and ten miles
from shore.
All the rescued are badly bruised. They
were all picked up from pieces of wreck
age and RATS with the exception of A. }.
Sutherland, who had clung to boat
after it had cspsized five times and
drowned all the other occupants AS
all were atloat, lashed by the
tiercest gale of years and
buffsted by the angry seas for about "a
hours they are hardly yet in u condition
to tell a connected story of the wreck
and the experiences of their escape, but
many interesting particulars have been
obtained.
The steamer was heavily laden and had
a large deck load of lumber. When the
storm struck her she made bad weather
of it, the captain having great difficulty
in keeping her head TO the sea. The
wind increased in fury until it is said to
have been the tiercest storm known along
this coast in twenty years. The sea rose
rapidly. Waves washed the vessel and
started the deck load.
In the Clasp of tho Waves.
AS the waves rose and the storm in
creased the managing of the steamer
became impossible. At last, about noon,
her head could no longer be kept up and
she preached to. Once in the trough of
the sea a mighty wave struck her and
she was thrown on her beam ends. This
wave struck with such force that the
steamer trembled as if she had run upon
a reef and most of the passengers
thought this the cause of the shocks.
This gave rise to the first reports that the
ship had struck on a reef
Whether because of the heavy deck
load, the shifting of the coal and cargo,
OF the force of the storm, the steamer
would not right herself The passen-
gers, badly stunned by being pitched
about, rushed upon the deck in panic.
Here they met another danger.
The gale tore part of the
deck load of lumber from its fastenings
and whirled the heavy planks about with
appalling violence. Many were struck
and maimed. At least one passenger was
killed bv having his head crushed by
In their terror the passengers made
few mental notes of their surroundings
at this juncture. The survivors say,
however. that the officers of the steamer
we're brave and active. Captain Taylor
stood upon the bridge, his first officer D.
Z. Griffiths with him.
The Captains Last Goodbye.
At an order Grifiths rushed aft to
superintend the launching of life boat
x. n 7
life boat No. 3 and succeeded in getting
it launched and filed with passengers
Then down went the ship and Lang
hOrnes boat was capsized. All in the
boats were supposed to have been
drowned.
Captain Taylor went down with the
ship, sticking to his post As the ship
pitched downward he blew three blasts
on the whistle, supposedly as a signal of
goodbye Then he disappeared beneath
the waves.
at their posts. Freight Clerk Berry was
in his room at the time of the final
plunge. Third Officer Hansen was
saved. AS the steamer sank he cut
some of the lashings of the deck lum-
ber. Then he jumped or was thrown
overheard on the weather side of the
vessel and reached the top of the deck
house. This had been torn off and
washed away BY the great wave which
1nrew the Collma on her beam.
There Hansen clung, washed and
buteted for twenty four hours He
saw men and women sink about him. but
WAS powerless to aid them.
Struggling in the Water.
Hanson says that as the steamer foun-
dered her boilers burst. The deck burst
under his feet as he left the ship. Ten
other men were thrown into the sea with
him. The bursting of the boilers tore off
the deck and threw part of it over to at
least dozen men who were struggling
in the water, drowning them all.
Flying debris hit others Hanson saws
the deck fairly burst under his feet, as he
left the ship.
Two life RATS were seen to be afos+
On one were three men and on another
SIX including J. A Chilberg, of Seattle.
ash1ngton, who seemed to have been
leader in the work of launching the
La1t Those In any position to take no
Hce OF their surroundings saw MANY who
cIung to bits of wreckage and the lum-
Der from the deck load.
Inc gaze caught this wreckage from
1ne crests OF the great waves and beat
ssrugghng unfortunates with it One
Man skull was crushed bv whirlin9
plank as he was about to clambsr ms
NE raft. The dash of the sea made
eacn tim Der menace as well as a hone
30 the fight for life began. ~
No Hope for Women and ChiIdrsr.
aIere was no hope for women or
onlidren and small chances for man IN
such storm Many of the women srd
ch!oEsn must have remained in their
CABINS. Inc completely nude bodies of
sac s'e"sroess and two other women