The record-union., 1895-06-22
FIRST ACCIDENT TO THE COLIMA.
Mysterious Loss OF Two Blades of Her
Propeller.


Mysterious Loss OF Two Blades of Her
Propeller.
The ill-fated steamer Colima, whose re-
cent terrible disaster has filled the news
papers, has been an unfortunate vessel
from the first. Six Portland citizens were
among the victims of her first accident
| on her first voyage.
She was built by John Roach in 1878,
| and sailed around Cape Horn to Panama.
i On that trip she broke her shaft. 1t was
| the next year that she made her first trip
from banana to San Francisco, and
among her passengers were the late DR..
| Ehphalet Clark and wife, formerly of
| Portland, but latterly of Deering; b. NJ.
| Eastman and his vile, senior member of
the firm OF Eastman Brothers " Ban
! croft, and Fred Conant of the firm of
| Conant, Patrick & Co., and his mother.
/ The steamer had very large number of
passengers for so small vessel, though,
of course, she seemed large in those day 5.
! There were nearly ZJU nrSt-ClaSS paSSen-
gers and the crew, and the steerage pas
sengers made total of between 600 and
| 100 passengers.
They were Oft the island of Cerros, 800
miles south OF san Diego. one bright,
/ cal day, and were seated at the dining
table, when they heard a crash, and the
machinery stopped. Two blades OF the
/ propeller were found 10 be broken short
OFT. just what caused the accident has
never been decided. They were appar-
/ entity in deep water, and yet it seemed as
II 1t must have been rocky reef, eX-
tending far out from the island. Thus
disabled, the steamer could make no
headWay, but managed to get into the
lee of the island and find a good anchor
age.
The island is of volcanic origin, and,
though about ten miles long, IS utterly
destitute Of vegetation. The mainland,
only few miles distant. is almost AS
barren, and there is no human life for
many miles.
The next day after the accident the
| first Otncer took Il boat and crew and
started north, in hopes to reach San Diego
and telegraph Tor relief. The second ol1i-
Ger started south with a boat anu crew,
! In hopes TO meet another steamer COM
ing up.
For ten days the steamer remained in
the lee of that barren island, and there
were so many people on board The sup
ply OF provisions grew short very
quickly. At the last everything that
was tit to eat, Mr.. Eastman says, had
been eaten, and there was only lett hard
tack, that when broken revealed live
maggots, and salt beef that he as well as
many others would not eat. Luckily
they had plenty of water.
There were q large number of marines
aboard en- route for the Government sGa-
ton at san Francisco. These men Impro-
VlSed hShllnes by twisting several strands
of twine together. The nearest approach
to hshhOOks were some steel bars, an
inch square. The engineer managed TO
draw these out 10 d smaller diameter and
make rough tishhooks. With this kind
OF gear from 400 TO 50O pounds of rockcOd
were caught every day, and the people
were ted on fried cod, boiled cod, baked
cod, and cod cooked in every possible
way, till they were fairly sick at the
thought Of cod.
Mr.. Eastman now has, as a most valued
possession, one of those tishhooks, I'M
provised from an inch steel bar.
Tho boat that went south did meet with
another Of the compauy's steamers, and
this relief came atten Ten days OF suspense
and several days OF hunger.
OF course, the other steamer did not
have sufficient provisions tor over 600
extra people, especially as the towing OF
the disabled steamer up the coast would
lessen her speed by at least One-halt
W hen oil San Diego they sent in and
telegraphed 10 San Francisco Tor help.
Every depot of cooked provision in that
city, from the bakers to The grocery
store, was cleaned out as quickly as Dos
slble, and a steamer dispatched loaded
with the food. 1t was joyful time when
this steamer reached the hungry cast
aways, slowly creeping Up the coast, aud
longing for something good To eat.-Port-
land (Me.) Press.