The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-12-27
ONE DEAD, ONE LOST
The Strathnevis' Crew, Officers and
Cargo Are Safe.
BUT THE MIOWERA is GONE
IL IL q Valuable Boat. Subsidized
by the British Government to
Carry Malls-The Hawser Part
ed and the Ships Separated.

Port Townsend. Wash. Dec. 26.-The
officers Of the Strathnevis report q re-
markable voyage. filled with dangers
and privations. On Monday afternoon
last, all hope of saving the vessel was
abandoned and the life RATS and boats
were manned preparatory to leaving
the vessel. as she was In imminent
danger of drifting ashore on Destruc-
tion island. Grave fears are entertain
ed for the safety of the Australian
steamship Miowera. whioh had the
Strathnevis In tow for FIVE days. Ten
miles off Cape Flattery last Friday af-
ternoon. during a violent gale. the two
steam hawsers parted suddenly and
the Miowera disappeared In the storm.
The Miowera had had the Strathnevfs
in tow five days and had exhausted the
larger part of her fuel.
The log of the Strathnevis tells a
story that is seldom duplicated In the
annals of maratine history and more
especially in the North Pacific ocean.
Leaving Victoria Oct. 13 with 165 pas
sengers and As officers and crew with
moderate weather. running a speed of
10 knots was made until Oct 20. at 7:40
o'clock in the morning. In latitude
1914 n. and longitude 164T W., the
ship experienced a terrific shock, the
crashing sounding like an explosion of
a cannon. The big steamer trembled
fore and aft and lay quivering like a
wounded fawn. The shaft had snapped
short off close to the propeller and
which dropped clear of the vessel and
went to the bottom. A strong northern
gale was coming on and all sail was
crowded on and two small masts with
out yards, schooner rugged. The acci-
dent occurred about $50 miles south of
Unalaska. Slowly the gale carried the
vessel to the southwest and 1t was two
days later before she could make any
progress towards the east. From that
time on under a zig-zag course. she
sailed slowly toward Cape Flattery.
During the nine weeks the Strathne-
Wis was adrift and disabled, she en-
countered continuous gales and heavy
seas. The vessel lay almost all the
time in the trough of the sea. She
rolled frightfully, but shipped very
little water, and her cargo was not
damaged in the least. The officers and
crew, when they arrived In port, were
thoroughly exhausted. Much uneasi-
ness is felt for the safety of the boat
containing Purser Mcdonald and four
men, who left the steamer, intending
to land on Destruction island. The
coast is particularly rough and Is lined
with jagged rocks, on which several
vessels IN recent years have been
wrecked and dozen or more lives lost.
What has become of the Miowera is
the serious question now confronting
shipping men. The officers and crew
of the .Strathnevis refuse to believe she
would wantonly abandon them in such
a perilous position. 10 miles from the
dangerous coast and in a gale from the
west. The captain of the Australian
steamer said he would have to return
to the sound for fuel, as the supply he
had on hand would not last for the
voyage to Australia. The price of coal
in Honolulu is $40 per ton.
Another remarkable and very strange
feature about the Miowera is that when
her hawsers parted she did not blow
any danger signal blast. The whistle
on the Strathnevis was blown continu-
ously at short intervals, but no answer
came. The Miowera is a valuable ves-
sci. costing about $3.50, 900, and is subsi-
died by the British government and
the Australian government to carry
mails. The terms of the contract for
lives. II the Miowera is lost her own
ers will be unable to collect any insur-
ance, owing to the dangerous work she
the Strathnevis.
Anxiety for the safety of the Mo
vera is increasing hourly. and the op-
inion among shipping men is fast crys-
talking into belief that when the ca
bles with which she was towing the
Strathnevis parted. they became en-
tangled In the propeller and put the
Australian liner at the mercy of the
elements. The strange feature to con-
trovert this theory Is her failure to
sound her whistle. The Miowera Is a
three-masted schooner-rigged vessel
and carries three yards for the fore
mast, which enables her to carry a lib-
eral amount of canvas. The idea in
some quarters prevails that she may
have had sufficient sail TO keep her
clear of land so she could stand out TO
sea-
Since Monday night. when the steam
ers parted company, a dozen vessels
have come in by the cape. thoroughly
covering the area from the west to
the southwest of Cape Flattery. but
there were no signs of the missing
steamer. Captain Pattie and his offi-
GERS refuse to believe the Miowera. af-
ter towing for FIVE days and coming
back over 700 miles of her track. TO
within 10 miles OF the San Juan De
Fuca straits and the larger part of her
fuel exhausted. would deliberately
abandon the steamship Strathnevis on
the lee shore of a rocky coast. where
certain destruction seemed inevitable
Manatoba Refuses Flatiy.