The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-07-17
QUEEN-I.|Kt
SHE DIES,
Continued from First Page.

| sup Livery IOu, Deam ana StaHcnlOD
voiced the groanings of her agony. The
tops of the long tables in the grand saloon
began to rise and fall like the surface of
the swelling sea, and the wooden parti-
lions of the cabin to unjoint at their
angles. Outside in their boats the Fort
Point ilfe-saving crew and the men in the
ships lifeboat hung on to their lines, and
were ready to receive all hands if her back
should break and the fractured hull roll
off into deep water.
The reporter was not so easy in his mind
as were the men who sat on the revolving
chairs in the saloon and told stories of the
good times they had enjoyed on shore.
They had been to sea all their lives except
at rare intervals, but they never spoke of
their shipwrecks. Sailors seldom speak of
the never ending perils of reef and gale,
Probably such affairs are part of the mo-
notony OF their lives, and their love for
adventure and excitement leads them to
thoughts of farms, livestock and Aowery
fields
They talked on as they waited for the
stralnlng bulkheads to burst, the dynamo
to drown and the electric lights to go out.
lncidently they waited for the steamer TO
go, as they uuietly predicted, ''the next
roll like that"
Many OF the officers and crew had blank
cts. as they knew should the steamer be
abandoned, they would take refuge aboard
the schooner Jewell, which was anchored
near by. Most of their personal effects had
been sent off to other vessels earlier. One
man had his three green parrots perched
on his arm, and another was putting in
his time waiting for the final smashing
roll, cropping around in the gloom of the
pitching decks and staterooms for the
ships cat. Thomas had sailed in that
vessel for two years, and he was not to be
left when even the rats he hated would
get out OF the crumbling steamer.
few minutes after 10 o'clock Captain
clark, who had been standing near the
wheelhouse, noticed that the humping
began farther aft and that the hull was
striking harder
The danger seemed increasing, so he
gave the long-expected order to take to the
boats. The men started for the gangway.
A number of them had gone to sleep in
their hunks, Notwithstanding the peculiar
state OF affairs, and they were quickly
aroused. Several, somewhat dazed by
the sudden call from slumber, went into
the boats without their shoes, and one fell
low brought off pillow in lieu of a
blanket. Although the ship was dipping
her starboard gangplank half under the
water and the boats were tossing on the
violent swell alongside, with their crews
struggling hard TO keep from being
swamped, there was not the slightest ex-
element or confusion. The steamer would
roll away, lifting her bilge high in the air,
then come back as though she would top
pie over, till the rail went far down in the
sea.
Almost the last member of the crew to
leave was the cat. He was found in a
storeroom intantly watching rathoIe, the
occupant of which was probably also get
ting readyto desert the ship. The per-
sistent feline objected with all the power
of his throat and claws to being forced out
of the vessel and yelled and spit desper.
ately as his well-wishing captor dragged
him ungracefully by the tail into the
boat.
After the men had all left the ship, the
captain came down the gangway and
silently seated himself on a thwart among
his crew. They pulled ont from the
steamer, leaving her to wallow alone on
the reef. her lamps cleaning cheeriully
from the many cabin windows. Out on
the point the great revolving light swept
solemHly round and round, tossing its
flame over the land, over the sea, over
the ship that is forever beyond the need
OF its warning
They didn't talk much IN the boats, but |
sat looking back at the black body of the
deserted steamer. Presently the lights
ba md
had drowned the dynamo and no spark
came from the dead armature.
Aboard the little Jewel the castayavs
biVouackediin the hold. Several bales of
hay, destined for tenders when the
schooner should go alongside of the
steamer, were opened, and in this extern
poraneous NOW they wrapped their
blankets around them and slept like true
sailors.
AT daybreak the ship was seen yet
whole rolling on the rocks but deeper is
the water. They manned the boats, and
returning found the engine and fire rooms
awash. The sea had burst through new
holes nearer the stern and the weight of
the water was holding her closer to the
reef. In consequence she was more stable.
The small donkey engine which is high
above the flooded compartments was vet
warm and its steam soon heated coffee for
the men. The pantries yielded a generous
supply of eatables and the old ship not
only received them back, but fed them on
their return.
The Inflated Colombia is none the less
going" as they call 1t, for her bottom is
com pletely crushed and the rocks that
pierce her are supporting the shattered
hull. While the sea remains quiet she
VIII hang together, but when the great
sweils swing furiously into that half
circling cove she will strew the beach with
her fragments, good ship-bound in triple
steel as she is. Ton GREGORY
CAPTAIH CLARK CESSURED.
BIS Explanation ia Regard to Foo