The San Francisco call., 1896-04-11

commanders responsibility begin, and
when shall he be called to strict account
ing for the hapless sailor-lives he sacri-
fees ?''
In short time the rescued men will be
sailing on to other shipwrecks, the Incl
dent all but erased from their minds,
while the captain will be fighting for the
preservation OF his masters certificate be-
fore stern board of inquiry. A diver viii
explore the dark uncanny interior of the
submerged hull in a few days, and the
Coroner may learn just how the sailors
died. Possibly it will then be known
whether they were battered and crushed
under the hurl and heave and plunge of
the rocky ballast and flying haffle of the
deep hold or suffocated when the rising
water drove the elife.sustaining atmosphere
from their sunken prison.
Among seafaring men there is conjec-
ture as to the manner in which death fin
ished those luckless fellows. Captain Cav,
bowling under the weight OF calamity
that may ruin him professionally, is filled
with eensure for the machinists who hu.
namely tried to release the perishlng sea-
men by chiseling through the steel skin of
of the insurance companies"
''The men were Dead" he says;"why cut
holes in my yessel?'
In view of the masters own direful mis-
fortune none care now to censure his un-
becoming reflection. But there is no
doubt that the Blairmore was cranky and
rolled freely in the brisk gusts of wind
that swept over the bay for the last few
weeks. The two or three hundred tons of
ballast could not balance the metal masts
and larger yards and the ponderous weight
of her top hamper.
The crew was uneasy, and sailors are
not, as rule, men who are afraid of the
wind. They frequently sprang up from
sleep in alarm when the level decks
heaved upward at dangerous angle. But
the skipper swung at his anchors sailor
without fear-and his ship is under the
waves. Six of his crew are there also, and
when he goes home the British Board OF
Trade will ask why.
superintendent Scott and Dickie of the
Union Iron Works, who pierced the Blair
more's side to release her crew, assert that
they heard the sounds of living people
within, and this encouraged and spurred
them on in their attempts at rescue.
They carefully calculated from the beam
of the vessel and the depth of the water
that she was aground and could sink no
deeper The air escaping from the hull
and the tide rapidly rising warned them
to hasten. The water rolled into the hole
they had cut, filled the vessel and all life.
if any within. was ended. Had the men
really been alive, clinging to floating
planks in the cold water Of that dark hold,
bereft of one cheering raw of light, filed
with the gloom of despair that crushed
out hope, rising and falling with the tide,
gasping in an atmosphere that was becom-
ing more vitiated with the foulness of the
biIge and their own breath. when could
that great mass of metal have been moved.
lifted to have released them, and how
many hours could they have lived where
life was all but impossible?
The owners of the vessel have been ad-
vised of the disaster by cable and an.
answer will probably be received to-day.
Spreckels & Co., who are the consignees,
will be given charge Of the recovery Of the