The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-01-02
AN OCEAN TRAGEDY.
Supposed Loss of the Disabled
Steamship Strathnevis.
2O+ PEOPLE ABOARD THE VESSEL.
Drifted for Sixty Days on the Pacific.
Helpless and Short of Provisions.
Picked Up by the NIiowera $50 Miles
From NictOria-Lost Again in a Gale.

rom ' 1ctOr1a-LOSt Again In n Gale.
The steamship Miowera, just arrived
in port and "a week overdue, brings
news of thrilling interest. She left
Victoria, BIC, on the evening of the
10th ult., with a full cargo and the
usual passenger list, making splen-
did run until the morning of the 18th,
in north latitude 1889, west longitude
1921, when steamer was sighted
dead ahead, flying Signals of distress
and asking for assistance. She turned
out 10 be the missing steamship
Strathnevis, which had sailed from
Victoria on the 18th of October, and
when 100 miles out had broken her
propeller shaft on the Goth. From
that date until she sighted the Milo
vera she had been drifting az the
mercy of the winds and waves She
had on board 165 Chinese and Japan
csc as passengers, and a crew of 80
men. The cargo, about 1900 tons,
|
The ships supplies had run out, and
the cargo had to be broached to pro-
vide provisions. The captain, after
signalling for assistance, sent his mate
on board. The poor fellow was SO
overcome by the prospects of relief
that it was some time before he could
explain to Capt. Stott the situation of
the cessel, and ask him TO tow the
| Strathnevis into port. A supply of
beef, mutton, rice, tobacco and other
necessaries was sent across to the dis
| tressed vessel A wire cable was
passed to the Miowera, and the course
of the latter was changed, heading
| back to Victoria with the Strathnevis
! in tow.
THE PASSENGERS CONSULTED.
Before deciding to tow the Strath-
| nevis into port, Captain StOtt called
meeting of the saloon passengers, aud
| explained to them the desperate con-
| dItion of the StrathneVis, helpless and
drifting on a lee shore, sure to go on
the rocks inside of a week if she was
! lett to herself He asked for an
expression of opinion. The passeu-
gers were from Eugland, Australia,
the United States and Canada, and to
a man they declared that it was the
plain duty of the captain to do his
best TO rescue the distressed steamer.
For the aTticu ars of the incidents
that followed until the Strathnevis
was lost in the gale, this paper is
indebted to Mr.. Holland, of Ottawa,
one of the passengers on the Miowera,
extracts from record kept by him 1n
the form of a letter to a friend:
NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN,
Somewhere about 300 miles South
west of Victoria, Dec. 10, 1898.
We are having an adventure sure
enough. / wrote you yesterday that
we had picked up the missing steamer
."Strathnevis'' after she had been
f1orating round between here and
Japan for sixty days. It took several
hours before we got ber in tow, and
then heavy weather set in-rain, fog
and wind. However we had the
wind and current in our favor, and
everything went swimmingly until
after midnight, when the big wire
hawser parted, and the "Miowera"
had to lie to until daylight. In the
meantime the wind increased to
gale, and all day the seas have been
running "mountaiDs high" We
made several Intellectual efforts to get
apother line out but failed, losing one
large MANILA hawser in the attempt.
We are now sailing round the drifting
derelict to keep her in company. l
doubt very much if we can do any
thing more until the wind and sea
go down. There are 203 souls on
board the "Strathnevis' of whom SO
are crew. There are a few European
passengers; the rest are Chinese aud
Japs. The chief mate told one of our
officers that they had to
DIsARM THE CHINESE AND JAPS
for fear of mutiny, though what
they'd do with the vessel if they took
possession of it is mystery. She is
as helpless as tuO, and though ne ~
vessel-some eighteen months old,
she looks like an old tramp from the
effects of the severe storms through
which she has passed. It is hard to
say when we shall strike Victoria
again. The "Miowera" is bound by
self interest as well as the cause OF
humanity to stick to the distressed
vessel until she is safe in port. 1t
will take US couple of days to recoll
and provision this ship, aud our trip
to Sydney will be very greatly leng
thened in conse0r 1nce. The passen
gers are taking the incident very
philosophically. 1t is an event in a
lifetime, coming across a vessel cast
away at sea that has not been in
sight of land for 81 days. We are