The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1896-01-02
ADRIFT FOR NINE WEEKS
Officers Of the Strathnevs Re-
port a Remarkable Voyage.
SHE LOST HER PROPELLER
The Mowers, Which Took Her la few
Disappeared as Il Swallowed
by the Waters.

Port Townsend. Wash, Dec. 26.-The
officers Of the steamer Strathneyis re-
port a remarkable voyage, filed with
dangers and prvltions. on Monday
afternoon last all hope Of saving the
vessel was abandoned and life RATS and
boats We're manned preparatory to
leaving the vessel, as she was in i'm
minent danger of drifting ashore on
Destruction island. Grave fears are
entertained for the safety Of the Aus
trallan steamship Miowera. which had
the Strathnevis in tow for five days.
Ten miles off Cape Flattery last Fri
day afternoon during a violent gale
the two steam hawsers parted suddenly
and the Miowe:- disappeared in the
storm The Mowera mad had the
Strathnevis in TOW for five days and had
| exhausted the larger portion of her
| fuel.
The log of the Strathnevis tells a
| story that Is seldom duplicated i'm the
| annals of maritime history and more
| especially in the North Pacific ocean,
| Leaving Victoria October 10. with 1865
passengers and So officers and crew,
WIN a ilOutidlf weather running. y
speed of 10 knots was made until Oc-
| tober 20 at 7:4O in the morning, in lati-
| tude 49.14 and longitude 164.27. the ship
| experienced a terrific shock, the crash
| ing sounding like an explosion of a
cannon. The big steamer trembled fore
| and aft and lay qulvering like wound
| ed fawn. The shaft had snapped short
| off close to the propeller which dropped
| flaar Af nd t,. ~, l.,
| tom. A strong northern gale was COM
| ing on and all sails were crowded on
The accident occurred about $50 miles
south of Unalaska. Slowly the gale
carried the vessel to the southwest and
it was two days later before she could
make any progress toward the east
From that time on, under a zgzag
course she sailed slowly toward Cape
Flattery.
During the nine weeks the Strath-
nevis was adrft 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 wa
ter and her cargo was not damaged in
the least. The officers and crew when
they arrived in port were thoroughly
exhausted.
Much uneasiness is felt for the safety
of the boat containing Purser Melon
aid 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 sever
al vessels in recent years have been
wrecked and dozen or more lives lost.
What has become of the Miowera is a
serious question now confronting the
shipping men. The officers and crew
of the Strathnevis refuse to believe
she would wantonly abandon them in
such perilous position, 10 miles from
a 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 a voy-
age 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 blasts. The whistle
on the Strathnevis was blown continu-
ously at short intervals, but no answer
came. The Miowera is a valuable yes
sci costing about $75000O and is subsi-
died by the British government and
Australian government to carry mails
The terms of the contract forbid delays
of any nature except to save lives. If
the Miowera is lost her owners will be
unable to collect any insurance. owing
to the dangerous work she was engaged
in when trying to save the Strathnevis.
Anxiety for the safety of the Miowera
Is increasing hourly, and the opinion
among shipping men Is fast crystalllz-
ing into the belief that when the cables
with which she was towing the Strath-
nevis parted they became entangled in
the propeller and put the Australian
liner at the mercy of the elements. The
strange feature to controvert this the
DRY is her failure to sound her whistle.
The Miowera Is three-masted, schoon-
er-rigged vessel and carries three yards
for her foremost, which enables her to
carry liberal amount of canvas. The
idea In some quarters prevails that she
may have had sufficient sail to keep her
clear of the land, so she could stand out
to sea.
Since Monday night, when the steam
ers parted company. n 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 officers refuse
to believe that the Niiowera, after tow
ing them for five days and coming back
over 700 miles of her track to within 10
miles of San Juan de Fuca straits. and
the larger part of her fuel exhausted
would deliberately abandon the steam
ship Strathnevis on the lee shore of a
rocky coast. where certain destruction
seemed inevitable.
HUNS AND NEGROES FoUGHrRlINn,~