The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-11-09

The tug Occident. while towing raft
Of legs consigned 10 Earle & Jose from
Crescent hay to Seattle. encountered a
heavy storm of the Butt of Dungeness
Sunday morning which resulted In the
wreck OF the raft and the complete loss
of the logs. entaiiing a heavy financial
loss. W. c. Stetson. one OF the owners
of the Occiderat claims that the loss OF
the logs was due to careiessress In the
flashing of the raft. which was done with
chains incapable Of withssanding heavy
strain
The tugs vigiiant and Occident, each
having in tow q raft OF logs left Crescent
bay last Thursday morning week When
opposite Port Angeles one OF the swifter
chains on the raft which the Occident
had in tow parted and the tug was forced
to put into port 10 repair the chain The
SigiIant continued on her way. reaching
Seattle without meeting with any acct
dent The Oceident. however. was not so
fortunate. She had left Port Angeles but
a few hours when exceeding heavy
weather was encountered. A rough sea
was soon breaking over the raft. and in
a short while IL went to pieces. To make
matters worse the gale held up steadily
during almost the entire day. The raft
was complete loss. as II had been driven
before the wind out of reach of the ting
before the storm had abated sufficiently
for any action toward the recovery of the
raft could be made on the part OF the
Occident's captain. The raft was probably
completely wrecked and will be total
loss. Capt. Jones. temporary master of
the Occident said that in all his expert
ence at sea. which included the greater
part Of his life he had never encountered
a more destructive storm
I'VE got the raft together in Crescent
bay" continued Capt. Jones. speaking OF
the accident, land started for Seattle
Thursday morning about o'clock. The
swifter chains with which the logs were
bound together were of very poor quality
and unable TO stand any serious strain:
in fact. 1t was with feeling of insecurity
that l left Crescent bay. When In the
vicinity of Port Angeles one of the chains
parted and / was forced to put into port
TO repair IL before serious damage result
ed. OF course this necessitated delay
OF twentyfour hours, as the tow must be
made with a favorable tide. and conse-
auently q delay Of any length viii require
wait of a day for the next tide. AS the
Vigiiant proceeded On her way she avoided
the storm. with which we ran amuck
and reached Seattle without having en-
countered any weather out of the ordi-
nary.
I'VE left Angeles Sunday morning about
2 O'Clock. There was every indication Of
an exceptionally fair day up TO Q. when
heavy wind sprang UP. We were then
on the Butt of Dungeness. By IL O'Clock
the wind had assumed the proportions of
furious gale. which was accompanied by
heavy sea. running so high that we were
forced to nail down the matches and also
to lash everything to the deck.
THE strain on the chains OF the raft
was terrific. and it was plainly evident
the raft. which was divided into nine
sections. making IL more difficult TO ham
die, could not long withstand the test.
Before noon the storm had done its work.
The chains We're parted as If they had
been but mere Irvine and the raft broken
mp. 1t was beyond all question to attempt
to pick the logs up; at least not until the
storm had abated. so We continued on our
course. The storm did not cease until late
Sunday night, and then 1t was too late to
attempt to secure the raft. which had
doubtless been driven by the storm COM
pletely out of our course. Had the chains
been of stronger quality, however.
think the raft would have safely wealth
cred the gale
There were about g. 900 feet of logs in
each section of the raft an aggregate
amount of 800. 900 feet in the nine sections
which the Occident had in tow. As the
logs are valued at about 3d. per thousand.
the loss will amount to over s2.oOo.