The San Francisco call., 1896-05-14
Arrival of the Ship Roderick
Dhu Under the Ha-
waiian Flag.
A NEW F0Ls0M-sTREET PIER
Electric Bell for Mile Rock-Treat
ment of Captured SealeIs by
the Russians.

! The American ship John AZ Briggs ar
rived Tuesday evening, 14l days from Bal
| timore with cargo of coal.
Her voyage was most remarkable and
an exceptional one. A trip around the
Horn is anything but pleasure iaunt and
! the storms that howl over those almost
eUernally tempest-tossed seas generally
| test a vessels mettle, whether she is of
wood or steel.
Occasionally ship slips by, escaping
the demons of the gale. and such good for
tune befell the John A. Briggs. She went
| out of the Chesapeake under all sail and
she sped down the Atlantic without start
ing q sheet. She rounded the Horn under
! royals and beneath skies that had never a
cloud to veil their blue.
Up the Pacific it was steady breezes and
light airs alternating with Gains. The
same quiet stuck to her and she came
smoothly into this port under canvas and
called along the water front to her anchor
age as she had sailed for 141 days. 1t was
an ideal voyage from landsman's view,
but, according to the mates opinion, every
monotonous."
Captain Whitelaw has succeeded in
stripping the Blairmore down to her lower
masts. A view OF the recovered spars now
lying on the seawall proves how skilIfulIy
and industriously the divers labored down
| in the sunken wreck.
The yard. are steel-mere hollow cvlin-
ders-and some of them doubled and broke
| when they struck the bay bottom as the
ship toppled over. The fragments of metal
| topTast show how the deadly charges of
dynamite separated the mass from the
hull and made the work comparatively
easy.
The hatchwsys of the vessel have been
measured and covers made, and then the
operation of sealing the hulk air and
water tight, preparatory to pumping it to
the surface, will soon be completed.
The Hawaiian iron ship Roderick Dhu
arrived from the islands Tuesday evening
| with cargo OF sugar consigned to J. D.
| Spreckels e. Bros. This is a memorable
| trip In her history as it is her first entry
into this port with the ensign of Hawaii al
her peak. She carries the Spreckels house
! flag at her main. The Roderick Dhu was
| recently purchased from her British own
ers and given Hawaiian charter and flag.
President Hugh Craig has written to
Senator Perkins In Washington regarding
the equipment of Mile Rock in this harbor
with an electric bell or gong to be sounded
from on shore during foggy weather.
Plans and specifications for the rebuild
Ing of Pier II (Folsom-street wharf) were
brought before the Harbor Com ssioners
at their last meeting. The secretary was
ordered TO advertise for bids, which will
be opened May 26 at 2:30 P NJ
Captain J. Herman, the American ship
ping agent in Yokohama, states that the
eports regarding ill-treatment of captured
poaching sealers by the Russian authori-
ties is untrue. According to the captains $
accounts, notwithstanding the men were
caught sealing in Russian waters. they do
not suffer the hardships in their prison in
Vladivostock that they would suffer in
their vessels while hunting in the
northern waters. They are supplied with
funds, and have nothing to do but eat,
drink and sleep in their confinement, and
all the yarns told regarding their distress,
says Herman, is bosh.
j. B. Chase and Captain Fullerton of
the ship Yosemite, while riding along
Steuart street yesterday, were struck by a
broken trolley wire and narrowly esca ped
injury. They both received strong shocks,
but the wire Immediately falling to the
ground no serious results ensued.
The property belonging to the estate of
John ]. McKennon will be sold at auction
at the Merchants Exchange May 26.
Among other property are shares in the
brigs Galilee, Tropic Bird and Courtney
Ford, and the schooners Mary and Ida,
Ivy, Maid of Orleans and J. NJ. Colman,
also shares in the Merchants Tug Com
pany.