The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-06-30
TROUBLES FOLLOW
THE BLA|RMORE,
Broke Adrift When Nearly
Raised and Went Down
Again.
WRECKED THE CATALINA
The Pumps and Superstructure
Broke From Their Fast
enlngS.
PUMPS WENT TO THE BOTTOM.
Narrow Escape of the Whitelaw in
the General Wreck-She
Nearly Capsized.
PUMPS WENT TO THE BOTTOM.

Disaster seems to follow the unfortunate
Blairmore. On several occasions all the
difficulties seemed to have been overcome
and Captain Burns would feel confident
that the vessel would be up and alongside
Then the pumps would choke up. the
hawsers would part or some other part of
the complicated machinery would break
down and all the work would have to be
done over again.
Two new pumps were purchased last
week ana placed in position, but last Sun
day the hange of one of them broke and
the work was again delayed. Yesterday
the worst disaster of the series took place
and at one time it looked as though a
fatality was imminent. The wrecker
Whitelaw was hauled over by the heeling
ship until her deck was under water, and
the crew made frantic rush for the boats.
The schooner Catalina had her rnasts
swept out in the general ruin, the pumps
are either under water or ruined and the
foremost OF the Blairmore snapped off
close to the deck. The hull then sank
back into its old position and all the work
will have to be started almost from the
beginning again.
At daybreak Captain Whitelaw had
everything in readiness for what every
body was certain would be the final effort.
The WhitelaW had been alongside the
bilge of the sunken ship, and steel haw-
sers were run from her powerful derricks
to the masts of the Blairmore. The tugs
Sea King and Monarch had their hawsers
fastened to the hull and their engines were
doing their best. Slowly the sunken ves-
sci was moved inshore, and as there was a
tendency shown to settle back on the level
bilge, the schooner Catalina was moved
around and the foremost of the Blairmore
was got over a boiler on the schooner
deck.
Everything went well for a time, and the
two small pumps that we're still intact did
good work As the hold was freed of
water the hull rose considerably and then
the trouble began. The foremost began to
work and it's weight almost submerged the
schooner. Just when everybody expected
to see the Catalina 60 down the mast
mapped and the Blairmore began to roll
over The working of the broken stick
swept the masts out of the schooner and
nearly carried some of the crew overheard.
All the weight was now on the Whitelaw' s
derricks, and when she began to keel over
to dangerous engle the crew thought it
was time to leave. The Blairmore only
went certain distance, however, and the
strain on the hawsers was soon eased up.
discouraged. ga wee bit more and she
would have come" was his remark. 1T
was the fortune of war, and we must abide
by it." Captain Whitelaw felt worse than
anybody over the disaster. He has worked
like beaver from the start, and there are
no three men in his employ that can &C.
complish half as much as he. Morning,
noon and night have seen him at work.
and during the past fortnight he has lost
fourteen pounds in weight. "We'n have
to try again." was the only remark he
made.
This morning will see all hands at work
repairing the broken fences. The pumps
will be recovered if possible, and if I'M
seryiceable new ones will be put in their
place. In the general crash the wooden
structure that looked like a house on the
vessels bilge, and on which the tanks of
water rested, broke away from the hull
and went floating up with the tide. 1t
was recovered and will be placed inposi
ton and the vessel got as near as
possible on an even keel again. All this
will necessarily take time, and it will
probably be week before another attempt
can be made. The vessel is now in twelve
feet less water than when the first attempt
was made, so that the next effort will be
attended with fewer difficulties.