The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-11-20
OVERDUE STATE
HAS ARRIVED
The Staunch Ship Steamed Into the
HarbOr Yesterday.
TWO DAYS IN THE STORM
Early Wednesday Sighted Lishtship. Which
Suddenly disappeared Lightship
Nov ia Fort.

And the ights went out" Tnese were
the first words spoken by Captain Green
Of the o. r. d y. steamship STATE Of Cal
lforna, which arrived In the harbor al
s O'Clock yesterday morning, two days
late from San Francisco.
Much anxiety has been felt mere. con-
carnlng the safety OF Captain Green and
his passengers. The terrific hurricane
which has been In force here for the past
three days. added to the fear Of all that
the State would either have TO put TO
e.a on a perilous trip or meet with dis
aster. Her arrival today Is not only a
ytndlcation Of Captain Green's seaman
ship. but Of the staunchness OF the Amer
lean built steamers In the o. r. & y.
line. To an Astorian reporter yesterday
morning, in relating lis experiences. Cap
tain Green said:
We left San Francisco Monday morn-
ing on time. and the sea was as smooth
as glass. We had good weather 81 tie
way. until of cape Mendocino There
We struck the gale or hurricane. and our
good ship pl1ged along through the
heavy seas. until TWO O'Clock Wednesday
morning. when we came abreast Of light
ship No. 81. li miles of the mouth Of the
Columbia river. l sisnaIed the hghtship.
ard shortly Afterwards she blew three
whistles. at regular intervals OF the fog
horn practice About o'elock her rghts
went out. save a Slight glimmer on one
OF them like the 1ickerng Of an ordinary
electric lamp wh'cl was burning out.
Then all was lark The seas were run
Ling mountains high, and the wind was
a hurricane r1the- thlu Il gale. It was
all one could 10 - stay on the bridge,
VIC LRlSA oAt htst u htep HI.AI tue iaslit-
ship hoping 20 sight her again and 1
hove TO under our mainsai keeping our
head to the sea. and remaining as near
as possible to where l though, the light
ship should be. When dayligh; came.
there was no lightship in sight We
cruised about all day Wednesday and
Thursday hoping to get sight of the
iightship again. as I believe at the time
that she had simply slipped her moorings
and stood out to s5a. The weather was
sull something terrific and We had no
opportrIlty Of coming into port, until
o'clock this morning We remained
all the time within few miles of where
the llghtshp was. There is but one OF
two thirgs that could have happened to
the lghtship Either from some unknown
cause she foundered in the heavy ssas
and went to the bottom or else she got
away from us in the darkness and stood
out to sea. I hopa the latter is the case.
NO, We did not sufrer particularly. 1t
was rough, to be sure, but below decks
all was comfortable and snug. Nearly
everyone on board was sick hut mons
Of the passengers were frightened, though
some were uneasy. one old lady said
that she was too sick to set frightened
and she did not believe the last day had
come. The ship did not roll very much
as the heavy wind kept her steady with
her nose to the seas"
Lightship No. 81 is commanded by Cap
tain Hastorff, who has a crew of about
II men. She was built a short time ago in
Portland, by Wolf X wicker Captain
Green was surprised that Captain Has
tort did not fire gun or. rocket, had
he been in trouble, so that assistance
might have been rendered