The San Francisco call., 1897-12-19
THE MARIETTA
IN A STORM.
While Fast to a Sea An
chOr She Drifted 24O
Miles.
Her Port and StarbOard Bull
warks Bent by the
Waves.
Seal Have Found a New
Field and Are Now Hunting
for Heron Feathers.

Every vessel caught in the recent
southeaster has a tale to tell. All had
more or less narrow escape, but the
crews of the ship st. Nicholas and the
gunboat Marietta are more than
thankful to be once more in port The
seams of the ships deck have opened,
her deck houses started and the galley
is almost a wreck. For nearly twelve
days the cook was up to his knees in
water while trying to keep a fire in
the range. The second mate was
wounded about the head severely and
several others of the crew have minor
injuries. The cabin and forecastle
were flooded several times, and all in
the ship had a hard time of it.
The Marietta drifted 240 miles at
tached to her sea anchor. Wave after
wave washed over her and the bull
warks on the port and starboard bows
have been bent like paper. The mems
quarters We're flooded and the officers
on severaY occasions were forced to
evacuate their quarters in a hurry.
The little warship bears all the ap-
pearances of having been in a war
with the elements.
which arrived from Nanaimo, B. c.,
Friday evening, made a magnificent
run from Cape Flattery. The tug
Lorne towed her to Clallam Bay in
fourteen hours and the run from Flat
terry was made in less than four days.
When she passed out through the
Straits of Juan de Fuca it was
blowing gale from the east, but later
it changed 10 the westward and then to
L. IL
bowling into port. The Sterling has
easily beaten the Santa Clara's record
and the victory is all the more credi-
table when it is known that the Santa
Clara was just off the drydOck and
the Sterling has not been cleaned for
many a month.
The sealing fleet Of twenty-four YES
sells that made their headquarters here
a couple of years ago has disappeared
and the hunters have now to find some
other means of making q livelihood.
Many of them have taken to hunting
the white heron and several parties
are now on their way to the Gulf of
California and San Salvador. Yester-
day George Brown and George Keiger
sailed on the steamer City of Para for
San Salvador. Each of them has a
$500 outfit with him and they expect
to bring back $4,000 worth of feathers
from the marshes OF central America.
Only a few feathers on the heron are
valuable and these are worth from
50 so to $29 an ounce. The Indians are
very troublesome in San Salvador, so
Brown and Keiger have gone down
prepared for any emergency.
The little schooner Prosper that re-
turned from the Galapagos Islands a
few days ago will probably be fitted
out again. Harry Curl, w. Little and
Herman Holz are trying to charter
her, and if the succeed they will fit
her out to hunt seal in the Santa Bar
bara Channel. If no seal are taken
they will go to the Gulf Of California
after heron feathers.
The Mail Company's steamer San
Jose arrived from Panama and way
ports with thirty cabin, twenty-five
steerage and eight Chinese passen-
gers and s112,S20 in treasure for the
local banks.
The steamer Alliance that is being
fitted out for the Copper River trade
will not get away until the 25th inst.
and the Excelsior on January 18th.
The work of turning the vessels into
first-class passenger steamers has
taken longer than was at first eX-
pected.