The herald., 1897-11-08
the big rollers continued breaking over


I'VE were near the Point at this time
and the captain started to put in ther
with the intention of Bleaching the ship
But the water gained SO rapidly that /
was too late. She was already laborin:
and the two men at the wheel could d.
nothing with her. Two more men wen
to work with them, and finally the,
brought her round and headed her to-
ward land.
Capt. Giles started the pumps, or
dered the men to get the fire buckets ant
we formed a line and began to bail, bu
, It was OF no use. The water gained or
the pumps and the buckets and soon the
water put out the fire. When it was
found that the power was gone and that
the Idaho could not be moved we knew
we could not live in the trough of that
fearful sea and the only hope left was
to run out the anchor and bring her head
up to the seas and let her ride out the
gale. Every seaman realized the dan
ger Of attempting to do that in face oi
q hurricane, and when Capt. GILES de-
cided to do it he ordered the lashings ol
the boats cut and told the men they
were forced to take one last chance fol-
their lives.
''At the word the anchor dropped from
the bow and the chain began to pay out
but the sea was too heavy, and instead
of the anchor catching with affirm grip
and bringing the ships head up to the
storm with a jerk, it went too slow and
simply tumbled into the trough of the
sea which broke over her in torrents.
''In an instant she was as helpless as
q log and she was tossed here and there,
taking every wave aboard.
From port to starboard the great
mountains of water poured, rolling into
the hold and adding to the quantity al
ready weighing her down. The load
was too much, and after moment,
when we all felt that we were lost, the
ship keeled over to the starboard and
went down stern first.
What became Of my mates don't
know. I remember that the boats had
been loosened and that some of the men
were ready to take them if the vessel
went under, but no boat could have lived
for a moment in that terrible sea, and
If any of them did get in the boat it was
simply swamped as soon as the first
wave struck it. Maybe they did not
leave the ship at all. was near the
spar and when the stern of the vessel
began to go under I went for the rig
ging and went up as fast as I could
Another man went with me, the second
mate, and thank the Lord that he was
with me, or I would have gone mad dur
ing all the long hours that was up there
hanging on and trying to keep off the
frightful cold that was slowly killing us.
There was a rolling too and fro as the
vessel struck the bottom and slowly
righted to an even keel, and then a sec
ond later she rolled over to one side. I
thought she was going all the way over,
but she did not. She settled on the bot
tom, and, though the waves rolled her
from port to starboard the spar re-
mained out of the water with my mate
and myself clinging to it,
"All this time the hail and sleet was
coming down in cutting sheet and we
were covered with ice in few minutes
for though the top of the spar on which
we were hanging was twenty-five feet
above the water, the big waves struck
us and broke over us, and the hail cut
us like shot.
IT knew it was about o'clock when
we went down and it seemed to me that
daylight would never come. When day.
light came we could not see &sail any
where near us and the sea was as bad
as ever. Hour after hour we waited there
and then we saw the Mariposa coming.
For long time we didn't know whether
She would sight us.
when she finally sighted US and we
saw her head for US. I tried to tell my
mate, but could not and he looked at
me with happy look on his face. 1t
was terrible time to us before she came
1p to us, and then knew we were not
safe yet, for the sea was running noun
tainsf high and the big steel boat was
'olling like a skiff.
EVERY wave sent her up in the air
Until we could see her white bottom un-
1er her water line. We knew at once
that her captain would not attempt to
over a boat, for it would have been
,hewed up.
"When the Mariposa got within a cable
ength of us, man with a strong voice
yelled to us to hang on. Don't give up,
ne yelled, and Well get you off soon.
"The boat circled around us, coming
Is near as she could. but when she was
within a few rods big roller swept her
'ar out and she went off to starboard,
rolling heavily when she got in the
rough of the sea. Then she came back
again, and again she missed us. On the
,hird trip around she ran right along
side our spar and as she went past a
dozen men reached for us. An instant
ater we We're dragged from the spar
md over the rail of the Mariposa.'
The second mate, Louis Laforce, told
narrowing story to the crew of the Mar
posa. He said that in the rush of men
rom the hold, one of them, watchman,
vas trampled to death. The crew was
rantic to get out of the place. Six or
light. he said, must have been drowned
Ike rats in the hold. They We're not
warned of the sinking of the boat. The
irst long dip of the stern was the first
they had that the final dan
,er was at hand, and then they made
rantic rush to get on deck. The hatch
way was too small to let them through
ogether and the result was that one of
hem was trampled to death and several
we're left to drown.
A Rochester dispatch says the I'M
Known fireman who went down with the
daho was named Richards. Nelson |
skinner, first assistant engineer lived
1t Auburn.
George Clark Dead
STOCKTON, Cal, Nov. 7.-George |
Clark, acting superintendent of the Pa
;ific hospital, died this morning at his