Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-02-17
The Tragedy Foretold.

pcriidy oi official power and the mach
nations oi the Tacoma land ring, the
Northern Pacific railroad company
had about made up its mind to give
Olympia the cold shoulder, detach-
mcnt from the coast survey corps of
engineers WAS employed to examine
Commencement Bay to ascertain
whether it was Il suitable harbor for
general shipping purposes. The oil
cial report ri that examination was
emplatically adverse to the hopes and
expectations of the railroad managers,
and cartoons representing the engi-
neers engaged in their photographed
operations were scattered like autumn
leaves in 4 Kansas cyclone from one
end OF the Sound to the other. OF
course, those cartoons were gathered
up, and AS far lis possible suppressed,
10y the promoters of the then prospcc-
tive little city by the sea.
1t was openly declared by compc-
tent members Of the coast survey SER
vice that Commencement Bay could
never be made an efficient and safe
harbor for deep-sea going vessels. The
reasons alleged were that the shore
was too bold and precipitous and the
water altogether too deep for good
anchoring ground. 1t was also assert
ed by old seamen that the bay was sub
ject to such visitations of terrific gales
and "putiy squalls" in the winter sea-
son as as to render it an unreliable
and dangerous roadstcad for ships
without ballast, awaiting cargocs.
Now it turns out, rs matters based
upon natural laws usually terminate,
that the sinking of that fine ship,
the Andelana, on the Nth Of January
last, emphasizes in most shocking
manner all that was said of Tacoma
harbor a quarter of a century ago.
The Inflated Andelana lies buried
beneath twenty-five fathoms of wa
ter; and there, too, in their great ex-
temporized steel coffin, lie the bodies
of Captain Stating and his brave crew,
where they will lie till time is de-
clared to be no more on earth and the
sea shall give up its dead.
The papers of that city have all along
since the casualty, striven to put the
affair in the best possible light; their
reports from time to time carrying
hope if not assurance to the friends of
the victims that the ship would be
raised and the bodies given Christian
burial. And all this in the face of
the ominous fact that the ship lies far
beyond the reach Of the most approved
appliances known among professional
submarine explorers. Daring and ex-
perienced divers, under the inspiration
of great pecuniary reward, have gone
down over q hundred feet in fresh wa
ter, but the great specific gravity OF
sea water makes it extremely hazard
GUS to descend in it beyond depth of
fifteen fathoms; and even from this
depth divers are often hauled to the
surface in an unconscious if not fatally
disabled condition.
The Tacoma papers have been COM
PEELED, however, to make tardy admis-
sion of results from conditions which
expert calculation forecast so many
years ago. Under the caption Little
or no Hope of Ever Raising the YES
sci to the Surface" the News of Mon
day admits that " Forever and Forever,
in all probability, will the bodies OF
Capt. Stating and the officers and
crew OF the capsized ship Andelana rest
at the bottom of Commencement Bay.
Likewise will the hull of the vessel lie
deep down in the waters of the harbor,
awaiting raising that will in all like
likood never come"
This is virtually full confession
that the boosted City of Destiny" has
anything but safe haven of rest for
sea-going ships, where they may either
ride at anchor or be speedily raised to
the surface if accidentally submerged.
A ship sunk through collision in San
Francisco harbor few months ago,
WAS promptly raised from a moderate
depth the next day and safely moored
alonside the wharf, and so would it
have been with the Adelana had she
sunk in any other Puget Sound harbor
than Tacoma.
WHEN the Ambassador of foreign
country allows himself to be inter-
viewed for publication, it is generally
to help the government of the country
he represents to carry out some plan.
Consequently there is much curiosity
in Washington since the German AM
bassador declared in published inter-
view that Germany would not inter-
fere with the plans of the United
States in the Philippines, because the
United States did not interfere with