The San Francisco call., 1899-06-19
UNKNOWN MAN
DROWNED IN
OAKLAND CREEK
Three Men Fall Out Of
a Small Boat.
PROMPT HELP SAVES TWO
YACHTSMEN PLAY THE PART OF
LIFE-SAvERS.
The Rescued Men Know Nothing Of
Their Unfortunate Companion,
Whose Identity Remains
a Mystery.
PROMPT HELP SAVES TWO
YACHTSMEN PLAY THE PART OF
LIFE-SAVERS.

pete, Pete, save mev With these de-
spairing words upon his lips, the last he
was ever heard to utter, an unknown man
sank yesterday morning about l o'clock
into the waters of Oakland Creek near
the California Yacht Club house. The
man upon whom he called for aid was
Pete Smith, who sailed over from Sausa-
Ito on Saturday afternoon in the sloop
yacht Thetis in response to Commodore
A. NJ. Clay's invitation TO the San Fran
cisco and Corinthian yachtsmen to rem
devious in San Antonio estuary. But Pete
Smith does not know the mans name, al
though he remembers his face.
Toward l o'clock on Saturday the un-
known, who is described as smooth
faced, dark complexioned and about %
or rs years of age, wearing a black hat
and a gray overcoat, asked Charlie, the
boatkeeper of the California Club. 10 ferry
him across the creek to the Oakland side.
He had been present at the jinks given
in the clubhouse, and wished to go into
Oakland to get a room for the night.
Charlie consented. and left the clubhouse
to get a boat ready; but when he looked
around for the young man he was not to
be seen. Soon afterward Charlie saw him
start from the float with two young men
named G. A. Craig and c. s. Moore, and
observed that they did not directly cross
the creek. Instead, they proceeded down
the line of yachts until they came nearly
TO where r. S. Bridgman and F. NJ. Well
At few minutes after o'clock DR.. L. l..
Hill and three others, who were playing
y tiiSt crV Of Tii Man overboard!" br. Hill soon
had his small boat ready, and. MAKING 1or
the scene of the disaster, discovered a
yawl capsized and two men in the water.
One of these he rescued, and J. X. SaVory
of the sloop Juanita rescued the other.
They turned out to be G. A. Craig am c:
S. Moore of the sloop Thetis3. They told
their rescuers that a companion was with
them in the yawl, and hat was seen on
the water but no man could be found, al
though the small boats OF other yachts
roWed all over the scene of the disaster.
Long after all hope of reSculng the un.
known man had ceased, E. G. Bartlett OF
the yawl Frolic and recording secretary
of the San Francisco Yacht Club and
friends rowed up and down, using crap
pling irons in the hope OF finding the
body. All their efforts yielded no result.
uuaintance with the unknown, ana even
Pete Smith, to whom his last words were
addressed could shed no light upon ms ms
were heard that the name of the un-
known was Seabrooke, Seabury or See,
burg, and that he was either football
PLAYER himself or had friends among the
football men. But none of these rumors
could be verified, and the identity of the
drowned man remains mystery.
How a seaworthy yachts yawl, in
which earlier in the evening six men had
safely travelled came, to capsize on a
calm night in smooth water is almost
equally mysterious. The two men who
were rescued from a watery grave by
the prompt action of DR.. I; L. Hill and J
r. Savory had no explanation to offer; al
they knew was that three men had start
ed out from the clubhouse, and that only
two were picked up out of the water
The disaster cannot be attributed to a
strong tide for the tides do not run very
strongly out of the creek, and at CLOCK
yesterday morning 1t was about SLACK
water.