The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-19
FATE OF STEAMER ALPHA
STRUCK A ROCK IN UNION BAY AND
WENT TO PIECES.
Thirty-Four of the Crew Saved by q
Sailor Who Swan Ashore with
Line-Efght Lives Lost.

VANCOUVER, 3. c.. Dec. 1S.-News or
the worst maritime disaster of the season
in British Columbia waters was brought
here by the steamer Gar from Union bay.
on the east side of Vancouver island. The
famous steamer Alpha, whose unauthorized
trip to Cape Nome last May brought her
into trouble with the Treasury Department,
was wrecked on a reef near the entrance TO
Union bay and not a vestige OF the steamer
remains. Her managing owner. captain.
purser. two engineers, two able-bodied sea-
men and a stowaway were drowned and
the rest Of the crew of thirty-four saved
by the pluck of an unknown member of the
ships crew, who swan in a raging sea
from the wreck to a lighthouse with a line
around his waist. The drowned were
Samuel Barboe, of Vancouver, managing
owner; Capt. F. N. Yorke, Victoria, mas
ter; Engineer Dunn, Victoria; Second AS
sistant Engineer Murray, Vancouver: H. l..
White, purser, Vancouver; - crosby,
abled-bodied seaman; - Sullivan, able
bodied seaman and an unknown stowaway.
The ship Alpha was valued at $45,OO0.
Her cargo comprised $50 tons of salt sal
mon and $50 tons of coal consigned TO
Yokohama and valued at $1,000. The total
insurance on the ship and her cargo was
$65. 900. 1t is two weeks since the Alpha
first started from Vancouver for Japan.
After she had been four days out she re-
turned to Victoria partly disabled and
accusations of tampering with her engines
were made. Some of the crew and several
of the officers left the steamer, declaring
that she had been improperly loaded, and
one or the officers was tried and sentenced
TO six weeks Imprisonment for desertion.
Last Saturday the Alpha left Victoria for
Union TO replenish her coal supply. A ter
rifle gale was raging and late Sunday night
the steamer ran on a rock at Baynes
sound at the entrance to Union bay. She
was quickly dashed to pieces and all would
have persisted had not one of the crew
made the desperate and successful effort TO
swim with a line to the lighthouse on yell
low island. In the raging sea only part of
those on the Inflated ship managed to
reach safety. her managing owner and
reach the rock. The twenty-five survivors
remained on Yellow island. which is a
rock 200 yards wide, until Sunday night,
when the sea moderated somewhat and a
sloop was able to call and take them to
Union. But the storm which had wrecked
the ship had also Frustrated all wires and
SO no tidings of the shipwreck reached the
outside world until the little steamer Gear
brought the story to Vancouver late last
night.
The Alpha gained notoriety last spring
when, as a Canadian ship, she landed
freight and passengers at Nome in defiance
of the instructions of the Treasury Depart
ment and it is said against the advice of
the British embassy at Washington as well.
She was chased on her return trip from
Nome by a United States revenue cutter.
pair of heels. Since that exciting expert
ence the Alpha has been engaged in the
British coaling trade until she started on
her present disastrous trip.