The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-08-19


VICTORIA. p. O.. Aug. I9-Capiain I.s
Blanc. pilot ar the wrecked Alaskan
steamer Islander. who WIS on the bridge
and in chars ~ ,He vessel NJ the time
OF the wreck. tells the following story of
the disaster.
The steamer left Skagway az 6.s7
Skasway tia.. $50 Victoria time on the
night of Wednesday. August H. we
started down Lynn Canal. and. although
it was blowing strong and daTk and a Dit
cloudy it U-s o. gsad Essht for travelling.
The stars could be- seen through the gaps
in the clouds In fact IL was a fairy
good night The Islander WAS going at
nearly fun speed. making fourteen knots.
At z-so a. IN on the morning or Thurs
gay, the 18th. without any warning what
ever, she struck a piece Of ice-ncw large
IL is impossiH., o. say. for no one saw il.
The officers had expected 70 meet the ice.
Like all others running steamers 10 Alas
kan ports. they nGured that any piece or
Ice that could nos le seen could not DO
any damage 20 a ship
Captain L. Blanc was standing on the
starboard side ~ Jh- islanders bridge at
the time OF The accident. with his night
glasses. and Was looking along the steam
er.s course for ice. just before the steam
or struck he had seen a piece OF ice on
the starboard bow and had cleared II, and
was locking for any other hercs that
might De there but none were TO De seen
Not until The vessel struck was he aware
Of the proximity OF the ice. he did not
see Il after the vessel struck. As soon as
the crash came De rushed 20 the port side
Of the bridge bGc saw nothing q the
small berg which brought death in its
wake for many of those On the steamer.
ss il had disappeared under the vessel
The crash was not a heavy one In ract,
Captain Le Blanc says he has struck logs
which have caused more concUssion.
The captain Immediately rang for the
engines 90 be stopped. and hardly had he
cone s0 when Cautliu Foote came run
ming on TO the bridge from his room
Captain Footc had been below. As soon
as Captain FooIe reached the bridge the
night watchman ran gp from The lower
deck and reported that the steamer was
making water forward Captain IL Blanc
asked the wateEa1su if the steamer was
making much water and ,he watchraan
replied she is d-lr--
Captain lie Blanc described what hap
pened aftervari as follows It realized
that We must put the steamer ashore al
once, and after ordering the helm hard
stsrboard I rang for both engines 20 90
full speed ahead As / did so. I told Cap
tain Foote that it was our only chance
% put her on the beach. Captain Foote
did not seem % realize the danger and he
said % me Il don't think we viii beach
her here, for the beach IS TOO steep. We
VIII run her back to Hida Bay and the
snip can Ee saved if we put her on there
Seeing al thar Ji-- that the steamer
was settling down by the head. I urged
Captain Eoote not 90 20 70 Hilda Bav-
hul 10 beach the vessel right where she
was. which WIS about rhree-quarters of a
mile, or II may have been a mile. from
the east end Of the south shore Of Doug
las Island. Captain F0CJe. however. seem
81 90 think that the vessel mtght have
got TO the better beach al HiIta BAY. But
observing afterwarI how rhe steamer VAS
taxing water he ordered her 10 the beach
at once
Several minutes had been lost for aft
er had Tung the engineer for fun speed
aheGd, he had been stopped again
When Captain Foote decided 10 mt The
vessel on the beach. 7 rang cor fun steed
ahead again. but the steamer had taken
TOO much water and she was SO much
down by the head by reason Of the in
coming ot water that her stern was
thrown high up and she would not an
SWer her helm She -al around not ar
swering the helm al all 1 heard the
mates voice on the upper deck about
that time and / called 20 him 10 clear
away the boat
Then there was rush Of passengers
90 the upper deck All were excited.
They at once took "a hand in the work OF
getting the boats our and majority OF
the men rushed 10 the boats. There was
mo- Thought about women or children. but
these men rushed over -Ee vessel and cur
away the tackles ana ropes and crowded
ilt1 the boats Had there nor been such
a rush oI passengers. I believe we would
have saved The majority. il not all. the
passengers. although tL- time was short.
There was room tu- al lu the boats and
JEe rats and. had the passengers not
acted Jl the principle " every man for
himself as The majority iId. the number
of dead would probably Lat have been
as large They c-amuy-ed along the
chains. laoS-I away the tackle and,
er1u4ils -a- were eagerly =louJing push
OK 4 saw one fellow. I don't know who
De .a~. waving "a la-cl.t ---I threatening
-a a-a- anybody waa arrs mpted 70 crowd
ll-a tE- boat III which Ls was standing.
There was much excitement ON both the
main and upper decks
As 10y the crew. tE.y behaved well
Indeed They could not have behaved
better Captain FooJe did not leave the
bridge until yEe water practically lifted
him or. All De- thought OF was the pas
seuEerS and De looked tc their safety be-
fore seeking y1 save himself. The boats
were aL =o- pE safely without being in
Jur,d ur sWamusd ana then we got out
two raf,s- A- The people left on board
made rush for yhe RATS.
"DD the forward Gaft on which I was
there were about twenty-five people.
Captain FoC-e was ON this raft and
dii not see them after the raft upset
ior / and th- second mate, Howell, left
and struck out through Jhe water in
search of wreckase OF something else 10
support ourselves Howell went IN one
direction and I another. ] found a piece
of Wr-chaEg- I don't know how long
WAS iu -he water, but when / clambered
up ou the Wrsc6aEe noticed that Il was
,L,l daylight. / was taken on by a boat
with them was taken care of by the peo-
pie.
As far as I can judge from the manner
I'm which the steamer acted when she did
not answer her helm, the Islander went
down I'm about twenty-thrgr fathOms of
water. soon after we Iefr her she found
cred and as she went down there was q
rush of air and water which carried