The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-04
GOLDEN GATE MYSTERY
HULK OF THE STEAMER RIO DE
JaNEIRo CANNOT BE FOUND
Rocky Bottom of the Sea Searched in
vain for the Wrecked Vessel
Experts ~Dumfounded.
San Francisco Special.

de Janeiro at the entrance Of the Golden
Gate has been her disappearance from the
bottom of the sea. Divers have explored
the sea floor in the region where the steam
er was imposed to have sunk and have
searched far and wide for the wreck.
The steamer struck on a rock on Feb. %
and went down with the greater number OF
her passengers and crew. Her pilot. who
escaped TO the shore. was sure he could To-
cate the wreck. but when divers went down
in the place he had designated they found a
rock. but no sunken steamer. There was a
thick fog when the vessel sank, but it was
thought she was then between Fort Point
and Mile Rock, just outside the Golden
Gate.
In fact. no one had any doubt of 1t. But
as the exploration of the bottom of the sea
at the entrance of the harbor proceeded
week after week by soundings and by
divers and still no wreck was found, the
affair began to assume the proportions of a
big mystery. The Pacific Mail Steamship
Company offered a reward of $1,000 for the
location of the wreck. and besides the div
ers the company employed many volunteers
have been searching for the lost vessel.
There is something weird in the loss of a
ShNoN GbCoiltA ct IN NSy HiONlii L a POP-
ulous harbor and her apparently sailing
away through the ocean depths TO the port
of the missing ships. Besides the boats
sent out by the company to sound for the
Rio and the divers to hunt the bottom for
her. two ships of the United States coast
survey have taken a hand in the search,
and some remarkable deep-sea diving has
been done by a party of japanese.
Some of the divers have. been down TWEEN
ty-fve fathoms and remained at that depth
for twenty minutes-a feat which probably
never has been performed before. They ex-
plored the bottom all around where the
pilot declared that the ship had sunk but
found no trace of her.
These japanese divers came up from
Point Lobos, Camrel bay, Monterey county,
where they have been diving for abaione.
a kind of shellfsh, the body of which is
dried and used for food, and of the shell are
made buttons and ornaments. They paid
their own expenses, to show the Americans
how expert they were, and have succeeded
In winning much admiration for their work.
The Pacific Mail Company placed buoys
marking the place where they thought the
sunken steamer lay, and all the bottom I'M
der the space marked by these buoys was
gone over thoroughly, but without any re-
suits. One diver walked for three-quarters
of a mile on the floor of the Golden Gate
without finding any trace of the lost snip.
A japanese diver went down in sixteen
fathoms of water about a half mile from
the Fort Point barracks and walked out
~ sea, TIE DdTSt WITH TIE dlT pumps, tlC.,
floating after him as he walked, until the
lead gave twenty-six fathoms of water
Heretofore it has been received as an axi-
ON in diving that no diver could descend
deeper than twenty-five fathoms on ac-
count of the enormous pressure to which
he would be subjected at a greater depth.
This performance of the Japanese diver
however, has overturned previous theories.
After reaching this great depth he walked
to the starting point. He was down twenty
minutes and the circle he described Gov
ara1 Tho ~ c,,ot rYhnro tho Die u-ar1d
have been had she gone on the Fort Point
rocks, as she was supposed to have done.
1t seemed clear that the steamer had not
struck on these rocks, and if she had not
hit them. what did she hit, and where?
The wonder and the mystery d~eepened
with each unsuccessful attempt TO find the
sunken steamer. and all sorts of wild theo-
ries have been advanced as to the cause
of her disappearance.
An exploration of the bottom of the sea
one-eighth of a mile to the southwest of
the red buoy off Fort Point also failed to
reveal the whereabouts of the wreck, al
though this was the place where the people
of the lffe-saving station were sure the Rio
had sunk. They seemed ito have been as
much in error as the pilot in regard to
the steamers place of sinking. A reef was
found there, along which the pilot worked
his way, but he saw no signs of any wreck.
A point almost two miles from Fort Point
was tried, and the diver, after he had been
down a few moments. came I'D and re-
ported that the current ran so strong that
it was impossible to stand UP against II.
a heavy anchor was tied to his legs and
he went down again. When he came up the
second time he said there was no wreck
in that place. Other places were tried, with
like results. until it would seem that every
foot of the bottom near the entrance OF
the Golden Gate had been explored. The
most expert divers that could be procured
have been tried, and careful soundings taxi
en- all over the region, but no results were
obtained.
An electrician named Fabian has sug-
gested a scheme by which he says he is
confident he can find the lost wreck. He
proposes to use a big electro magnet. He
saws tina he has located fourteen wrecks
in that way. BY lowering the magnet into
the water and then sailing about with it
to and fro over the water at the entrance
of the harbor the iron of the ship will at
tract the magnet, disclosing its where
abouts.
This mystery of where the sunken Rio
de Janeiro is now has excited almost AS
much interest in San Francisco as did her
wreck. The tides sweep in and out of the
Golden Gate with great force and swiftness,
IL is true. but they seem only to affect the
channel where the ship could not have gone
down. In all the places which have been
pointed out by fishermen, the Hfe-saving
people and the pilot Of the missing steamer,
the divers do not seem TO have found any
currents in which they We're unable to
work.
Rocks and sand cover the ocean floor in
most places in that region, and In only one
place did a diver report that the water
was thick and muddy so he could not see
well. The people who escaped from the
Rio after she had struck thought they knew
about how far from shore she was when
the fatal moment came, and the failure TO
locate the wreck at the first trial was a
great surprise to everybody.
1t is rather a grewsome thing to have A
Zig ocean steamer go down almost within a
rifle shot of a big city and then to disap-
pear as completely as if not only the sea
but the bottom of the sea had opened and
swallowed her up.
Jordan. the pilot, who was bringing the
unfortunate steamer in when she struck
and went down. was the most surprised
| man in the world when he found that tire
Rio was not where he had located her. He
has been bringing ships in and out Of the
harbor for many years, and was supposed
10 know ell about such matters.
He went out in a boat shortly after the
wreck and sounded IN the place where he
declared the ship had gone down. His lead
line found something which he thought was
the sunken steamer, and he placed a buoy
there. When q diver went down in the
place he found not a sunken steamer, but a
fet rock.
1t has seemed TO the people of San Fran
cisco as if the wreck of the Rio de Janerio
was like those cases OF mysterious disap-
pearance where a man walks out OF his
door some morning TO go 70 his Office and
never Is heard of again.