The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-03-02

which still hung close to the water No
sound came to the searchers and not
a cry for help was heard by the anX-
ious ones who were striving to render
assistance. The suction of THE sinking
vessel had by this time silenced those
who We're in the water, while those
who had secured places on wreckage
were too much exhausted to call for
aid.
AS daylight drew on the fog lifted
and then the search was renewed and
continued until nightfall but the re-
suits were meager Twenty seven
whites and hfty-six Chinese were
brought ashore alive out of the 210 who
had expected to greet their welcoming
friends at the wharf yesterday morn
ing. Small bits Of broken planking
strewed the vincinity Of the wreck and
floated with the changing tide leav-
ing a grewsome tran from Lands End
up through Raccoon straits to the
! Berkeley shore.
Mail bags rose from the jagged hole
in the ships side and were tempting
| bats for those ghouls who always
! flock to the scene of disaster Two OF
the bags which bore the tag regis
tered" were cut open and rified of theiI
contents. Whitehaus gasoline fishing
/ launches, small slOops and smacks
| hovered about the scene all day long
their owners picking up such hotsam
| and jetsam as could be found and ther
| hurrying away to hide the prizes be-
| fore they were discovered and their
booty taken from them. But out OF
the immense cargo of silks opium and
other merchandise, valued, 1t is said
at a million and a half dollars prob
ably not 500 worth reached the surface
The first news of the disaster reached
! the Merchants Exchange through q
| telephone message from NJ. j. FitZger-
AID, marine reporter of the Exchange al
/ Meiggs' wharf, Fitzgerald was stand
/ ing on the edge of the wharf, peering
| out into the fog for some trace of the
overdue China steamer, when at 7:4C
o'clock, he was startled to see a boat
] load of thinly clad people approaching
| the dock. In a moment the name OF
the steamer was discernable on the bow
| of the lifeboat, and the awful truth
dawned upon Fitzgerald that the RiC
! had been wrecked. The tidings was
| flashed up town, and soon the whole
city knew that the big Pacific Mail
| liner had gone to the bottom with
| scores upon scores of human beings.
The telephone offices were swamped
with calls as anxious relatives and
| friends endeavored to get some knOwl-
| edge of the fate of their loved ones.
| This information becoming inadequate
the streets were filled with throngs who
| hurried to Meggs' wharf and other
| points where it was thought news
might be obtained.
Thousands focked to the bluffs over
looking the scene of the wreck where
the morbid crowd stood all day long
| looking down at the boats In the bay
Other hundreds patrolled the beach
from Harbor View to Point San Pedro
| twelve miles below the Cliff House
seeking something to crafty their curl.
osfty.
As the day wore on the terrible de.
! tails of the disaster We're brought out
by the stories of those who survived
All contained the same elements of 6
most horrible tragedy enacted within
so short a space of time that the vas
majority had little chance to reach
full realization of their danger before
| they We're swallowed up in the vortex
caused by the steamers descent to the
| bottom,