The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-07-19
fertile country on the shores of the bay.
 A Great Steamship Wreck.


 Sailing up and down San Francisco Bay on the splendid steamer General Frisbie, I was intensely interested in all 1 saw. The placid waters of the wonderful in- land sea, the narrow opening which gives the vessels and waters egress to the boundless ocean, the hundreds of craft which lie peacefully anchored at the wharves, the verdure-clad heights which hedge in the bay to the northwest down to the very entrance to the harbor, the | green carpeted islands which dot the watery landscape. the great city to the ! south where more than a quarter of a | million human beings work and toll and live, the jagged mountains of the Coast RanSe which mark the horizon to the east make up natural and artificial panorama at once grand and entranc- | ing. Looking out through the always fascinating Golden Gate, my mind re- verted to the great steamship disaster which occurred just inside the bar on the morning of February 9, 1901, when the City Of Rio Janeiro, one of the trans Paclnc liners of the Pacific Mail Steam ship Company was lost almost within a stones throw of the end of it's long jour ney, nearly three hundred lives being sacrificed by this terrible disaster. A we'll informed main, whom I met on the boat, related to me anew the details of this appalling calamity, reciting some facts which I have never seen in print.
 It Was after dark on the evening of February Fist when the Rio Janeiro ap- preached the bar, six miles west of the Gate properQ. A heavy fog hung like pail over the roaring ocean and terrific sea was running, threatening death to- all small craft that ventufed beyond the safety lire Aboard the ship was United States Consul General Wild man, who had been stationed at Hong Kong during the Spanish war and who, accompanied by his family, was en route home. his first visit, for several years. MT. Wildman Wildman had played a conspicuous part in the Eastern cam paign, which involved the destruction of the Spanish fleet by Dewey and the cap tufe of the Philippines. He bore import ant documents to the State Department and was exceedingly anxious to land and catch an early train for Washington Captain Ward. originally from North Carolina, was master of the vessel and was man noted for his good judgment and experience in sea-faring He anchor ed outside the bar fo- the night, although he had been importuned by Consul Gen. eral Wildman to risk running In. Before daylight the Consul General, 1t is stated again, appealed to the captain. and 1t is
 
 harbor through the binding fog. At any event, Captain Ward undertook the ven- ture about o'clock in the morning.
 At that hour the night was black with darkness and the fog was so heavy that the pilot lost the way and the big steam CT ran upon hidden rock almost at the entrance to the Golden Gate and sank. An hour later, party of Italian fisher men, who go to sea during all kinds of weather, while making their way out just as daylight was opening up on the scene. came upon several boat loads of survivors of the wreck and rescued them. This was the first that was known of the disaster and from that day to this noth- ing has ever been seen of any of the wreckage of the Rio Janeiro. The wreck Is said to be worth quarter of a million dollars, $100.0o0 of which Is gold and sil- ver but the vessel went down at a point where the current moves at the rate of six miles an hour and all efforts 70 locate 1t by diving have proven futile. It is believed that the wreckage has long since been carried out to sea. Captain Ward and Consul General WiIdman were both among the lost.