The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-29
|14 PERSONS
 LOST AT SEA MiSfOrtuneS to the Steam
 CT Queen. FIRE AND STORM UNITE Flames Drive Those on Board
 to Boats.
 - High Seas Capsiss Two Of the Small Craft -Blass Finally subdned After Long and stub
 born Fight

Port Townsend, Feb. 2S.-After suxfer- fnn the most narrowing experience from fire and storm that has ever befallen 2 craft on the north Pacific coast, the steamer Queen today put in here to re- port the loss of forteen lives.
 The dead foliow--Ftrst class passen" gers: Miss Steiner. Ciaiium. Wash. drowned; Mrs. Adams, died from ex- posture. Second class passengers. D. Newbury of Texas H. Buckley. both drowned. Members of the crew: A. Nelson. J. Nelson and P. Freitas. stewards; w. H. Enman: M. somers. H. Douglas, A. Donneily; Raymon, engineering department; Peter Mulin, "A. Flynn.
 Fire in After-Saloon.
 About S:45 o'clock Saturday morning. while off the mouth of the Columbia River. the Queen caught fire in iier after saloon in some unexplained way. With indescrtbable swiftness the fire gained headway and threatened soon to enveiope the whole ship. To add to the horror the heavy seas running meant death to any sent away in the iifeboats. The flames became more and more threaten ing until. when 1t seemed choice of deaths, Captain Cousins ordered the iife- boats launched. They were manned by the crew ana ordered to remain close to the ship. Into these the women ard children were placed Hardly, however, had the boats been cast loose than, una- hie to weather the fereo waves, two of them were capsixed.
 Tie passengers and those of the crew who remained on board, continued their light against the flames with interesting success until at 7:f0 a. m., the Are was brought under control.
 Lifeboata Recalled.
 When 1t was thought the danger from Ere mas past Captain Cousins recalled the lifeboaks and the occupants were taken aboard The Queen was headed for the mouth Of tho Eoianlsala klfper and aho,sf o'clock the steamer Santa Monica was sisAtsds hs 0eeRn sienAalsa and asked her to stand by until temporary repairs could be mada. When everything had been made safe, the Queen continued on to the mouth of tho Columbia, only to ind the bar was too rough to cross in.
 The distressed craft was pointed toward Puget Sound, but bad fortune still pur- sued and when she rounded Cape Flat tery she encountered, a terrific electrical storm. With difficulty she weathered the gale and arrived here without furth- CT mishap, and proceeded to Seattle where she arrived about nightfall.
 Spilled Out of Boats.
 Ten of those who lost their lives were spilled out of the small boats, three men waters on the vessel were suffocated he. fore they could reach the outer air from their hunks in the after part of the shin ana one woman died later from exposure,
 According to the stories told by passen. gers and the crew, the vessel was of Tillamook and about thirty miles from land when the fire was discovered. There was heavy sea on and the shin was pitching badly. When smoke was dis covered coming out of the social hall on the after main deck of the vessel. the crew was immediately hurried out and the small boats manned, while the stewards went from cabin to cabin waking up pas- sepgers.
 There was no disorder either among the crew or passengers. When Captain Cousins discovered the extent of the fire, which embraced practically all the rear portion of the vessel, he immediately ordered the life boats launched Four nlled with women and children and suf- hcient men to man them were dropped over from the windward side of the ves- sel. each containing about sixteen people. The first boat capsized almost as soon as It reached the water, by getting under the stern of the ship. All the passengers in this boat were rescued by the other
 
 Steiner, a first class passenger, who was drawn under the ship when the boat capsized.
 Second Boat Capsized.
 The second boat capsized when being lowered. There were no passengers in 1t at the time. but the crew of four men were spilled out and lost.
 A third boat filled about a half mile from the Queen and all but four of its passengers and crew were rescued by the other small craft. The life boats that were fioated safely and two rafts that were thrown over to pick up any who might be thrown in the water remained in the vicinity of the vessel and within view of 1t while the fire was being fought by the crew and those among the pas- sengers that remained on board. Every available stream of water was thrown into the burning cabin. Every man kept his head and worked hard to subdue the flames. Despite their efforts. however. 1t was after o'clock before the fire was under control and the signal given to the small boats to return to the vessel
 Were it not for the fact that the cap tain and crew and passengers behaved with the utmost coolness, the vessel would have been destroyed and the loss of life enormous. The vessel carried more than 200 passengers.