Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-02-29
SHIP ON FIRE AT SEA
Steamer Queens Most Har-
 rowing Experience.
FOURTEEN LIVES WERE SACRIFICED
on Mouth of COlumbia River, I'm a Heavy Storm, Fire Started I'm Sa- Ioon-Ltfeboats Capsixe and
 Passengers Drown.


 PORT TOWNSEND, Wash, Feb. %. After suffering the most narrowing experiences from fire and storm that has ever befallen a craft on the north Pacific coast the steamer Queen has put in here to report the loss of four teen lives. ts.
 The list of dead follows: First class passengers - Miss Steiner of Clellum, Wash, drowned; Mrs. Adams, died from exposure. Second class passengers D. Newsbury of Texas; H. Buckley, both drowned. Members of the crew A. Nielsen, J. Nielsen and H. Preitas, stewards; T. H. Eneman, M. Somers, H. Douglass, A. Donnelly and - Raymond, engineering department; Pc ter Mullin and M. Flynn.
 While off the mouth of the Columbia river the" Queen caught fire in her after saloon in some unexplained way. The fire rapidly gained headway and threat ened soon to envelop the whole ship.
 Ten of those who lost their lives were spilled out of the small boats Three men, walters on the vessel, were suffo. cated before they could reach the outer air from their hunks in the after part of the ship, and one woman died from exposure. . .y.
 According to the stories told by pas sengers and the crew, the vessel was off Tillamook and about thirty miles from land at 3:45 a. m., when the fire was discovered. There was heavy sea on, and the ship. was pitching badly. .e& ta
 When smoke was discovered coming out of the saloon on the after main deck of the vessel, the crew was imme- diately hurried out, and the small boats were manned, while the stewards went from cabin to cabin waking up the pas sengers.
 When Captain Cousins discovered the extent of the 6re, which embraced prac tically all the rear portion of the ves- sel, he immediately ordered the life boats launched.
 Four, filled with women and children and sufficient men to man them, were dropped over from the windward side of the vessel, each containing about sixteen people.
 The first boat capsized almost as soon as it touched the water by getting un- der the stern of the ship. All the pas sengers in this were rescued by the oth- CT small boats, with the exception of Miss Steiner, a first class passenger. who was drawn under the ship when the boat capsized. & @&
 The second boat capsized while being lowered. There were no passengers in it at the time, but the crew of four men were spilled out and lost
 A third boat filled about half a mile from the Queen, and all but four of it's passengers and crew were rescued by the other small craft in the vicinity
 The passengers and those of the crew who remained on board continued their fight against the flames with increasing success until at TAO in the morning the fire was brought under control. When it was thought the danger from fire was past Captain Cousins recalled the hfeboats, and the occupants were taken aboard
 The Queen was headed for the mouth of the Columbia river, and about, 9 o'clock the steamer Santa Monica was sighted. The Queen signaled and asked her to stand by until temporary repairs could be made. When everything had been made safe the Queen continued on to the mouth of the Columbia only to find the bar was too rough to cross it. The distressed craft was pointed toward Puget sound, but bad fortune still pursued her, and when she round ed Cape Flattery she encountered a terrific electrical storm With difficult ty she weathered the gale, reached here without further mishap and proceeded to Seattle, where she arrived about nightfall. @.=