The San Francisco call., 1904-11-27

IS LEFT TO
ELEMENTS
Old Barkentine Is
Abandoned by
Her Crew.
TampiCO Sights Her Adrift
With Sails Torn and
Rudder Gone.
Ten Men and a Dog Are Taken OF
and Landed Safely in This City
by the Steamer Homer.

Somewhere in the northern seas the
OLD barkentine Quickstep, water
logged, deserted and rudderless, is
drifting a derelict. Her crew of ten
men and a dog was landed in this city
last night by the steamship Homer
after undergoing nine days Of priva-
ton and hardship and losing all their
personal belongings. The Quickstep's
crew was taken from the disabled YES
sci by the Tampico, Captain John Rob-
erts, bound from Seattle and Tacoma
to San Pedro. When off Grays Harbor
Captain Roberts transferred the crew
of the shipwrecked vessel to the
steamship Homer, which arrived last
night in this port, where a report of
the disaster was filed at the Merchants
Exchange.
The report was written by Captain
Roberts of the Tampico and recites
but the bare facts of the case. The
Tampico, it says, was bound from
Seattle and Tacoma for San Pedro
with a cargo of general merchandise.
She left Tacoma Monday, November
21, and encountered light winds and
a smooth sea until noon of Wednesday,
when a fresh southeast wind sprang
up, increasing steadily in violence.
On Thursday a barkentine was
sighted, flying signals of distress. Her
sails were in rags and she rolled heav-
lily. Rain was falling and the atmos-
phere was so thick that it was impos-
sible to make out the name of the dis
abled vessel. The Tampico at once
went to her relief, however, and upon
approaching closely made her out %
be the barkentine Quickstep, water
logged, rudderless and helpless.
The captain of the barkentine sig
nailed a request for tow to the near
est port, but Captain Roberts replied
that he could not possibly tow him in
as he did not have a hawser strong
enough. He offered to take off the
crew before sundown and this offer
was accepted.
Captain Johnson Of the Quickstep
made preparations to take off his crew,
but while doing so his foretopsail blew
away and the barkentine was left in a
worse position than ever. The Tampico
lay to for an hour, and as no further
attempt was made by the Quickstep to
launch a boat one was sent out from
the Tampico, in charge of Second Of
ficer George B. Genereaux, with four
seamen. An attempt was made to get
the men off the lee quarter of the dis
abled vessel, but as the sea was run
ming high this was found to be impos-
sible. The boat was then brought
around and the men lowered themselves
into it by sliding down a rope from the
end of the spanker boom. They man
aged to take their dog with them, but
=. o+i 0f oI0
the oilskins they wore, and also lost
what personal belongings they pos
sessed.
Captain Johnson says the Quickstep
first got in trouble on November Is, and
from that date she had been in water
logged condition. with the forecastle
and aft cabin stove In, the boats
smashed and all the provisions wet The
steering gear was washed away and
the vessel opened fore and aft.
The members of the crew were in a
sorry state, worn with long watches
and hard work without sufficient sus-
tenance. The dry berths and fresh fare
on the Tampico were welcomed by the
men, but they were willing and eager
to accept a transfer off Grays Harbor
to the Homer, which landed them safe
ly in port last night.
The barkentine Quickstep was built
in 1876 at Port Ludlow, Wash. She was
of 423 tons, 14S feet long, "a feet in
breadth and 13 feet deep. She was
owned by S. B. Peterson of this city
and was engaged in the lumber trade
along the coast. When picked up by
the Tampico she was nine days out of
Mukilteo and bound for San Francisco