The San Francisco call., 1904-03-06
Mysterious Crew of Wreck
ers Reported to Be Rails
ing Cargo From Hold Of
the Ill-Fated Steamship
LAUNCH MAKES FAST
TO HER MIZZENMAST
Operations of Diver and
His Companions in Lift
ING Boxes and Barrels
Described by Eyewitnesses

The Pacific Mail steamer Rio de ia
neiro, which went down in the Golden
Gate on the morning of Washington's
birthday 1901. has at last, it is believed,
been located. Quietly, very quietly,
the raising of her cargo is said to have
been begun yesterday.
The famous ship, bearing a precious
freight of bullion and merchandise and
a still more precious freight of 210 hu
man beings, struck a rock off Fort
Point at 500 a. m. Dense fog over
hung land and sea at that hour, and it
was Pilot Jordan's violation of the COM
pany's rules against entering harbor
under such conditions that caused this,
the most horrifying disaster in the
maritime history of the Pacific Coast.
The ship sank at 5:33 o'clock, carry
ing down with her 130 persons Her
cargo was estimated at the time to
have been worth s1,2OO,0OO. including
s60O,OOO in specie. The vessel, built in
1878, was valued at 100000
Ever since that fatal morning at
tempts have been made to find the
sunken ship. Innumerable announce
ments of her discovery have been
given out by sanguine wreckers, but
they were never confirmed. Even her
general location was in doubt, many
water front men contending that the
wreck lay in the deep sea near Mile
Rock, just outside the Heads. others
were sure that, in spite of the fierce
tides, it had not moved far from its
original berth near Fort Point.
THEORIES ARE VAIN.
No positive evidence on the subject
was ever made public. If the owners
knew, they kept silent. If private in
vestigators learned anything definite
of the dead ships grave they, too, said
nothing. Meanwhile the scores of theo-
ries formed for raising ship or cargo
when located came to nothing.
During the last fortnight residents in
the thinly settled region overlooking
Fort Point have observed daily the
movements of a steam launch which
came around the point and anchored or
made fast to a buoy about quarter of
a mile southwest of Fort Winfield
Scott. The half-doZen men on board
the launch kept their own counsel,
however, and it has transpired only
within the last twenty-four hours that
the mysterious party was working in
the hope of salying the cargo of the
Rio. This leaked out in spite of their
efforts to keep it a profound secret. The
story current among a few men on the
water front yesterday was that divers
from the launch had found the Rio ly-
ing on her side, that they had attached
a line to her mizzenmast and a buoy
to this line at the surface, and were
tying the launch to this buoy each day
while they proceeded with the work of
breaking into the hold. But the iden-
tity of the wreckers and the ownership
of the launch. as we'll as its name. have
been so we'll concealed that they are
still among the mysteries which cluster
thick about the whole post mortem
history of the lost vessel.
STORY OF WRECKERS.
The best account of the work of the
wreckers was given last night by Vic
tor KilIick, the 15-year-old son of Fred
H. Killick, teacher of swimming at Su-
tro Baths, near the cliff. The elder Kill
lick has been watching the operations
4 of the launch crew for several days
with great interest. in the belief that
they probably had some connection
with the Rio Yesterday morning he
sent his son Victor. who is very intel
! ligent lad and familiar with scenes
along the sea front. to watch the
wreckers during the day. Victor armed
with a powerful glass, proved a good
observer His story as told last night
is as follows:
This morning 1 walked along Wis.,
] Nd. fro,,, I1alrarC
Beach. toward Fort Point A steam
/ launch twenty-five or thirty feet long
was stationed out about 500 or 500
yards from the shore and quarter of
| a mile south of the point. A small
boat foated at the stern of the launch.
which seemed to be anchored or fast
/ to some fixed object, as l could see
her line running into the water.
could not make out the name on the
| launch but counted seven men in all
on her deck. On the starboard side
was a ladder and at the stern Of the
boat were several things that looked
like fire hose, but which think were
tubes running down to a diver below.
/ saw a diver in full armor come up
out of the water. / reached the beach
a. M and found the launch there
then. 1 remained watching the boat
until it returned in the direction of
the city at 3 p. m.
CARGO FROM THE DEEP.
During this time 1 saw the men on
deck pulling up number of barrels
and boxes. They were busy all day Il
this and the deck of the launch was
covered with boxes, barrels and kegs
These looked quite new. One of the
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