The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-12-18
COLCORO'S
NOBLE ACT
Story of How Captain
of the A. j. Fuller
Saved Lives.

Distinction such as is rarely won be-
| longs to Captain Theodore P. Colcord,
master of the American steamer Ameri-
| can, which arrived in Tacoma yester
day, says the Tacoma Ledger.
Captain Colcord was the means OF
| saving sixty-two persons from death in
| the North Atlantic sixteen years ago.
| While the story is not new, friends of
! CoIcord never tire of telling it again.
| However, the interviewer finds difficult
! ty in persuading the mariner to tell
his experience for he has that modesty
so common to many of the brave men
| who follow the sea.
| In commemoration of that event Cap
and chain of such unusual beauty and
! value that it at once excites attention
and admiration. On the inside, engrav-
| ed in the most artistic and skillful
masters deed.
BURNING OF THE SANTIAGO.
clipper American ship A. J. Fuller,
Captain Colcord on the morning of
December 20, 1889, picked up sixty-two
survivors of the burning British steam
er Santiago, Captain Potter. The San
tiago, whose cargo was mostly cotton
was three days out from New York
bound for Hull, England. On the even
ing of December 19 fire was discovered
J in the matches, and SO rapidly did it
spread that the brave crew was I'M
able to control it. The flames spread
with such alarming rapidly that at 3
| o'clock that night the crew and the
few passengers, believing themselves
doomed to certain death, were compel
| led to take to the boats. They stood
by the burning steamer, spending
night of horror. 1t was bitterly cold.
the sea was rough and the waves wash
ed over the small boats, threatening to
| swamp them every minute.
Early in the following morning Cap
| tain Colcord, on the A J. Fuller, bound
from England for New York, saw the
con1agration thirty-five miles away
| Realizing that a catastrophe had oc-
Cured Captain Colcord made for the
| fire as rapidly as possible, and at day
! light the American ship had come
alongside. AS quickly as possible the
almost frozen survivors were taken
aboard and given food and shelter, OF
which they were in dire necessity.
| BY this time the doomed Santiago
was a mass of flames from stem to
stern. Nothing more could be done, so
! the Fuller resumed her course, leaving
| the illfated vessel to her doom. 1t is
supposed that she went to the bottom.
for she was never again heard of.
WOMAN AND BABY AMONG SUR
VIVORS.
Among the survivors We're Mrs.
| Knight and her 11-months-old baby
Both We're nearly dead from the ex-
posure, but they recovered largely due
| to the kindness and attention of Mrs
| Colcord, who until her death accom-
panied her husband on his voyage.
For week the survivors We're aboard
| the A J. Fuller until New York was
made, 600 miles to the west. Upon her
arrival intense excitement reigned as
| soon as the details of the catastrophe
We're learned. The newspapers were
| filled with the story, each of the sur
| vivors paying tribute to the conduct
and extreme kindness of Captain Col
cord and his crew. This gratitude took
| the form of a testimonial in the shape
Of a parchment, handsomely engrossed
and engraved. setting forth the ex-
preston of the survivors. In it they
pay high tribute to Mrs. Colcord, Cap
tain Colcord and his men.
! In recognition of his services, Captain
Colcord soon received his splendid
watch and chain from Thomas Wilson,
| Sons & Co. of Hull, owners of the San
tiago.
| The stories of the survivors were full
! of horror and gratitude. 1t was sup
posed that spontaneous combustion
caused the fire. On board were 1913 head
| of cattle whose frenzed efforts to es-
cape added to the confusion. The pas