Los Angeles herald., 1907-07-23
THICK FOG oBscUREs VISION OF
SAILORS ON WATCH
END COMES QUICKLY TO MANY
PASSENGERS
COLUMBIA WENT DOWN WITHIN
FEW MOMENTS
Larger of the Two Vessels Was
Crushed Lise EggsheII by
Steam Schooner San
Pedro

; BY Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO, July 22.-In one Of
the worst marine disasters in the his
tory of the California coast between 100
and $50 lives were lost, as far as has
been learned, by midnight collision be-
tween the steamer Columbia and the
steam lumber schooner San Pedro in
Shelter Cove, twelve miles southwest of
the Mendocino- Humboldt county line, be-
tween II and L o'clock yesterday morning.
Only meager details of the tragedy have
been received, though every effort has
; been made to get the facts.
Scores of kilograms TO Eureka, the
nearest point of Importance, remain un-
answered
The few details known here were
brought by the steamer Roanoke and the
steam schooner Daisy Mitchell, which
arrived in San Francisco this forenoon
The Columbia, a 300-foot steel vessel OF
the San Francisco and Portland Steam
; ship company, while bound from San
Francisco for Portland, Ore, with 1S9
passengers and a crew of sixty, collided
with and was rammed by the San Pedro,
a 16O-foot wooden schooner, southbound
for this city.
; The sea was smooth but the weather
was foggy. The San Pedro, looming OUT
of the mist few ship lengths away,
bore down on the Columbia at high speed,
despite frantic efforts to clear, and with
a grinding crash sank her stem fully ten
feet into the Columbia's pot bow.
Nearly all of the Columbia S passengers
and many of her crew were asleep IN
their cabins and hunks when the crash
came AS the San Pedro bacEed away
. the sea poured in through the ragged
. hole in the Columbia's bow ab,ve ana
below her water line, and in five minutes
. the vessel sank to the bottom, tie deep
!. waters of Shelter Cove covering evea the
. tips of her masts.
Shelter Cove is LIS miles from San Franz
: cisco.
: The story of that five minutes is yet to
! be told, and until it is told by some sur
, vivor the facts of the tragedy can be DuI
guessed at.
; According to J. S. Flynn, passenger on
the Roanoke, Capt. p. A. Doran of the
Columbia succeeded in launching four me
boats and two RATS before the Columbia
sank FLYNN, in an interview, is quoted as
saying that lightweight passengers-all
men-got away in this manner ana were
saved; that Capt. Doran acted with great
i GOODNESS in the face of death and Went
/ down with his ship. Flynn is further
quoted as saying that not one of the hum
dred odd women passengers were saved.
shortly after the collision the steamers
Roanoke and George w. Elder and the
steam schooner Daisy Mitchell. all south
bound, came on the scene and stood by.
"The Elder took the San Pedro in tow,
and the latest report announces their ar
rival in Eureka. The stem of the San
Pedro was smashed to splinters, one of
her nlasts was snapped off at the dck, she
was settling and had heavy list when
taken in tow. Capt. Hansen remained on
board.
Picking Up Rats
"The Daisy Mitchell offered assistance TO
the Elder, but this was declined. She
picked up a lifeboat and raft of the
Columbia's and brought them to this city
Near the scene of the wreck the
Roanoke picked up life raft and found
underneath it the dead body of a passen-
ger, supposed to be Edward Butler OF
Portsmouth, N. H.
I'm allowing my mind to gather in the
details of that terrible wreck my heart
goes out to the relatives and friends OF
| Capt p A. Doran of the Columbia and
his conscientious and competent seameu.
| A hero in the face of terrible disaster, he
went down to his grave with his ship
after he had performed one of the most
heroic feats that has ever come to my
| notice.
| Cant Doran, in the short space of five
minutes, which was the length of time the
Columbia remained above the water after
she struck, launched four boats and two
! RATS with eighty-eight passengers from
the doomed ship. All passengers below
| the hurricane deck. and the engineering
force at work in the hold of the vessel
were given no chance for their lives but
were drowned like rats in trap. Most OF
| the passengers were women
"They had retired early in the evening
and must have been sound asleep at the
time of the collision. From my personal
observation L did not see single woman
saved.
In Dense Fog
'It was foggy at the time. We were
proceeding, 1 think, under slow bell.
1--WE were struck at right angels about
amidships and sank almost immediately
! In backing away from the Columbia the
San Pedro allowed the passenger steamer
! to fill in the short space of five minutes
the Columbia had sunk from sight,
II recall having recognized Chief En-
gineer jackson of the Columbia standing
| in the bow of boat No. 4. which was
crowded with rescued passengers, all of
whom were men, making for Eureka.
From the steamer George w. Elder,
which arrived six hours after the wreck
yesterday morning, man signalled fran
tically to us, and through a megaphone
announced that he was r. I. Cavanaugh.
that he lived at 1S40 Broadway and was
bank cashier. Because of the wind we
were unable to learn whether he meant
Broadway in San Francisco or Oakland.
| He was saved, however, and asked to be
reported among the rescued,
Cant lesser of the Elder Immediately
took the San Pedro in tow and / think
rescued the crew. I distinctly remember
having seen two dead bodies on the deck
of the George W. Elder.
''The San Pedro must have been going