Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1907-08-01
LOST AT SEA.
An Appalling Marine Disaster
North of San Francisco.
ONE HUNDRED LOST.

| N Large passenger steamer Ramme0
by n Large Lumber VesseI-Peo-
pie on Both Vessels Were Asleep
When the Crash Came-Many Wo-
men Perish, But Many of the Men
Escape.
| says in one of the worst marine dis
| asters In the history of California be-
| tween one hundred and fifty lives
were lost as far as has been learned
by midnight collision between the
steamer Columbia and the steam
lumber schooner San Pedro in Shell
ter Cove, twelve miles south of the
| Observation-Disclosures County line, be-
| tween II and / o'clock Monday The
| few details known here brought by
| the steamer Roanoke and the steam
schooner Daisy Mitchell, which ar
| rived in San Francisco Monday fore
noon.
The Columbia, a 3O0-foot steel yes
sci of the San Francisco and Portland
Steamship company, while bound
u,
| Ore, with 1S9 passengers and crew
of sixty, collided with and was ram
med by the San Pedro, a 170-foot
wooden steamer, south-bound, for
San Francisco. The sea was smooth,
but the weather was foggy. The
San Pedro looming out of mist a
few lengths away, bore down on
the Columbia at high-speed, despite
frantic efforts to clear. With a grind
ing crash, the San Pedro sank her
stem fully ten feet into the Colum-
bias port bow.
Nearly all of the Columbia's pas
sengers and many of her crew were
asleep in their cabins and hunks
when the crash came. AS the San
Pedro backed away the sea poured
in through the ragged hole in the
Columbia's S bow above and below the
water line, and in five minutes the
Columbia sank to the bottom. the
deep waters of the shelter Cove COW
ering over the tops of the Columbia's s
masts. The story of that five minu-
tes is yet to be told and as IL is told
by some survivors the facts of the
tragedy can be but guessed at.
According to j. S. Flynn, a pas
senger On the Roanoke, Capt. Doran,
of the Columbia, succeeded in launch
ing four life boats and two RATS be-
| fore the Columbia sank. Flynn is
quoted as saying that eighty-eight
passengers. all men, got away in that
manner, and were saved; that Capt.
Doran acted with great GOODNESS in
the face of death and went down with
his ship. Flynn is further quoted as
saying that none of the hundred odd
women passengers were caved.
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 reports announce their arrival
| in Eureka. The stem of the San
| Pedro was smashed to splinters, one
| of her masts was snapped on at the
deck and she was settling and had
a heavy list when taken in tow. Capt.
Hansen remained on board.
| The Daisy Mitchell offered assist
ance to the Elder, but this was de-
clined. She picked up life boat
hnd a raft of the Columbia and
brought them to San Francisco.
Near the scene of the wreck the
| Roanoke picked up a life raft and
found underneath 1t the dead body
of a passenger, supposed to be Ed
ward Butler, of Portsmouth. N. II.
The officers of the Mercantile Ex-
change in San Francisco and OF the
various newspapers have been be-
seiged since early morning by reia-
tives and friends of the Columbia
passengers, but the insistent and
fearful requests for information OF
the victims and the rescued remain
unsatisfied Beyond the reported
facts that Butler was drowned and
that Capt. Doran went down with his
ship no details of casualties have
been received.
Assistant President Frye, of the
steamship company. said that the Col
umbia lies in deep water and hfteen
miles off shore, and that for the pre-
sent at least no attempt will be mace
to raise her.
Capt Doran was regarded by the
officers of the San Franciso and FORT.
land Steamship company as one OF
the ablest seamen who ever operated
n vessel on the coast. His career mac
been free from accident, and this II
the first disaster that has befaileI
any vessel over which he held com
mand.
DIED OF BROKEN HEART.