The San Francisco call., 1908-10-03
TWO TUG CAPTAINS
BLAMED FOR WRECK
Star of Bengal's Skipper Holds
TowbOats Responsible for
Loss of Lives

!
! Responsibility for the death of the
| Ill persons. who lost their lives in the
wreck of the bark Star of Bengal on
/ Coronation island on September 20 was
/ the sensational charge made yesterday
| by Captain Nicholas Wagner of the
lost vessel against Captain George f.
Farrar and Captain P. Hamilton, mas
ters of the steamers which were tow
| ing the bark up to a few hours be-
| fore she went on the rocks. At the
| hearing, which took place before the
inspectors of hulls and boilers, Wag-
ner's charge was supported by the tes-
timony of First Mate Victor Johansen
and five members of the crew of the
| Star of Bengal
Captain Wagner and Mate Johansen
were cited to appear before Inspectors
John X. Bulger and o. f. Bolles yes
terday morning to explain the causes
! of the disastrous wreck of the vessel
of which they were in command. Both
! of the officers and five of the crew
| gave their testimony and the hearing
was adjourned until 10 o'clock this
morning, when the testimony of the
remaining members of the crew will
! be heard
Captain Wagner was the first called
! to the witness stand. He identified the
report which he had made of the wreck
| of the bark and then went on to tell
his story of the facts connected with
the disaster in which only q souls
were saved out of total of 1873.
SIGNALED TOWBOATS
Wagner stated that he had been be-
| low decks, but was called by the mate
at about o'clock, when it was ap-
parent that the vessel was floating
| toward the rocks on the starboard
side He Immediately ordered all hands
on deck and commenced signaling to
! the steamers Kayak and Hattie Gage,
which were towing. Although mega
phone was used, the foghorn blown
and rockets fired, no response was re-
ceived. Attempts were made to set the
| sails, which with favorable wind
would carry the vessel clear of the
rocks. Finally about 4:10 o'clock the
| anchors were dropped to hold the YES
! sci. At about the same time the haw-
sers were cut by those on the tugs
and they stood out to sea, leaving the
bark to its fate.
In the meantime a heavy sea came
up and the wind was blowing rather
| hard, but the anchors held until shortly
after daylight, when they began to
drag and the ship gradually drifted
| toward the rocks off Helen point in
Iphigenia bay. The captain testified
that for two hours after daylight. which
came about o'clock, both of the tugs
could have stood in near enough to
have thrown a lifeline and saved all
! hands. Instead of this, he said, they
| steamed away, and about $50 ocock
the Star of Bengal struck the rocks.
AS soon as the vessel struck q boat
was put off, manned by four men who
volunteered, to go through the treach-
erous sea dotted with sharp pointed
| rocks, a distance of 400 yards to the
beach. They carried a life line and
made it fast to a tree. but before II
could be made effective all on the ship
were washed overheard and were
struggling with the heavy breakers
among thousands of casks of salmon
| OF the 1873 who were swept into the
water only % reached the beach
The survivors We're taken off Corona
tion island two days later by the
Kayak and Hattie Gage.
CAPTAINS STORY SUBSTANTIATED
In his testimony that the tugs could
have taken all hands off Of the doomed
ships in the morning Captain Wagner
was corroborated by Victor Johansen
! first mate; Harry Lewald, NJ. Carsten-
sen, ALT Olsen, Torilf Anderson and
Fred Metson, members of the crew
Each of these witnesses stated that he
was an experienced seaman, and If in
| the same position as the tugboat cap
tains would have attempted to pass q
line to the bark and take the people off
The hearing was adjourned when II
became apparent that the investigation
could not be completed last evening
until 10 o'clock this morning.
All of the witnesses yesterday testi-
fed that Wagner did everything pos
sible to save his vessel and that at all
times not only the officers land crew
but the Chinese and Japanese on board
behaved with remarkable courage
there being no excitement or confusion
| up until the last minute.
When the Wagner hearing is con-
cluded he will probably file charges in
affidavit form against Captains FarraI
| and Hamilton of the tugboats charg-
ing them with cowardice. He refused
to make any statement for publication
| last evening.
The Star of Bengal, the Kayak and
| the Hattie Gage were all owned by the
Alaska packers association. The first
named was bound for this port from
Wrangen island and had on board the
/ hands WHO had been employed in the
/ Iyoon canuarfas during fha SEASON