The San Francisco call., 1910-11-19
FOUR men ARE
DROWNED
RATS IN TRAP
Hulk of Tramp Steamer Sends
Little Craft to Bottom ALI
most Without Sound
Captain PIunges Into Water and
Is Rescued After Swim in
Cold Waters

for some time prior to the accident he
was running ahead at slow speed.
Tug Turns Over
When struck the tug turned delib-
erately over on the port side and sank
almost Immediately. While the Sea
Prince is about 20 feet over all the
Greystoke Castle is 3s5 feet long and
weighs 3.436 tons. So high is the bow
fthe big tramp that Captain Smith
could not witness the collision and did
not know what had happened until he
saw the Sea Prince sinking. The river
boat Napa city stood by and sent two
Ifeboats out. picking up Captain Lang
rem after he had been in the water al
most half an hour.
r cannot account for the accident -
said Captain Smith last night ~The
Sea Prince has tOwed us out into the
stream and then cast off and was run
ming just ahead Of me down the bay.
I was on the bridge, and when I no
ticed her last she was two points off
the port bow. Either the steering gear
failed to operate or the signal must
have been misunderstood. for ii seemed
10 me that the tug passed directly un-
der nay bow. For a second ] lost sight
of her. The next instant 1 saw the
small boat on it's side in the bay off
my StarbOard bow. It seemed TO indi-
cate to me that Captain Langren had
either been misunderstood or that he
had made an attempt to cross in front
OF us and was carried into the bow
by the tide. reversed the engines and
put two boats out, but it was useless.
The crew were shut in like so many
rats and went down in the deck house.
This is my first accident on the
seas and I greatly regret the terrible
fate OF the men,
STORIES DIFFER
Captain Langren declares that in
stead of being hit amidships his boat
was hit astern- I was plotting the
Greystoke Castle down the bay and was
some yards ahead OF her when / real
lied that she had rammed us said he.
The next thing I knew I was fighting
10 get clear Of the pilot house and TO
save my life. I think the tramp
stea mer hit the rear Of the tug.
made no effort to cross the bow. It
would not have been difficult for the
steamer TO have run US down If she
had increased her headway. The crew
was eating at the time, and all were
caught in the messroOm.
INVESTIGATION PROBABLE
It is probable the accident viii be
inVestiga by The harbor authorities.
The loss Of the Sea Prince amounts to
about $1,000 TO the Shipowners' and
Merchants tugboat company. The
Greystoke Castle is a Liverpool boat
owned by the J. Chambers company OF
that place. She was under charter
with Balfour. Guthrie & Co. and was
outward bound for London. Liverpool
and Antwerp. She was undamaged.
August Haas. the cook aboard the
sea Prince was an old employe Of the
Merchants tuebOat company but had
been idle for almost a year until three
months ago. when he took charge of
the galley aboard the III fated tug. He
lived with his wife and three small
children, two boys and a girl, at 1852
Bush street He was 45 years old and
a native of Germany.
PLANNED TRIP HOME
Henry Schmidt. the fireman, was
about 81 years old, has a wife and 2
year Old son in Bavaria. Germany, TO
whom he sent nearly all his wa ges
every month. He lived on board the
tugboat About week ago he bought
a ticket for Germany and had given
notice that he would leave San Fran
cisco December J. He planned to have
Christmas dinner with his wife and
child in Germany, snd then bring them
to this country, where he had been
working for 10 years to accumulate
enough money TO buy a little home. He
always carried a picture Of his wife
and child in his inside coat pocket
The deckhand, Langren, was known
only IS Ed" and lived somewhere in
the Mission with his mother in law.
lie had been married only eight months