The San Francisco call., 1910-08-15
BOILER BURSTS,
WRECKING ship
Steam Schooner Phoenix, After
EventfuI Career, Becomes
DereIict Off Point Arena
Continued From Page 1


ture from Point Arena on the schooner
Brooklyn.
we were 10 miles north of the Point
Arena light said he, when the
boiler exploded. The force of the ex-
plosion killed three men and fatally
injured another A fifth man was pain
fully hurt, but not fatally so. The ex-
plosion shot the stern of the vessel
under the water and raised the bow
out. The sea was very rough at the
time. and it was with difficulty that
the injured and members of the crew
were carried off by the Point Arena
life saving station crew. I stayed on
the vessel until 3 o'clock this morn
ing, when 1 and others of the crew went
ashore"
DIE ON SHORE
Houston and Rasmussen died. at Point
Arena yesterday morning. They were
attended by DR.. A. b. Pitts of Point
Arena. Captain Halverson and the 13
survivors of the crew left Point Arena
yesterday on the steam schooner
Brooklyn, bound for San Francisco. Be-
sides Larson, who was only slightly
hurt, the only others aboard to receive
injuries were Eric Olsen and Ole Mich
elsen, both of whom sustained lacera-
tions and contusions about the legs and
arms.
Two months ago the boilers of the
Phoenix were inspected by the local
federal inspectors and ordered over
hauled. The vessel. according to Henry
Templeman, was taken to the Union
iron works and reinforcement of one
inch iron was welded over the head of
the boiler.
After those repairs were made"
said Templeman, the boiler was tested
three or four times and stood the
strain.
BOAT MAKES FAST TIME
Judging from the position of the
boat L fear that it was making too fast
time down the coast when the expIo-
sion occurred. 1t is not much better
than nine knot boat, though with
good wind behind it it could make two
knots more an hour. 1t left Needle rock.
II miles north of Point Arena, at 2:3O
O'Clock Saturday afternoon, according
to the information we have received.
and 1T had to make more than 10 knots
an hour to be down as far as it was
below Point Arena, at the time the ac-
cident occurred. Our instructions to
our officers have always been to pro-
ceed with caution
The steam schooner Phoenix has had
an eyentful career since 1898. when 1t
was first constructed by John S. Kimble
1t was sold to the Dollar steamship
company and sailed under the name
Aloha. In 1902, during the water front
strike, it was partly burned at Sausa-
Ito. Later Templeman and his asso-
ciates bought the vessel and remod-
eled 1T, giving it appropriately the name
OF Phoenix. 1t was valued by Temple
man at 100000 and was insured for
about 25 or 80 per cent of its value
1t was of 270 tons gross. tonnage and
| leo net tonnage
SERIES or NISFORTUNES
A series of misfortunes overlook
former Chief Engineer Hansen when
the vessel was at Hardy creek, off the
Mendocino coast steam pipe burst
and Hansen was seriously burned
While he was being taken ashore in a,
small boat the boat overturned in the
surf and Hansen was nearly drowned
He was taken from the water uncon-
scious. When the injured engineer
reached shore he was placed in an au-
tomobile to be taken to hospital at
Westport, and while the car was hur-
rying along the high mountain roads
it ran over the embankment and Han
sen and the driver We're thrown $50
feet. In this third accident Hansen
had three ribs and his right shoulder
broken.
The Phoenix was one of fleet of
three vessels operated by the Temple
man interests. The other vessels are
the Sea Foam and the Brooklyn. 1t
left here with a cargo of merchandise
and steamed to Shelter cove and Eagle
rock, where it loaded merchandise and
tanbark for San Francisco. 1t carried
| a crew of 19 men.
The reinforcement on the boiler of
the Phoenix was done by the electric
welding process, method viewed by
some shipmen with suspicion.
Resident of Oakland
OAKLAND, Aug. 14.-Thomas Hous-
ton, the dead chief engineer of the
steam schooner Phoenix, lived with hrs
wife and daughter at 902 Sixty-first
street, Oakland. He was SO years old
and native of Scotland.
Houston came to California in the
early days as a miner, and later be-
came an engineer. He had been res
ident of Oakland for more than %
years, most of which time was spent
as marine engineer.
He is survived by his wife, Sarah
Houston, to whom he was married 25
years ago, and a daughter Emily