Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-19
TEN BODIES FOUND,
Fifteen MISSING
Pacific Coast Steamer Is
Wrecked on Uncharted
Rock in Gambler Bay.
SURVIVORS MAKE ESCAPE
IN THEIR NIGHTCLOTHES
Twenty-Five Passengers and Seven
Members of Crew Known to
Have Perished.


who were on the Pacific Coast Steamship
Company's iron steamship State of Cali
fornia, when she struck rock and sank
in Gambler bay Sunday morning today
stands unchanged, with ten bodies re
covered and fifteen passengers known to
be missing and given up for dead Seven
to have been drowned.
whether more passengers than the fif-
teen whose names appeared on the list
of missing are among those whose bodies
were taken down with the wreck is un-
certain, as Purser L. ]. Coughlin saved
no records and is not sure how many
were aboard the ship when it went to its
doom.
! To the best of Coughlin's recollection.
the State of California left Seattle with
nfty-three passengers. Nineteen more
boarded the steamer at Prince Rupert
B. c., and several others took passage at
ketchikan, Alaska, and other ports or
the way north, but some disembarked al
several stops.
Among the eleven survivors treated in
the hospital is c. D. Shaw of Sydney
Australia, head cut.
Vessel Total Loss.
The State of California is a total loss
with everything aboard, including cargo
mail and express and personal effects OF
the passengers. Those who survived
escaped with only. the clothes they had
on when the steamer struck. Many
were in their nightrobes.
The loss of life was caused more by
wreckage than by drowning, according
to Capt. Thomas H. Cam, jr.. the mas
ter, who said the upper works of the
ship broke up and caught many people
1t was in this way that Miss Lillian
Ward. daughter of Edward c. Ward OF
Seattle, assistant manager of the Pa
cific Coast Steamship Company, lost her
life. "A mast falling as the upper
works were carried away. struck her
as she stood on the deck. She was
taken off in a small boat and later put
aboard the Alaska Steamship Com
pany's steamer Jefferson, but died be-
fore that vessel arrived here Sunday
night.
No Chance to Summon Aid.
So quickly did the ship sink after she
struck the rock that Capt. Cam barely
had time to run her toward the rocky
beach of Gambler bay before she hit
the bottom. The wireless operators did
not have a chance to summon aid, but
boats from a cannery put out from
/
wrecked steamer in picking up the peo-
pie floating among the wreckage. Two
gas boats were obtained from the can
merry. and one was sent to Petersburg
for aid, while the other headed toward
Juneau, meeting the Jefferson, which
proceeded to the scene of the wreck
and picked up the survivors.
The steamship left Seattle last Wednes-
day night for Skagway and way points
The uninjured survivors, crew and pas
hnir <ulr fn 10 nY
the steamer Jefferson, and will arrive
there Thursday.
Hole in Ships Bottom.
A great hole was torn in the bottom
of the ship. The vessel. cargo, mail and
express are a total loss. The sh8 was
valued at 100000. q
The State of California, an iro1
steamship Of 2,276 gross tons, was
built at Philadelphia in 1879. and car
ried crew of seventy five men. For
many years she had carried passengers
between Puget sound and San Fran
cisco.
The wrecked vessel was commanded
by Capt. Thomas H. Cam, jr.. who had
command of the steamship Valencia or
her last trip from Seattle to San Fran
cisco, and who was transferred to an
other steamer when the Valencia
| reached that port, thus barely missing
being on that ship when she went
ashore at Cape Beal B. c., January %
1906. with loss of lit lives.
Investigation Ordered.
Investigation of the wrecking of TIL
State ofNCalifornia was ordered today b.
Acting Secretary Of Commerce Swee,
| who sent telegraphic orders to the off
cials in Juneau and Seattle of the steam
| boat inspection service, the bureau o
navigation and the coast and geodeti
l survey