The Oskaloosa herald., 1914-11-26
Is Die AS SHIP
GOES TO PIECES
Forty-FNe Persons Saved From
Wrecked Vessel.
BATTLE FOR LIVES IN SURF
Some Fight Their Way Through Heavy
Sea to San Francisco Shore When
Boat is smashed-Life-Savers
PowerIess,

San Francisco, Cal, Nov. 25.-Fif
teen dead; seven missing and unac
counted for; 10 survivors in a pitt
able condition due to the terrible sui
fering and exposure In rough sea
and a ship reduced to spllnters, tell'
the comprehensive story Of the fate
of the coasting steam schooner Han
alei. 81. ~ -
After pounding on the reef Is hours
the schooner went to pieces just be
fore dawn. High tide had submerged
the wreck and the 65 persons on board
had resolved despairingly to take their
chances in the sea. ~.
Life Savers Line Beach.
we are going ashore as best we
can" reported the wireless operator
then waist deep in water. Nothing
further was heard from him.
Life savers lined the beach waiting
for boats or bodies, and continued
their efforts to shoot line aboard the
schooner from the bluffs.
Make another shot. Hurry! Hurry!"
came final call from the wreck
The life savers again toiled up the
bluff and fred again. Cries were heard
from the schooner indicating that the
line had landed on the wreck Then
the line snapped and hope was aban.
doned.
Few Swim Ashore.
A few hours more would have saved
every soul aboard An hour would
have saved many.
Soon after the line broke the
schooner went to pieces. Three pas
sengers and two seamen swan ashore
There seemed small hope for any
others.
The ships bow, which hung over
the reef, slid into inside water and
drifted to within 100 yards of the
beach. The FIVE who got ashore swan
from the wreckage. They are Earl
Carlson, James o'Donnell and David
Neville, passengers, and Jens Steen
and Fred Sievers, sailors.
BY heroic efforts the life savers sue
ceeded in pulling out IS others who
had been cast into the waters.
Lines Fall Short. :..
Efforts to take OFF the HanalePs pas.
sengers and crew from shore began
late yesterday, after a dozen vessels
had tried to reach her and were pre-
vented by fog and surf.
The Fort Point life saving crew
from the beach fired lines, which fell
short, until In desperation they double
charged their mortar and it burst. An
effort to launch boat from the Hama
lei failed and a passenger was
drowned
A sailor tried to swim ashore with
a line, and men on the beach could see
his arm swing above the waves, but
at the line of breakers he sank and his
body drifted out to sea.
A passenger, Elwood Schwerin Of
Berkeley, took a line and got ashore,
but the line united itself as he swan
LIfeboat oyerturns.
A life-saving crew which went out
toward the wreck was upset. The cap.
tain reached shore, and the remaining
five men got aboard the Hanalei. Two
later were washed off and drowned,
and there seemed not a spark of hope
Tor any rescue.
AT two o'clock in the morning the
Golden Gate life-saving crew. with a
larger mortar. appeared. Through the
enterprise of local newspaper 1t had
been ferried across San Francisco bay,
loaded on a motor truck and sent ten
miles over mountain roads in the
night. II began to shoot lines toward
the wreck as the tide rose. The sixth
shot was successful. but 1t was too
late.