Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1915-04-12
AMERICAN LINER
ROCK OFF,
JAPANESE COAST
Wireless Brings Aid and I 500
Aboard the Minnesota
Are Safe.
WIFE OF GOV. HARRISON, OF
PHILIPPINES. A PASSENGER
Hole 12o Feet Long Ripped in
Vessel-SaIvage Steamers
on Way.

BY the Associated Press.
KOBE. Japan, April 1.-THE Amer
lean steamer Minnesota, plying be-
tween Japanese ports and Seattle,
struck a rock at half-past o'clock
last night off Iwajima. near the
southwestern entrance to the Inland
Sea.
In a wireless message Captain Car
lick has asked for a salvage steamer.
He says all Of the 100 passengers
and crew are safe.
The Minnesota sailed from Naga-
saki Sunday morning bound for
Kobe. Yokohama and Seattle. She
passed through the Straits Of SHIN
onoseh safely and was In the Inland
Sea when the accident occurred.
1t is believed the Minnesota can
be foated, but beyond the fact that
one of her holds was pierced by the
rock, the amount OF damage is not
known.
Wireless telegraphy was employed
by the Minnesota in calling for help.
A steamer, the name of which is
not yet known, responded promptly.
This probably Is the vessel which
took off the passengers end mail and
conveyed them 10 Shimonoseki. The
number of passengers On board the
Minnesota Is not known here definite
ly They had just finished dinner
when the crash came.
A salvage steamer with a tender
and divers has been sent from Moji
and will reach the scene of the
wreck tomorrow morning.
Mrs. Harrison Aboard.
A Japanese newspaper has re-
ceived a dispatch from Manila saying
Mrs. Francis B. Harrison, wife of
the governor general of the Philip
pine Islands, with two children was
on board the Minnesota at the time
of the accident. Mrs. Harrison was
accompanied by Captain Archibald
f. Comiskey, military aide to Gov
ernor Harrison.
Friends of the Harrisons in Japan
say Mrs. Harrison and the children
| planned TO sail on the Minnesota
from Manila to spend the spring il
i Japan. r
! A report has been received here
! that the Blue Funnel Line steamer
| Canfa, from Seattle, rescued the
George W. Guthrie, the American
minister to Japan, has cabled all the
available details of the accident TO
Governor Harrison at Manila in the
belief that Mrs. Harrison was ON
board the Minnesota.
From the details, which came to
hand later by telegraph. it would
appear that the Minnesota mistooi1
her course during a storm. The
thick weather prevented her from
| sighting the lighthouse. The point
where she went ashore is the most
dangerous in the inland sea. 1t is
south of Yamaguchi Prefecture.
Hole in Ship 1e0 Feet Long.
! The impact ripped a hole 120 feet
| long in the forward part of the
steamer. The captain at once ordered
] the closing of the watertight COM
/ partments to stem the inflow. AT
| the same time wireless signals for
help were sent out. The Japanese
cruiser Yakumo heard the calls and
| speeded TO the rescue. She arrived
on the scene and found the entire
crew Of the Minnesota working des-
perately at the pumps.
/ According to newspaper dispatch
published here there were 1S5 first
| class passengers, mostly Americans,
on board the Minnesota, together
with twenty-five second and forty
/ four third-class passengers. The
crew of the steamer numbered 277
men. Twenty-nine Of the first-elass
| passengers were bound for Japan. II
is believed that the steamer which
| took off the passengers will bring
them into Kobe.
The Minnesota took a japanese
pilot on board at Nagasaki.
| The Minnesota, on her outward trip
| left Seattle February s for Yoko-
hama, where she arrived February
90. She was at Nagasaki March 3,
Hong Kong March IL, and she sailed
from Manila on her return trip
April 4.
! The Minnesota has run aground in
Japanese waters on two other occa-
sions, but was refoated without
serious damage.