Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1919-12-26
ChansIor on Rocks Off Oregon
Coast.
SHIP BREAKS IN TWO
Fog and Heavy Sea ShrOuds Disaster
But Lighthouse Keeper Dis
covers Wrecked Craft.

Bandon, Or-Hope was abandoned
here Sunday night that any of the 81
men missing since the tank steamer
j. A. Chanslor was wrecked three days
ago would be found alive. Constant
patrolling of the beach failed to result
in the finding of any more bodies.
OF the 38 men on board the Chans-
lor when she was wrecked only three,
including Captain A. A. Sawyer, reach
ed shore alive. Bodies of four others
were found on the beach. The other
81, it was universally conceded, also
were drowned.
A report of Saturday night from the
scene of the wreck that signs of ap-
parent life had been discovered on
board the unsunken portion of the
wreck was fully exploded by Captain
johnson of the coast guard crew, who
after several careful examinations
from shore declared that the only
movement was the Tapping of the
searchlight canvas.
Captain Johnson also said that a
large portion Of the shell of the for
ward part of the tanker had worked
off the rock and come ashore. He be-
lieved that the vessels machinery had
gone to the bottom with the after part
of the steamer when she first struck.
Bandon, Or.-At least 80 lives were
lost when the oil tanker ]. A. Chanslor,
bound in ballast from Portland to San
Francisco, was wrecked off Cape Blan-
co early Thursday night, according
to the report of Earl Dooley, one of
the survivors, who was rescued Fri
day night, after being washed ashore
from one of the Chanslor's lifeboats
which capsized. Another member of
the crew, whose name was not known
here, also was saved from the lifeboat.
According to Dooley, the ship struck
on reef at 6:15 o'clock Thursday
night, broke in two a few minutes
afterward, the after part of the ship
sinking, taking 80 men with it.
A score or more of the crew of so
were still unaccounted for early Sat
urday, although efforts of the coast
guard and volunteer searchers were
exerted to the limit of human en-
durance.
After the vessel broke in two, ac-
cording to Dooley's account of the
disaster, ten or a dozen of the sur
vivors succeeded in manning a life
boat, Captain A. Sawyer being among
those who occupied the small boat.
The lifeboat drifted about all Thurs
day night and all day Friday, being
unable to make landing or secure
aid. During this period the men in
the boat picked up two members of
the crew, Dooley said. One of the
men, according to Dooley, was insane
when taken from the water and died
shortly afterward. The other sailor
is reported to have been dead when
picked up by the men in the ships |
lifeboat.
A few hours after the survivors in |
the lifeboat had picked up the two men |
from the water the boat capsized when
an effort was made to effect landing
near Bandon, and the fate of the ten
or more men who were thrown into the |
sea is as yet undetermined.
Earl Dooley and the other man,
whose name was not learned, are the
only known survivors of the wrecked
lifeboat
Dooley, however, reported to his
rescuers that he believed others be-
sides himself and companion had man.
aged to make their way to shore, and
in the sailors opinion six or eight
men will be located among the sand
dunes in the region of Bandon and
found to be alive.