Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1921-08-12
.48 LIVES LOST
IN SHIP WRECK
Steamer Alaska Goes Down 80
Minutes After Crashing Into
Rocks of Blunt's Reef.
CAPTAIN Dies AT POST
1855 Survivors Brought to Port BY
Rescue Ship Anyox-Crew and
Passengers Display Great
HeroIsm az Vessel Sinks.

eureka, CallI.-FOTty-eISQt persons,
thirty.six passengers and twelve of
the crew were lost Saturday night
when the steamer Alaska Of the San
Francisco & Portland Steamship COM
pany, southbound from Portland, Ore,
to San Francisco, sank thirty minutes
after crashing into the rocks Of
Blunt's Reef, forty miles south Of this
city.
The survivors, numbering 166 per-
sons, were brought here by the rescue
ship Anyox, the first vessel to reach
the scene of the wreck in response to
the Alaska's radio signals. The coast
guard tug Ranger, dispatched from
Eureka, returned to port with the
bodies of twelve men. Eight were
members of the crew and four were
passengers.
Captain Harry HOBBY, master Of the
Alaska, is still unaccounted for and
is believed to have gone down with
the ship.
OF the survivors landed by the An.
injured and received medical treat
me0t at QOSplLalS.
The Alaska struck the reef bow-on
in a dense fog, according to the sur
| vivofs, and Immediately began to list.
! The work of launching the lifeboats
was accomplished without delay or
disorder.
One Boat Capsizes.
Three of the boats successfully rode
the waves, but the fourth boat cap
| sized and precipitated it's occupants
into the sea. The greatest loss of life,
the survivors said, resulted from this
mishap. A few who wore life belts
succeeded in keeping .afloat until the
boats of the Anyox picked them up.
Captain HOBBY, when the last Of
the lifeboats had been sent over the
side of the rapidly filling Alaska, went
to the stern of his vessel and he was
seen there when it started it's plunge
to the bottom.
George Glenn, who, with another
passenger and the captain, were the
last men on the ship, came to the
| surface, a short time afterward, and
finally found an empty lifeboat. 9th
ers were struggling in the water The
steamer Anyox, towing barge to
| Vancouver, was twelve miles distant
when the first IS. O. S." signals of the
| Alaska flashed out.
Aid Arrives In Hour.
Within an hour the Anyox arrived
at the wreck and with order that won
high praise from the survivors, the
, crew of the Anyox speedily picked up
! those who were drifting in life pre-
| servers or in life boats. Through the
| night other ships joined in the rescue
! work.
It was short time-a scant thirty
minutes-between the striking on the
! rock and the sinking Of the vessel.
But without signs of disorder, the pas
sengers were helped into the lifebOats
under calm direction of officers and
crew and they were lowered into tho
water.
Women and Children First.
Captain Hobey's heroic direction Of
the life saving was of such thrilling
example that several men passengers
stayed by him and the women and
children were taken first into the
] boats.
The vessel slowly listed and then,
righting itself, suddenly plunged.
An overturned lne-boat shot many
passengers into the water. There was
! & half-hour of bleak darkness with the
HE boats, drifting into the blanket Of
fog before the siren of the rescue
steamer Anyox was heard.
Captain snoddy Of the Anyox and
his crew, defled the treacheries~ of the
reef In carrying on the rescue work,
but it was with difficulty that the
wreck victims in ifeboats ard many
in Nfe.preservers or clinging or drift
inR Wreckage were found.