Evening star., 1924-06-08
DISASTER LOG TELLS
HARSH SEA STORY
104 Accidents During Five Months
of This Year Recorded in
San Francisco.
BY Consolidated Press.

BY Consolidated Press
SAN FRANCISCO. June MANY
Of the perfls of the sea faced by hardy
mariners a century ago still beset
the seafaring men of today, despite
the improvements of modern ship
construction and the many inventions
designed to safeguard human life
from the dangers of storm and ship
wreck Man has done much. but he
still has a long way to go in his
conquest of the elements
Prima facie evidence that staunch
vessels still impale themselves upon
Jagged reefs; that even great ocean
liners sometimes are compelled to
send out distress signals when the
sea turns loose its furies, is contained
in the disaster 1og"-that great book
with ancient binding and age-yellow-
ed leaves in the picturesque Marine
Exchange here
During the first five months of
1924, a total of 104 maritime acci-
dents, great and small, have been en-
tered in the disaster log. They run
the gamut of almost every variety
OF sea disaster, from vessels that
foundered at sea to vessels that ran
nre, to the nearest port. The same
entries also chronicle, in curt, brief
sea style. the fact that heroism, such
as one expects to find only between
among the men who go down to the
sea in ships. The ancient code that
requires a vessel to stand by, despite
It's own danger, and render every
possible aid to a sister ship in dis
treSS. still is in force.
Rescue Ship Wrecked.
One such stirring incident in which
a rescuing craft went on the rocks
herself as she dashed to the aid of
another ship was recorded NAV Is.
when the steamship Admiral NfchoI-
son piled onto a hidden reef between
Portland and Coos Bay and was lost
The schooner G. c. Lindauer, toward
which she was speeding, also went
down.
Vessels of the Shipping Board have
set an enviable record of rescue and
heroism on the Pacific. The first such
January 3. The Shipping Boards
steamer President Mckinley, which
had answered distress calls from the
japanese steamer kyosei Maru, took
off the Jap steamers crew during a
reging typhoon just before the
Cleveland. another Shipping Board
steamer. came upon the steamer
Harold Dollar wallowing helplessly
in a typhoon. with her steering gear
and her propeller broken. The
President Cleveland put line aboard
and held the helpless vessel head into
the storm until repairs could be
made. "'..-.
Stricken shp Resesed.
February I a third Shipping Board
craft, the President Jefferson, went
to the assistance of the. steamer Ed
more, ashore on a rocky island off
the coast of China, and succeeded in
pulling her Off and towing her safely
to Shanghai
feat Of her Shipping Board sisters in
March. when she rescued. the crew of
the British steamer Mary Horiock, which
went down in nidocean when her lum-
ber cargo shifted during heavy storm.
Tho Shipping Board vessels, however,
were not without perils Of their own.
On May ! the President Madison raced
into Shanghai after an S0e-mile ocean
sprint. during which her captain not
only had to contend with raging fire
below decks, but had to fight desperate
ly to prevent a panic among the pas
sengerS-
liners included:
Steamship Newport, afire 900 miles
on Los Angeles, succeeded in making
the Canal Zone in safety.
Steamship Iushin MaIu raced into
minus her bridges and leaking badly
from storm batterfng.
Unlike 1923, when 23S major sea &C.
cddentS were recorded with a loss OF
thtrty-seven lives, the first five months
OF 1924 passed without a single casually.