Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1895 — SANK BY THE SCORE. [ARTICLE]

SANK BY THE SCORE.

COLIMA VICTIMS OVERTAKEN BY DEATH WHILE ASLEEP. , Latest Reports Swell tile List of Loss to 16 .—The Vessel’s Boilers Burst Fifty Miles Off the Mexican Coast-* Nineteen Were Saved. Had 182 Persona on Board. Only meager and unsatisfactory advices have been received regarding the founder ing of the Pacific Mail steamer Coiima at Manzanillo, Mexicq. The officials of the Pacific Mail in San Francisco persisted in the statement that they had received no information of the wreck of the steamer, and they tried to discredit entirely the statements of the disaster. Several dispatches have been received by the Merchants’ Exchange and by private shipping firms ail confirming the tale of the ocean tragedy, and varying only in the minuteness of the information conveyed. Capt. Pitts of the steamer San Juan telegraphed that he picked up a boat containing nineteen persons, fourteen of whom were passengers and five members of the crew of the Colima. The rescued boatload was taken to Manzanillo and the steamer San Juan started out again in search of other boats from the Colima, tho presumption being that the balance of passengers and crew was afloat in other boats. The Colima's Boiler Burst. The latest intelligence regarding the disaster received was in cipher message to a San Francisco shipping firm containing the statement of Third Officer Hansen, who was in charge of the boat picked up. Hansen stated that about 11:15 at night as the Colima wns about fifty miles from Manzanillo, and between that port and Punta St. Almo, an accident occurred to her machinery. Hansen had not time to investigate the trouble, but believed a boiler had burst. The Colima was put about, but began to sink rapidly. A scene of wild confusion followed. One boat was lowered and most of the others swung out, but so far as Hansen knows the boat he commanded was tho only one which got clear of the sinking ship. It quickly foundered, and to avoid the suction Hansen's boat quickly pulled clear, and the night being dark, it was impossible to tell whether the other boats got away from the ship or not. If these boats only got clear away tho calmness of the sea aqd the low, sandy beaeli twenty miles distant would enable them to make a safe landing in a few hours. As the passengers were all asleep Hansen fears very few escaped. One hundred and sixty passengers and crew are still unaccounted for. The Colima was a single-screw propeller with iron hull. She was built in 1873 at Chester. Pn., by John Roach & Sons. Her tonnage was 2,909.64 gross, 2,143,85 net, her horsepower 1,100 and her speed eleven and one-half knots. This was her one hundred and twenty-ninth voyage to Panama. She carried about 2,000 tons of cargo and was valued at $103,000.