Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1907 — 100 SINK WITH SHIP. [ARTICLE]

100 SINK WITH SHIP.

TWO STEAMERS COLLIDE OFF - CALIFORNIA COAST. r*—- 7~: ", ~ -~ v: ' -* Large Veaael Bound (or Portland, Oregon, with More than 200 Per■ona on Board, Sent te the Bottom br Lumber Carrier. ' Probably one hundred persona were drowned and scores of others were rescued after clinging for hours to ing wreckage as the result of a terrible sea collision, word of which was received In San Francisco Monday morning. The ships were the passenger steamer Columbia, north bound from San Francisco to. Portland, and the small lumber steamer San Pedro southward bound and heavily laden. The disaster occurred early Sunday morning off Shelter Cove, Mendocino County, and from the meager reports which have oome It is certain that more than half the Columbia’s 210 passengers and crew went down with the ship in the fog and darkness. Carried About 150 Paaaenffera. The Columbia left San Francisco on Saturday evening, carrying IS9 passengers and a crew of about thirty under the command of Captain P A. Doran. Soon after dark a heavy fog came on ind the .steamer was feeling her way along the coast The sea was calm and the majority of the passengers were in their berths when Shelter Cove was passed. Captain Doran was on the bridge when a few minutes later and just after midnight the black bulk of the San Pedro loomed up almost dead ahead. The Columbia at once reversed Its engines and Captain Doran put the helm hard aport, but it was too late to prevent collision. Wth scarcely diminished speed the San Pedro, laden with lumber, crashed Into the port bow of the passenger •hip with a force that cut the Iron stSamer to the water line. Many of the passengers must have been stunned or killed In their berths, for of the blow was terrific and both ships reeled apart as if they bad struck solid rock.

Lifeboats Had Been Shattered. Half clad and frenzied by fear, men and women rushed from the staterooms to the deck of the Columbia, which was settling rapidly by the bows. An efTort was made to launch the lifeboats, Captain Doran standing calmly on the shattered bridge of his boat and shouting his orders through a megaphone. Several of the boats bad been Shattered In the collision, and so quickly did the Columbia go down that there was no time to launch the others. Survivors say that all the officers of the Columbia did their duty bravely and tried to save the women children, but that they were powerless. Many Leap Into Ocean. Feeling the steamer sinking beneath their feet, many of the men among the Columbia’s passengers and crew leaped Into the sea and swam to the San Pedro, which could be made out drifting away tbrough the fog. They alone, It seems, were saved. One lifeboat was launched, but It was swamped the moment It reached the water by the rush of frenzied men and women. All who were In it are believed to have perished, drawn down by the suction of the steamer when she went down with a final rush, her decks still dotted with screaming men and women. Captain Goes Down with Ship. At the last moment the stern of the Columbia rose high above the water, and many of the unfortunates slid the length of the deck as the steamer shot beneath the waves, with Captain Doran clinging to the bridge and making no attempt to save his own life. The San Pedro, a wooden boat, was severely damaged by the collision, but was kept afloat by her cargo. Finding their steamer was safe for the time, the crew turned to the task of "rescuing the Columbia’s passengers, and about eighty who had swum tt> the sides of the freighter were drawn on board. Boats were launched, and a number of others who had. clung to wreckage were found and taken on board. Survivors among the passengers of the Columbia say that the San Pedro was not seen until she burst through the fog curtain less thau a hundred feet away and headed straight for the passenger steamer. Why the fog horns were not heard Is not made clear. Sighted by Another Veuel. The San Pedro drifted around helplessly for two hours before the fog lifted and the water-logged ship was made out by the steamer George W. Elder, which threw her a lino and towed her to Eureka. The steamer Roanoke soon came up and took ofT the passengers, many of whom were clad only In their night garments and were suffering severely from exposure. They were taken to Eureka. Many of the drowned were residents of San Francisco. Others lived at Portland, the Columbia’s destination, and other towns along the north coast The Columbia was an Iron-screw steamer of 2,272 tons register. She was built In 1880 by J. Rocta & Son, of Chester, Pa., and was owned by the Son Francisco and Portland Steamship Company. She was 308 feet long, 38 feet beam and 23 feet draught The San Pedro was a wooden screw steamer of 455 tons register, built In ,1880 at Aberdeen, Wash. She was 163 feet long, 84 feet beam and 11.2 feet draught