MAIL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, 5 February 1902, Page 3

MAIL NEWS.

(l’or It.M.S. Ventura, at Auckland.) San Francisco, Jan. 16. A despatch from Victoria, 8.0., dated January 15th, says that there is extreme uneasiness regarding the sloop of war Condor, which left here on December 2nd for Honolulu, and according to advices from the latter port, has not yet arrived at her destination. She left here in company with a warship, and on the following night during a terrible gale the two parted company at Capo Flattery. A letter received from the flagship states that the vessel had a terrible experience, the officers having grave doubts of living through the storm. One of the guns was wrenched from the mountings, rolling about the deck, and with the pitching of the vessel it added danger to the men. The construction of the Condor would handicap her in a heavy sea, being very high forward and aft, and very low amidships. The Condor carried about 140 men.

Early on the morning of January 2 the steamship Wallawalla, of the Pacific Coast company’s line, was sunk by the French barque Max, off Cape Mendocino. About forty of the passengers and crew of the steamer were lost, and 114, including about half the crew of the steamer, were saved. They escaped in boats and rafts, and endured most painful sufferings before being rescued. One boat which landed at Trinidad had left the steamer with thirteen persons, and bad lost all but seven. Some boats were washed about for thirty hours. A number perished from exposure. The Walla Walla left San Francisco on the morning of January Ist for Victoria and Seattle, the night being dark and cold, and somewhat squally. The evidence appears to show that the look-out officer had forsaken his post on deck, and taken refuge from the storm in the chart house. The steamer was nearly cut in two by the collision. The watertight compartments kept the steamer afloat 35 minutes. The captain of theFreuch barque Max, which was towed to San Francisco, January oth, in a battered condition, said the steamer tried to cross the bows of the Max, but failed. He could do nothing to prevent it. The barque struck the steamer amidships on the port side. For a moment they hung together, and then drifted apart. They had all they I could do to take care of themselves.