PERILS OF THE SEA.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12643, 2 November 1905, Page 7

PERILS OF THE SEA.

SAD CATASTROPHES CAUSED BY

FOGS

NOBLE SHIPS CAST AWAY

(By Mail 'Steamier at Auckland.)

(Per Press Association),

SAN FRANCISCO, October 12. The steamer .Ailameda ■, of the Oceanic Line, suffered a sorry experience at the mouth of San Francisco Bay on September 30. The vessel sailed on shedule •time for Honolulu with ia full cargo of freight and many passengers. One hallfhour later the vessel i\vas fast on the '< rocks at Font Point. The passengers * were immediately token ashore, as curiously enough tihe fog lifted ten minutes after the ship struck, showing the shore to be but 130 feet distant. Then*© was no excitement aniong the passengers, and the members Of the crew performed their tasks .as quietly iand .affectively as l if such occurrences were but affairs of routine. The extent of the damage to the vessel was >at first believed to be more serious than was afterwards demonstrated. Tho Alameda hung on the rocks a week, during which time the weather was unusually favourable. Captain Dowdell remained >on the deck of ithe ship and, with the aid of Mis officers, superintended tbe taking off of th© en-1 •tire cargo. This' work completed, with ballast and a .rem.n'amt of the Cargo carefully trimmed, the ship was towed off the rocks by two poWerful tugs and taken to her wharf. Later she went to the dry dock at Hunter's Point, where she will be repaired. It was believed during the week in which the steamer remained on the rocks she would be lost and the underwriters would suffer a large pant of tihe doss, though th© vessel was not insured for full value. It is now believed tihe repairs will cost less than, a hundred thouoand dollars, but the underwriters must bear the expense as they did that of salvage, etc. Thousands of people visited points from which tihe Alameda could be viewed during her imiprisioimnent, -and the soldiers at Fort Point cheered heartily when the vessel slid off tlie rocks and started on (her way to port. The vessel was in charge of a pilot when the accident occurred. Oaplbain A. F. Pillsbury, representing the local underwriters, and Captain Metcalf, representing the British underwriters, were in dharge of the salving, but the credit of saving the ship goes to Captain Piilsbury, who worked both day and night during the •week the shjp was fast. The disaster to the Alameda was the first in a series of accidents on tihe coast. The steamer Santa Barbara went out at the Golden Gate in the fog which caught tihe Alameda:, only to crash on a reef close in shore o£ 'Mendiicino County. Sixteen passengers (five being women) were ■landed within half an hour, though the surf was heavy. More serious was the disaster to the steamer St. Paul, of the Alaska Commercial Company. The vessel left San Francisco for Portland on Wednesday morning, October 4, experiencing little fog till she reached Point Corda, early on Friday morning, October 4. Tho first warning the officer on deck" received was the roaring of the surf on the shore. The course was immediately changed and the ship struck a moment later. The fog was thick and the shore could not be seen. There we're eightyseven, passengers, and these were not alarmed when the vessel struck. This was at 2.30 a.m. Seas were breaking over the ship, and neither the cap tan nor the other officers believed the vessel would remain afloat two hours. It was then impossible to launch boats, but an hour 'later a heavy .rain beat down the waves, so it was determined to launch the boats. This was done, and three boat loads of passengers, including women and children, were tossed about •by fearful seas twelve hours before being picked up by tugs. The courage of the crew is "warmly praised by the survivors, but Miss Florence Macaulay, a little maid of twelve, whose home is in London, England, wias the heroine of that wild night. The captain had ordered the first lifeboat to be manned, and though the crew stepped out without flinching the passengers -told off for this boat drew back, believing no boat could live a moment in that sea. Women' soibbed and men were silent till Miss Florence, quiet and self-possessed, said, " Come, mamma, we must be brave and it will 'be all right." These two then 'took their places in the boat, and the others followed. The little girl spoke words af cheer to^ the men in the boat, which was quickly lowered away to meet the (hungry waves. A great sea caught the boat. Land waifcchert? groaned; * the iboat went into the trough of tjhe, sea and shipped so much water that it was not .believed she could float, but the men managed to pull away and then to bale out the water. Scon after two other boats were launched in the same fear, ibut the remnant of the passengers remained >on the ship. In the morning help came from the shore, but the passenger in (the boats* floated about until three lin tihe afternoon, when they peached the lightship, whence they were ' later taken off by the steamer Pomona. Tlie iSt. Paul was a fine steamer, which has made many successful trips to Nome and otheir Alaskan ports since the disioovery of gold in the Northland. She carried a, cargo of more than a thousand tons of freight, and this has been abandoned with the Ship, which •cannot 'be saved, and is expected to go to piieoes in the next storm.