OCR Text |
Show II u. s.1ps" Lives Lost and Great Damage Dam-age Done Off Western Coast. Terrific Hurricane Wrecks Fleet; Lower California Town Suffers. SAN DrECiO, C'al., Sept. 26. In a terrific ter-rific hurricane that raged off the Lower California and northwest coast ot Mexico Tuesday. September 17, two L'nited Slates shipping board vessels on their maiden trips were sunk; a fleet of other craft was badly battered: the Lower California town of La Paz was partially destroyed, and the. floating equipment of tho l'nited States naval coal depot at Pkhillnque was darnaced. News of the havoc wrought by tho storm was brought here today by a long overdue fishing launch. Several residents of La Paz were re- I ported killed. Tho crews of the vessels punk were rescued by passing steamers afier being adrift three days , in open bo.it s. The l'nited States shipping hoard vps- , sols that foundered after a terrific battle with mountainous seas were the steel steamer Blackford, north-bound from an Atlantic port with a cargo of 3000 tons of coal, and the wooden steamer Coos Bay, bound south in ballast. Mate Tells Story. William A. Brown, first mate of the Ill-fated Blackford, arrived here as a passenger pas-senger on the launch from Magdalena bav. Brown related a graphic story on the loss of the Blackford. He said that the steamer foundered at a point 2.0 miles south of Magtlalena bay. Huge seas smashed the ship's rudder into driftwood. drift-wood. Drifting helplessly at the mercy of tiie waves, with two blades of the propeller and the rudder stock twisted Into a useless mass of bronze and steel, It was seen that the craft could not much longer remain afloat. The crew of forty-six forty-six men were then ordered into the lifeboats. life-boats. On September 0. three days after the Blackford foundered, the lifeboats were sighted and picked up by an oil tanker. The tanker, with the crew of the Blackford Black-ford aboard, remained In the south, short of fuel and provisions. No details of the loss of the Coos Bay have been received here, with the exception excep-tion that the wooden craft foundered about fifty miles from where the Blackford Black-ford went down. The crew were landed at a Mexican port. Damage Is Heavy. The damage to the seaport of La Paz. according to Brown, will be heavy. Brick and wooden buildings, he said, were razed bv the gale. The wharf at La Paz is re- ported to have been almost totally de- stroyed. La Paz has a population of some 3000 and is a shipping point for practically all the agricultural and mining min-ing products of the southern part of Lower Low-er California. Much of the damage sustained at the naval coaling station at Pichihmiue. which lies almost directly across the L-cIl" of t 'ai ifurnia from La Paz. was aused by the sinking of coal barges and tenm launches. The Peruvian bark Quatre Hermanas had a miraculous escape from meeting the fate of the Blackford and the Coos Hay. The Hermanas time and again was thrown on her beam ends, her cargo of ties and timber having been washed overboard. over-board. Tiie craft iinaily reached Magda-lena Magda-lena bay. A steamer, towing two oil barges, lost its propeller (luring the height of the hurricane and was forced to abandon the tow. . No word has been received as to the fate of the barges. The steamer reached a Mexican port. The governor of I .a Paz telegraphed to Mexico" City asking for assistance for the poorer residents. |