| Show collisi 10 AT SEA sim LIVES LOST steamer columbia heavily laden ith tourists run down by schooner D occurred at M when the passengers and crew were asleep the vessel S aking eight minutes after be ing struck eureka cal sixty lives were lost in a collision between the js steamer teamer columbia and the steam launch schoon er san pedro in shelter cove twelve miles southwest of the mendocino noi humboldt county line between betat een 12 and 1 0 clock sunday morning eight minutes from ane time the san pedro struck the columbia the later had filled full of water and sunk the night saloon watchman notified all the passengers to go to the up per deck without clothing they th ey climbed out of their berths and rush ed out it was only two or three minutes before the deck was awash six boats and three life rafts nt ere cut loose and as many passengers as pos sible were crowded into them there was scarcely any evidence of a pan lc ic the women acting with heroism the crew of the san pedro immediately lowered a boat and picked up a large number of survivors while the boats from the columbia lay to by the san pedro when the columbia sank she car ried down with her about seventy four passengers this estimate is not ac curate and the number cannot be definitely determined until full lars jars are rec ivert ived from khleber cove where four boats are lre aid qaid to have been landed captain doran and first officer whitney wie on deck when the columbia sank the captain captains s last words being god bless you according to purser J E byrnes of the columbia there were gers aboard first 22 in the steer age and 60 crew it Is known that passengers have been saved and 37 of the crew the exact number at shelter cove Is yet to be determined just as the co cc lumbia was sinking her boilers ex plodded this counteracted the ruction and saved many lives husbands and wives were separated and fathers and mothers and children become lost to each other in the excitement when the boa s collided 0 swanson a sailor of the san pe dro was at the ahel 1 when the fatal collision occurred in his report to sailors Sal lors agent john erickson the blame is laid upon the shoulders of the co lumbia a officers other members of the crew of the san pedro substantiate the story of swanson he says that the order was given to him when the lookout sighted the columbia to put the wheel hard aport sport three points aport sport carried the san pedro seaward apparently and out of the way of the approaching vessel whose name dt at that time was not kno short tools from the whistles of both vessels warned the skippers the columbia was on the coast side the san pedro on the sea side apparently both ies les sels were proceeding at full speed if all had gone well the san pedro would have clear the columbia but it Is evident that an order put the wheel hard astar bord was given or the columbia this sent her directly across the bow of the steam schooner whether or not the speed of either vessel was slaked Is immaterial lor fo r the crash ot of the utie assels wab was terrific the columbia an iron ves el bore the brunt of the impact and her iron plates cracked and a gash seen semen feet across the forward hatch allowed tie water free ingress at a great velocity |
