Show CAPTAIN FRANCK OF THE slum STEAMER DAKOTA united states marine inspectors taking testimony in investigation of the recent wreck I 1 seattle avash april 39 19 united states marine inspectors whitney hItney NV and turner today began taking testimony in the investigation of 0 the recent wreck of the steamer dakota captain franck was the first witness on the stand in his sta statement ct cf tho the wreck he be said after I 1 had shaped my course for a distance of 44 miles from yokohama it being high water at yokohama at p m I 1 had to contend with a strong current which has a velocity of three or four miles an hour I 1 ordered a course to south 70 west in order to avoid the enormous traffic of fishing boats in the bay I 1 waa anxious to get out before dark after going tho the required distance latance ij I 1 ordered a course of south 64 west taking my bearings continually about until the time the ship struck with me on tho the bridge were chief officer roberts and junior second serend officer knutson at the ship struck realizing the danger ogave I 1 gave orders to have the watertight tbt doon doors closed but this order could not be ox cuton on account of the great inrush in rush of water at 1 I stationed stAtIon od the lifeboats s and at the b beats ts were lowered to the water M my yr orders lora s hero here captain dow n completely and wept bitterly for fors 8 N F 7 for several minutes when composed he be continued no in embers of tho the crew wore were to leave the ship without my personal orders in the meantime the ship st settled down and the forward end was submerged in 25 minutes A trifle to the port side were a largo large number of fishing boats which came to our assistance A large number of past passengers engers embarked on these boats before I 1 left the bridge I 1 saw several mall mail bags floating in the water the hatches of the mall mail hold had bad evidently dently blown oft off and I 1 gave orders to pick up what mall mail it was possible to obtain great loss losa of mail victoria B C april 19 further advices advises regarding the lost steamer dakota received by tho the steamer tartar states that the vessel waa completely broken up the end came in a heavy galo gale accompanied by rain the first tunnel funnel was blown away the middle maat mast coming out at the same time deck fittings were carried away by the heavy sea and before long th tho mainmast came down the vessel broke her back aa a result of the pounding and the dack deckhouse howe sunk leaving only part of two roasts masts vial bla ble the hull broke into two parts sank the part in front of the tho engine department sank deeply but the after part Is still held on the rock listing toward tho the land to the starboard eighty bags of 0 mall mail were washed ashore and recovered by the japanese postal authorities and about i ordinary letters and registered articles were delivered |