The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 19, 1898, Page 1

This Paper n to be taken from the Lfb}'g”'\'zv ++e 4 ott VOLUME L <XIV.—NO. 172, PRICE FIVE CENTS. TWENTY-FOUR SEAMEN LOSE THEIR LIVES Bark Atalanta Goes Ashore| on the Coast of Oregon. Of Her Crew but Three Survive After a Desperate Struggle in the Breakers. ORTLAND, Or., Nov. from Tacoma to South 18.—The bark Atalanta, bound Africa, was wrecked upon Al- seya beach early yesterday morning. Twenty-four of her crew of twenty-seven are missin g, and the three men saved are certain that their comrades either perished in the breakers or are in imminent peril of their lives in the ruins of the vessel. perience. The survivors reached shore only after a terrible ex- When the Atalanta struck the bar her timbers at once gave way and the whole crew made a rush for the hatchway. They had hardly started when the vessel parted in the middle and the masts snapped like kindiing wood. The breakers swept over the after decks and crashed through the cabin doors, and then the men, seeing that the ship was doomed, sought safety. A number who were on deck started to launch a life boat, and while they were working with the davits a wave tore over the deck and filled the boat. It dropped into the surf and al- most immediately filled with water. but two were washed overboard. Five men were in it and all These two had no oars and for hours they were buffeted about, powerless to choose their course. In one of the sudden springs they found their craft within arm’s length of a third man, and at the risk of their own lives they pulled him out of the surf. For another hour the men were rocked upon the breakers and then their boat was hoisted upon the crest of a great wave high and dry upon the beach. Two of them were completely exhansted, but the third still possessed a little strength, and he ran through the wild country until he found a farmer, whom he informed of the distress of his companions. Help was soon at hand and all the men were taken to farm houses and cared for. To-night one was unconscious, the others not in danger. No one seems to know to what farm house they were taken or any- thing about them further than that they are survivors of the wreck. The life saving crew is now looking for them. The whole blame for the wreck is lodged with the captain. He was too anxious to make a down the coast he raced with another quick passage. All the way sailing vessel against a terrific southwester. To make an advantageous tack he steered close into Cape Foulweather, and not seeing the light suppgsed his vessel to be far from the shore. Suddenly there was a crash and the vessel began to go to pieces. According to best accounts twenty-four lives are the penalty for the captain’s rashness. Notification of the wreck was not sent to the life saving station twenty miles north of the bay for ten hours after the sur- vivors reached shore. Then the apparatus could not be hauled down without horses, and by the time these were procured it was too late and too dark to render effective service. Clark of the life-saving crew will Every wave is assisting in the de- the vessel in the morning. struction of the bark. Captain make another attempt to reach Alseya Bayhas notelegraph station and particulars are mea- ger. Reports from stations to the north state that the Cape Foulweather light was concealed by a heavy fog when the wreck occurred. DISASTER DUE TO THE CAPTAIN’S FOOLHARDINESS Carelessness Cost the Lives of Him- self and His Crew—Life-Savers Handicapped in Attempts to Reach the Wreck. YAQUINA, Or., Nov. 18.—The ship Atalanta, 2500 tons burden, from Taco- ma, with wheat for an African port, was wrecked off Alseya Bay early Thursday morning and now lies about a mile from shore in the midst of- roar- ing breakers. She carried a crew of twenty-seven men, only three of whom survive, 8o far as known up to the present time. The story as told by the survivors is that the wreck was due to the care- lessness of the captain, who paid for his folly with his life, as none of the offi- cers escaped. They were racing with another sailing boat and were keeping close in shore in order to get the ad- yvantage of the wind in tacking and to make » hort cut to head off the other vessel. They were close in shore, and, not seeing the light at Cape Foul- weather, steered ahead until they struck the reef about four miles below Alseya Bay a-~ about a mile and 'a half from the shore, with such terrific force as to snap the masts off like toothpicks, carrying the rigging and everything with it. The men at that time were trying to launch a lifeboat, and two of them were carried over with it. They suc- | ceeded in rescuing one of their com- | panions from the mass of wreckage and drowning sailors, but were soon swept away by the gale. They were tossed in the breakers for hours, half naked and nearly perishing, without oars. They were entirely at the mercy of the storm until it finally deposited them on the beach. One of them made his way |to a cabin, and, awakening the occu- pants, started them in all directions for telp, which it was impossible for them | to give. After they had arrived on the scene 80 thoroughly exhausted were the men that after twenty hours one of them had not yet recovered his physical and mental powers fully. The people wer< very slow in notify- ing the life-saving station at South Beach, tyenty miles away. The report did not rsach Captain Clark until late in the eveaing. Captain Clark immediat-'y made every effort possible to reach the wreck on the wreck'or penned up in the fore- ’castle, as supposed by the survivors. | Having mno,_ horses, they depended on the neighboring farmers for assistance, | and obtained one team and a saddle pony. The team was hitched to the surf boat wagon and the pony to the cannon, and with the crew and captain pushing with might and main they struggled down the beach toward the wreck, twenty giles away. task of transporting i\he heavy vehi- cles. After traversing wbout six miles, the horses gave up thy struggle-and and rescue any one who might yet be | | Forty-second street, New York. | Stockholm. Flesh and blood wele unequal to the | i She Was Dismasted and Broke in Two. PRIVEN 1@ DESTRUCT:ION ON A LEE SHORE. The British Ship Atalanta, That Left Tacoma for Cape Town on the 12th Inst, Was Caught in the South- wester That Raged Along the Oregon Coast Last Wednesday and Went Ashore at Alseza Bay. The Heavy Rollers That Broke on the Sandspit and Over the Vessel Swept Her Decks Clear of Everything in a Few Minutes, ana Out of a Crew of Twenty-Seven All Told Only Three Reached the Shore Alive. PARTIAL LIST OF THE MEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES TACOMA, Nov. 18.—The names of the | Atalanta’s entire crew are not obtain- able, not having been flled with either | Shipping Commissioner Steel or British Consul Alexander. The names of those | who joined the ship here and signed before the British Consul are: D. F. GREEN, able seaman, aged | 31, Chapel place, Dublin. | J. WEBBER, able seaman, 132 S. A. JACKSON, able seaman, J. SMITH, Finsbury. G. COVALIS, Callao. J. TONES, Valparaiso. N. SORENSEN, Bergen. G. FRASER, 329 Monroe street, Philadelphia. R. CODD, 74 Flanders street, Liv- i erpool. | J. MARKS, Brightwood Addition, | Indianapolis. | Captain Charles McBride, or “Prince Charles,” as he was best known, was a | great favorite among local marine men. | The ship Atalanta sailed on Saturday afterncon for Cape Town with 92,509 bushels of wheat. She was the last ship to start in the triple race to the Cape of Good Hope, to be participated in by the ships Earl of Dalhousie, Imber- horne and Atalanta. The latter was known in maritime circles as a crack clipper and breaker of passage records, having made many quick. passages be- tween London and India, Captain Mc- Bride confidently expected to win the race to Cape Town. The wager In- volved was the good-natured one of a champagne dinner at Cape Town, to be paid for by the ship making the longest passage. The general opinion among shipping | men here is that Captain McBride was caught in the heavy southwest gale after being given an offing by a tug outside of Cape Flattery. The weather came on thick and the ship picked up the southerly set of the Japan current running down the coast. This set, to- gether with his lee drift, brought Me- Bride into the breakers before he was aware ot his position, there being no clear weather for an observation. This theory is made more plausible through the fact that the Atalanta was obliged to take anchorage in Clallam Bay, in the Straits of Fuca, ou arriving there because of the heavy gale and nasty sea prevailing outside Cape Flattery. He was windbound there ten hours and then proceeded to sea. then all forces were applied on the can- ! non and beach cart. They arrived at| Alseya early in the mornin~ and, hur- | rying to the wreck, found they were unable to do anything, as the ship was beyond the reach of their lines and their cannon was useless. The ship had broken in two and the waves were dashing over her. Large | pieces of her works were being carried | away with each successive wave. The beach is strewn Wwith wreckage of all descriptions. _If the story of the rescued sailors is correct the officers of the bark were responsible for this awful disaster. It is to be hoped that when the apparatus of the life-saving crew arrives and they are able to reach the wreck they will find .that some of the seamen have weathered it out until help arrived. SCENC OF THE WRECK. Alseya Bay and river are between Cape Perpetua and Yaquina Bay, be- ing sixteen miles from Newport, which is on Yaquina Bay, and eight m!les; north from Cape Perpetua. The sou}hg head is an abrupt, long, rounding cliff of sandstone of less than 100 feet in height and covered with trees. The north point is broad, low and sandy, three-quarters of a mile long and covered with driftwood. The entrance to the river is one-quarter of a mile wide at the narrowest part. There is no well defined channel and the depth of water is from five to eight feet. A mile and a quarter inside the entrance the: river expands into a bay about a mile wide and one and five-eighths miles long. It is filled with sand flats. On the north side of Alseya Bay is the small town of Collins and on the south side is the town and Postoffice of Waldport. Broad off the mouth of the bay and eighteen miles from shore there is seventy fathoms of water on a sandy bottom. A strong current, called the “David- son inshore eddy current,” sets into Alseya Bay. As an experiment the Dawn, a steam launch that used to run between Astoria and Ilwaco, was towed to near Cape Orford and there cast off. She then drifted northward in the cur- rent to the Alseya River, a distance of ninety-five miles. Just how the Atalanta got ashore at this particular place may never be fully known. She left Tacoma on November 12 and passed Cape Flattery the same day. S8ix days later she is wrecked about 400 miles from her starting point. “It was blowing a southwester on the 1 Oregon coast last Wednesday, said an old coasting captain yesterday, “‘and judging by the seas outside. it must have been a ccrked. The chances are that the Atalanta was caught in it and was driven back. Then the compasses may have been at fault and in a gale there the current runs as much as four or five mil:s an hour, and then the magnetic iron ore on the beach may have helped along, and the urst thing those aboard knew the Atalanta was hard and fast on the sand spit that gxna out from the north point of Alseya ay.” The Atalanta was built in 1885 at Port Glasgow by R. Duncan & Co. She was 1693 tons net burden, 265.1 feet long, 39.7 feet broad and 23.4 feet deep.. She was owned by N. Hill of Greenock. The insurance on both hull and cargo was placed in England. Captain McBride, who was In command of the Atalanta, took charge of her the day she was launched and was in command of her to the last. She was a painted port ship, very like the British ship Illawara that left here for Sydney a few days ago with a eargo of barley and flour. ‘, SCEVE_OF THE WRECK_OF THE ATA- LANTA.ON TIE OREGOY COAST. BRITISH SKIPPER RAISES A BREEZE Defies a Marshal of the Admiralty Court. HIS CRAFT SEIZED FOR DEBT EE TRIES TO PILOT HER OUT OF QUEENSTOWN. Runs Aground but Floats Again. Is Chased by a Government Steam Pinnace, but Escapes. Special Dispatch to The Call. QUEENSTOWN, Nov. 18.—Something in the nature of a sensation has been caused here by the extraordinary con- duct of Captain Johnson, commander of the British steamer Briarden, Which arrived here on October 21 from New York extensively damaged by severe weather, during which she was almost submerged for ten days. Since that time the Briarden has been repairing for a passage west. The Briarden was seized this morning by a marshal of the Admiralty Court for debt, and a bailiff was placed on board of her. The captain determined to defy the court and started for Dela- ware breakwater. But the pilot, who was on board, refused to navigate the ship out of the harbor, with the result | that the captain attempted to do_so and grounded the Briarden off Hall Bow Light. Two hours later she was floated off. In the meanyhile the Admiralty Court officials communicated with the admiral in charge of this station and the latter sent a steam pinnace to in- tercept the Briarden. The pinnace met the Briarden as the latter was passing out of Queenstown harbor at full speed and ordered her to stop. The captain of the steamer paid no atten- tion to the summons, but continued on his way to sea as fast as the engines of the Briarden could drive her, with the little pinnace in hot pursuit. The chase was watched by excited crowds | ashore. Off Spike Island the Briarden | had completely outdistanced the pin- | nace and the latter gave up the pur- | suit. .%FIRST PENSIONER -OF | THE RECENT WAR Artilleryman Gates Gets $17 a Month for the Loss of a ' Lip. WASHINGTON, Nov. 18.—Commis- | sioner Evans of the pension office “no- tified Secretary Alger to-day that Jesse T. Gates, of the Second United States | Artiliery, who lost part of his upper lip | in the West Indian campalgn, had been awarded the first pension on account of the Spanish war. The President and the Secretary of ‘War each took an interest in this case. Gat~~ called on them in person soon aft--~ the close of the rampalg~ and convinced them of the merits of~ his case. Gates will receive $17 a ‘month, and, this being inadequate, a private pension bill increasing the pension, will probably be introduced in Congress. Claims on account of the Spanish war are now coming in ranidly. The total on file up to date is 1947 for war ser- vice and 178 for naval service, exclusive of the claims of the battleship Maine victims. ke N Pay for Cuban Soldiers. NEW JORK, Nov. 18.—A Herald dis- patch from .Havana says: The Cuban army will receive one year's pay on De- cember 10. Notes for the balance due will be issued, and the troops will then be dis. ‘banded. 'This information comes an officer of General Garcla's personal staff, on whose word implicit confidence can be placed. -From what source the money will come cannot be learned, but that the United States has guaranteed the loan is almost certain. GIVE VENT TO THEIR HATRED OF AMERICANS | Spanish Volunteers Parade in Ha- vana, Shouting Insults to Their Conquerors. 1 Cabl > v Herali. Copyrighted, 1996, by James Gors don Bennett. . HAVANA, Cuba, via Key West, Fla., Nov. 18—Last night's procession in honor of 8t. Christor-~ the patron saint of Havana, gave the Spanish ---'- unteers an ovnortunity to give vent to an expression of their hatred of Amer- icans. Late in the evening there gath- ered in the vicinity of the r-"ace of the captain general several regiments of vlolunteers to take part in the proces- sion. After their dismissal from dut; 4 bands of these paraded, giving :‘r’er:::.rg the cries, “Death to Americans,” and “Viva Espana.” Bystanders were in- sulted and jostled about and the slight- est offensive incident would have been the signal for some outbreak. As it was, with many Cubans in the vicinity who had come in from their camp at Marianao, a collision was averted only by a miracle, it seemed. - REBELS BANDING ON URUGflY’S FRONTIER Former President Herrera Planning to Seize the Reins of Government. Special Cable to The Call and the New York Herald. Cq 1gh! Herald. Copyrighted, 1835, by James Gor- MON\TEV!DEO, Uruguay, Nov. 18.—The Government has been informed that rev- olutionary bands are forming on the fron- tler and that they will soon invade the country. No details of their numbers or movements have been ascertained yet, but it is believed that former President Herrera is planning to seize the govern- :nenLi tAll preparations are being made 0 resist. Extension of the 0. R. and N. PORTLAND, Nov. 18.—The O. R. & N. has let the contract for building 140 miles of rallway from Wallula Junction up the Snake River to Lewiston, Idaho. Seims & .Coykendahl are the contractors, and KEELEY OF - MOTOR FAME 15 NO MORE Died at His Home of Pneumonia. WAS ILL LESS THAN A WEEK SECRET OF HIS ALLEGED NEW FORCE DIES WITH HIM. Had Constructed and Discarded More Than a Hundred Models in His Expensive but Futile Experiments. Special Dispatch to The Call. PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 18.—John W. Keeley, the inventor of the Keeley motor, died to-day at his home in this city from pneumonia. He was taken {ll on Saturday last and continued to grow steadily worse until his death. Mr. Keeley was 61 years of age and leaves a widow. He was a native of this city. His education was meager and at an early age he became a carpenter, following that trade until 1872 It was in that year that he announced the discovery of a new force by which motive power would be revolutionized. Following this he constructed what has become known as the Keeley motor. On November 10, 1874, he gave its first public exhibition before a number of capitalists and scientists, who advanced $100,000 to enable him to perfect his dis- covery and apply the principle. Since then large sums of money have been expended on experiments without any practical public results. Between 1874 and 1891 Keeley con- structed and discarded 129 different models. In the first model he employed water as a generator, but later the ex- periments were made with what he called a “liberator,” a machine equip- ped with a large number of tuning forks, which, he claimed, disintegrated the air and released a powerful etheric force. In 1888 he was for a time confined in jail for contempt of court for refusing to disclose the secret by which he pro- duced many remarkable effects in the presence of experts, but until his death the secret was known only to himself. Among those interested in his scientific efforts was Mrs. Bloomfield Moore, the well-known * society woman, who ad- vanced sums of money to Keeley for the purpose of his invention. SIBERIA MAY BE A " RIVAL TO KLONDIKE Route of the Proposed Railway Re= ported Extremely Rich in Gold Fielda. VANCOUVER, B. C, Nov. 18.—Count John Thun of Austria, who has arrived here from Japan, came across Asia over the route of the Trans-Siberian Rail- road. He left Moscow last May. For some two hundred versts beyond Irkutsk the journey was full of great peril and requirad nine days and nights of hard traveling, a greater part of the time afoot, to go the distance. ‘Work upon this part of the road had been well advanced a year or so ago, but an era of unprecedented storms set in and embankments and bridges to the value of about 4,300,000 roubles were washed away. The work of restoring them during the past summer was greatly Interfered with by swarms of insects and other pests which made it impossible for the men to work. Count Thun says it is intensely cold all along the line of the road, and for the most part a barren and utterly desolate country. A region some 200 versts in extent in each direction north of Manchuria in China is undoubtedly full of almost inexhaustible gold fields, but the ex- treme cold will not permit them to be worked for more than three months in the year. The road will, he thinks, be completed in about two vears’ time, and will be valuable chiefly in the move- ment of soldier: s ey Interpreters in Fear of Highbinders. FRESNO, Nov. 18.—At the preliminary examination of Ah Tie, accused of the murder of Ah Hack, it was found to be impossible to proceed on account of the fear of the Chinese interpreters. All dreaded the highbinders and were afraid to act. It was found necessary to clear grading is now being activel. ushed both east and west from Hlplrli x the room several times of the crowd of Chinese, and the case finally went over. JOHN W. KEELEY.