The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 25, 1906, Page 1

for January 25, 1806: co and viclnity—Cloudy reday; light east €41 7K southerly; poesibl. er '! ( | | District Forecaster. ] | This raper v A —_— LUME XCIX—NO. 56. SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1906. £ PRICE FIVE CENTS. ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE DIE IN WRECK OF STEAMER VALENCIA ON THE COAST OF VANCOUVER ISLAND VICTORIA, B. C,, Jar. 24.—-Latest news from the wreck of the Valencia is conflicting and discouraging. The report from the steamship Queen that twenty-five passengers were clinging to the vessel’s rigging with no possible chance of saving any of them was followed by the story that the wreck had rgone to pieces. only fifteen survivors have been heard from so far, it is probable that the loss of life will reach 140. The Queen was at the outer dock when the first dispatch was sent. As SCORE OF SURVIVORS ARE RESCUED FROM LIEE RAET 25.—A" special representative of the | r wires from Port Angeles at 3.30 a. m. | ip City of Topeka picked up a life-raft terday afternoon, six miles off Cape Beale, of the Valencia on board. The men were e condition and almost dead from exposure. 1araden, passenger; M. Tarpey, quartermaster; V. O’Brien, waiter; W, Raymond, messman; W. D. coal passer; J. Cegales, fireman; C. Fleeme, ker; Frank Lehn, freight clerk; Joseph McCafferty, pas- ger; J. Welch, waiter; H. Harkens, passenger; P. Pe-i J. Podd waiter; J>hn Johnson, | ok : C. L. Allison, passenger, St. Paul, Minn.: W. | nan: Thomas F. Carrick. first assistant engi-| itts, passenger; P. Primer, fireman Y o ft, which the rescued .men said had left the | the day, but no sign of it was to be seen. | — o - —_— C.. Jan. 24.— | seen that the Valencia was indeed | the | bad plight.” The Czar was encia when she struck | sent in on a reconnoitering tour, | ck, five miles | but did not see any signs of life | t 11:45 o'clock | aboard the craft. The \\'eatheri right, but fifteen were | was very thick at the time. On board the steamer Queen, | eight were of the crew. The dead | which arrived at 6 o’clock from | 130, the greatest loss of |the Valencia, was a press corre- | the North Pacific since \ spondent. He reported that when | !the Queen left the wreck at 11:30 | mer, in whose rigging |a. m. to-day, being relieved by v people were clinging, | the steamer City of Topeka from ally waving for assistance, | Seattle, there were still from | t be given when |twenty to thirty people clinging| teamer Queen left the <cmcgm the rigging of the aftermast, ni broke up about 5 the forepast of the steamer being fternoon, sweeping ! submerged. The steamer lay who had sur- | broadside against the shore. Bi' hours of priva-{1:30 p. m., when the tide would I numbed, to the|be at its flood, it was expected 1ce by the | the greater part of the hull would swept over ! be submerged. With the heavy | southwest sea then running the - | afterhouses would without doubt be washed away with the rigging rought by the Queen of men |in which the few remaining sur- y the rigging of the i vivors were still -clinging fran- merged vessel, and the | tically signaling for assistance. board were passengers, which M ut after the sad ne ho went on her by| The only hope when the Queen of Captain Parry of his Ma- | left was that a rescue could be ship Egeria, with surf-|effected with lines from land or, » endeavor to reach the | arrive too late. The claimed them before the d reached Victoria r Queen, which left v evening for the > wreck, returned to g. bringing only a ed effort to reach the it and succor the pas- ho, previous to death in if the sea should go down and | the unfortunates still survive, |rescue might be made from a smaller tug, which could. ap- ’proach clr»;ser to the wreck than the tug Czar, which tried vainly to-day to reach the passengers. The sight of the people who thronged the rigging and waved signals to the steamer was heart- rending. Noéthing could be done; » were huddled on|the Queen could not approach vainly shouting for j closer than half a mile and to |lower boats in the heavy sea he Queen reached the scene |would have been madness. he wreck between 12 and 1| The tug Czar ran toward the ck this morning, but as the|wreck, then in a haze, and re- were running mountain high | turning reported not having seen the night was pitch dark it {any one on board. The Queen red inadvisable to ap- | reported the existence of the sur- se to the ill-fated craft, | vivors in the Trigging, but‘the 1 the cries of the doomed | message probably was not under- passengers and members of the|stood, for soon afterward the tug rew could be heard through the | left and with the steamer Salvor gloom. The Queen, therefore, |proceeded around Cape Beale will ceas and up the raft tha steamer went in search| | stood by until daybreak, the Sal- vor and the tug Czar in the mean- time arriving. On the approach of dawn it was toward Bamfield. The sea rolled high. There was a strong wind, about twenty miles an hour, blowing from the 3 east, seas at times washing over the tug Czar, which rolled heav- ily. The Queen stood off until half an hour after the others had left when the steamer City of To- peka arrived from Seattle with Captain Patterson, port captain, |and General Agent Pharo of the | Pacific Coast Steamship Com-= pany on board, who ordered Cap- tain Cousins back to Victoria | immediately to continue his voy- age to San Francisco, asking him to report to the City of Topeka en route outward to-night. suns Are Fired. Three guns were fired from’the wreck about 10 a. m. and it is believed by those on the Queen that an effort was then being made to fire lines ashore. The doctor on the steamer Queen said on arrival here that those seen 'in the rigging had reached the limit of endurance and would not by any chance survive another night’s exposure. The Queen was met by an ambu- lance and a large posse of police in the expectation that bodies would be brought on the vessel. It was about noon or a little after when those on the bridge of the Salvor sighted the tug Czar fighting hard against the heavy sea.” Soon those on the Salvor could easily see the un- fortunate vessel.. It was a bleak scene. . Amid the surf which dashed furiously against the rocks could be seen the dim out- line of the ship. Owing to the cloudiness of the sky and blind- ing wind and rain it was impos- sible to make out much, even with the assistance of powerful glasses. But occasionally. when the white waves made a suitable background what was above the water' could be made out with comparative clearness. ' There were two masts quite plainly out- lined and the funnel still intact. Deck Under Water. « | Being high tide the deck was completely submerged, with the s the bow. The steamer was lying astern toward the beach, with the seas dashing over the boat’s side. Judging roughly she was about 150 feet from shore, perhaps less. The Czar got much closer than the Salvor and returning report- ed to Captain Troup. “Did you notice any one cling- ing to the rigging?” shouted the captain. : “No,” was the response from the tug's skipper. “But there is something flyipg from the masts—I can’t just make out what it is.” " After slight hesitation Captain ’}‘roup asked whether it could be possible that any of the passen- gers, as a last resort, might be clinging desperately to the mast in the hope of being picked up. * Those on the tug did not think ‘such a thing could be possible, in-’ clining to the opinion-that it was simply a piece of sail or something. of that nature. g exception of a small portion of| ~ coattaued on Faze % Columa TLEBMAN HOELSCHER /< SURVIVOR OF DISASTER TELLS STORY OF WRECK Says Steamer Was Going at Half Speed When She Struck and Commenced to Fill. e ] | limiors when the vessel struck land i’sted-to port. TWO OF THE VICTIMS OF THE VALENCIA DISASTER, PASSENGER WHO WAS SAVED AND WIFE AND BABE Ol THE VESSEL WENT DOWN. VICTORIA, B. C, jan. 24.— In an interview at Bamfield Creek to-night, Boatswain Mc- Carthy told the first detailed sicry of the wreck. He said the steamer Valencia had been going by dead reckoning and overran her distance. Soundings had been made three and four times an hour. The steamer struck at .11:4% p: m. Monday, about mid- ship, the first officer, quartor- master and a geaman engaged in sounding having ten minutes be- fore got thirty fathoms. Shortly before the steamer F ONE OF MEN DROWNED WHEN l speed. Captain Johnson imme- diately shouted “Hard a-star- board” to the quartermaster and gave orders to ‘sound the bilges, which was done. She did not ap- pear then to be making much water. -The captain, then called to the engineer and asked if the steamer was making much water. Before the engineers could repiy firemen began clambering up from the fireroom, telling the en- gineers or the companion way she was filling. . Captain Johnson rang for full speed astern and made for the beach. The pro- struck . she. was going at half! peller had only made a few revo- e Boats Are Lowered. Captain Johnson was on the bridge when the vessel struck, with the second officer. He ran down and gave orders to have two of the seven boats lowered to the saloon deck rail. Instantly the passengers crowded to the rail and overcrowded the boats, During the excitement they cut whatever lines they could lay | hands upon. The davits broke about the same time the lines were cut and both boats were smashed at the sides of the ves- sel, capsizing the passengers and-. crew in them. The crew threw lines out and by means of Jacob's ladders succeeded in getting about six of the - passengers thrown out of these beats on board again. The boats when lost were mostly filled with women and children. One very sad incident was wit- nessed. A lady and gentleman with a little child tried to get in one boat. The father succeeded and the mother tried to pass the child, but a wave struck her and washed the child from her arms. The child was lost before hes eyes. One life raft was also low= ered, but it was dashed to pieces. After this four boats succeeded ir getting away from the ship al full of passengers. This leit one¢ boat and two life rafts. _ Continued on Fuge 3, Columa &