The Seattle Star Newspaper, January 25, 1906, Page 3

SURVIVOR TELLS | STORY OF WRCK BR F. Campbell, Who Lost Wile and Two Children Relates Ter-| nible Expenences of Passengers During First Night on Rocks. BY Surcharged with bitter GILBERT §S. COSTELLO, sofrow at the loss of his com panions rd the Valencia and weak and exhausted after his terrible struggle with others in a boat which was manned by volunteers who endeavored to reach shore and fasten a line for a breeches buoy, F, F. Campbell, a second class passenger on the wrecked vessel, reached Bamfield Tuesday afternoon. It is a story of bravery unexcelled that Campbell tells, the story of heroes who risked their own lives that they might be the means of saving others, The bitterest blow of all, how ever, was the fact that his wife and two children are among the lost, all three having been washed overboard shortly before the volunteer boat departed on its hopeless dash for the shore CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS When it became evident that the Valencia was rapidly going to pieces Tuesday afternoon, and that there was small chance of succor from sea, Captain Johnson called for volun teers to man a boat and try to get ashore. The appeal was | voiced to the huddled group of people on the after hurricane deck, which was still floating yust above the surface of the water It is a commentary on the heroic conduct of the men pres ent that not less than 20 immediately responded to the call of duty and from this anxious and willing group six were selected, Campbell among the rest. When preparations were ready every precaution was dis played in launching the boat in the foaming breakers. Every one aboard felt that their lives depended upon it getting away safely and all waited with bated breath until the lifeboat with its occupants touched the surface of the water. Hearts almost stopped beating when the crucial moment arrived, but with a quick swing the ropes were cut and striking out all together the crew in the boat shot away from the sides of the vessel, her steel frame quivering from the shocks of the constantly batter- ing waves CAMPBELL’S STORY OF THE TRIP Mr. Campbell's story of that remarkable rescue trip, which was unsuccessful through no fault of the volunteers, is filled With the tragedy that can come only once in a lifetime. In camp at Bamfield, with the others of the heroic crew, he said Cash_“" ike tee Credit Friday Special Means New Friends at January Sale The saving offered you in this January House Clearing Sale of Furniture st 1 imterest you in the new stora ‘The fact that you don't have to pay cash to get the benefit of the reductions adds to the general importance of the sale. Only a few more days of these reduced prices. Our Friday Specials are articles you the prices—we want you to come fn. Friday Special Red Cross Wash Boards ‘The best and most favorably known board on the market Has a DOUBLE heavy sinc surface, wide swing pro tector, la light and durab) Regular price for this Friday Special is 50 cents; sale price 25e CLEARING ADE can use—especially at MID-SEASON SALE OF HIGH HEATERS AND RANGES. 506-508 PIKE ST. Heater Clean-Up To make our k ow emall ae heating stove on our floors at al- : Your Own Price We don't claim this to be ph | anthropy exactly, but you no doubt | very soon we found a line of telegraph wires. THE SEATTLE STAR—THURSDAY, “When it was seen that the Valencia was bound to beat to pieces in short order Captain Johnson called for volunteers to man a lifeboat. He hoped to get a line ashore with the aid of the gun, providing men could reach the cliffs to haul a heavier rope in on which a breeches buoy could be rigged. I was about all in then, for only a short time before I had watched my Wife and two children washed away into the ocean and can still picture their white, despairing faces as they swirled away in the mad rush of waters to their death. “My God, sir, Can you imagine my feelings?” and at this point the brave survivor could not hide the tears that came up from a heart, broken and seared. His features worked with the gnawing pain that the recollection of that awful moment brouglt back, Later, recovering in some degree his composure, he continued PULLED ALONG THE SHORE, “We saw at once that there was no use trying a landing near the ship so we pulled out north along the shore. How our little boat lived through that trip I cannot understand For myself, I wish it had. been me and not my poor wife and babies who were drowned, But, somehow, we came through, and near Sea Bird rocks we found an opening, We made shore finally, but not without considerable danger, and eventually found a road up over the precipitous cliffs. But there was no way of getting back along the land to the neighborhood of the ship. Everywhere were jutting rocks that barred progress in a southerly direction, where the Valencia was lying. “Finding further efforts towards reaching the ship use less we started out in the other direction, One of the seamen | who was acquainted with that portion of the coast line, recol | lected that there was a telegraph station near Cape Beale and We kept the wires in sight and shortly came to Telegraph huts, where we found an operator, who had already sent a telegram to Vic- toria and Seattle, giving news of the wreck IMPOSSIBLE TO REACH WRECK ‘rom this man, who was familiar with every foot of the country thereabouts, we learned that it was practically impos sible to reach the shore anywhere near where the Valencia was on the rocks, but we tried it again, nevertheless, only to fail once more, About the only way to have reached any- where near the steamer would have been to drop down from the sky “As to the horrors on board after we struck, it was some- thing so terrible that no one except those on the steamer can appreciate. I was standing on the deck when we went ashore Of course I am not a seaman and cannot state exactly what caused the vessel to get out of her course, but from what I heard the officers say afterwards it appeared that Captain Johnson was under the impression his steamer was safe off the entrance to the straits. Passing Umatilla reefs he had taken soundings and found a depth of only go fathoms. This indi- cated, apparently, that he was close on shore, for these are the soundings usually met with there and so charted on the pilot maps. CHANGES VESSEL'S COURSE. “Believing himself close to the reefs he had the ship tacked back in a northwesterly direction, in order to clear the cape and get a good offing for the straits. Instead of being near the reefs, however, it appears that the vessel had overran her distance and the jo fathoms sounded had been | taken at a point a considerable distance to the north and west of the point, where there is a sharp rise in the bed of the sea He believed himself near the reefs, though, and set a course to run 14 miles north and west, which would have ordinarily brought him far enough up for a safe turn up into the straits. “Almost at the moment we struck he had switched the vessel around to head up the straits. Then came the cra: shock so terrific that it sent everything hurtling about and threw me flat on the deck. There were a number of other passengers still up and standing around, talking or smoking, and instantly the confusion became terrific. CAPTAIN JOHNSON WAS BRAVE. “Captain Johnson was of the metal that makes only true and good men, He immediately took steps to assure the | frightened passengers and calmed them down by his cool de- meanor. Purser O'Farrel and the others of the officers and crew immediately came to the decks and helped the captain to quiet the general alarm. “As quickly as possible the ship was ordered to back off, which she did. Only then did the true nature of the horrible accident become known, for in a moment men came running up from the engine room crying that the vessel was filling Water was rushing through a gaping hole slightly back of the bow and the torrent threatened every minute to send the vessel to the bottom. Then Captain Johnson, as a last resort, and realizing that to attempt to make a port of safety would only result in sending the ship and all on board to the bottom, started her back for the shore. The vessel struck slightly side ways and the rushing breakers bore her around even more, until she lay almost head on to the seas. She sank steadily, however, until only a portion of the rear hurricane deck and the masts were above water, On these points everyone hud- dled seeking safety. PURSER O'FARREL GETS BLANKETS. “Purser O’Farrel, cool headed, had gotten up a stock of blankets fromm below and these were handed out to cover the women and children and protected them slightly from the cold. “A drizzling rain was falling, which, with the spray from the waves made it frightfully cold. Every time a wave hit the ship she trembled from stem to stern and the water drenched everyone, Even up in the masts the spray flew from the combers and the anxious hours before daylight were one, long nightmare of horrors almost unspeakable. “As soon as Captain Johnson made out that the ship was doomed he ordered away the lifeboats. One from the wind- ward side was filled with women and children, the only men allowed aboard being the seamen necessary to man her. Filled with her precious freight she swung out from the davits and then, I can hardly speak of it now, the rear davit rope broke, or was cut, or something happened, but the boat tipped on end and everyone was spilled into the water. A cry went up from all on board at this accident, and I wished I could have died at that moment, for my precious babies and wife were in the boat and were dashed down to their death. I tried to jump in after them, but was prevented by several seamen who were stand ing by my side and grabbed me. The boat was next caught up on a wave and smashed to kindling wood when it came against the steel sides of the steamer. ANOTHER BOAT OVERTURNED. ze it will be a very expensive dy artich COLE’S HOT-BLAST HEATERS Wil be included tn this Dvery the eu of worth an heaters are used in § y heater which burns any kin ight. Until present stock is closed out we jal Giscount of TEN PER CENT “Then another boat was gotten out from the landwar® side, also filled with women and children, and this had no | sooner cleared away from the sides of the Valencia than it overturned and nearly all of its occupants were,drowned, By rigging rope ladders the seamen on the Valencia succeeded in saving five or six people, but the others must have met death immediately, for in a second, it seemed, they were lost to view “Two more boats were afterwards launched and succeeded in getting clear by hugging the landward side of the ship, where they were protected to some extemt from the waves, but they passed out of sight and into the darkness. So far as I know only one of these boats reached shore. The fate of the xthers can best be surmised “A liferaft also got away from the wrecked steamer, but | 1 do not know what became of it. It passed out of sight very quickly, “After this the steamer had sunk so low and the waves were racing so high that another boat could have hardly been | launched safely in the darkness. We waited around where we had sought safety until daylight and God only knows, no | pe@ple prayed so anxiously for the coming dawn than those terror-stricken remnants from the crew and passengers who | had left San Francisco on the steamship. How I passed the | night I do not remember clearly, It was terrible! I can never get the scene out of my mind of that awful moment when my wife and children went down with the rest in the ocean, It seemed like every racing wave grinned and mocked my misery | 1 could see my lost one shrieking for help as they touched the water and the gale of wind appeared to be constantly bearing me their frantic appeals for assistance DAYLIGHT FINALLY COMES “But the night ended at last, as all nights must have an It couldn't end my misery. That will be with me always jand I do not think you can blame me for wishing to be there jin the angry sea, as lifeless as the others “Breaking light only added to our misery, for we could see through the charging breakers the high and precipitous cliffs everywhere. Our wrecked steamer was so close in that m seemed as Uf these beetling crags were threatening every |minute to fall down and mash us and the ship under their | weight. | “Captain Johnson and Purser O’Farrel and the other officers remaining, conferred, but could devise no means then of obtaining any immediate rescue for those yet living. Our only hope lay in a vessel reaching us from the seaward side, and this was practically out of the question because our ship was so close in against the rocks and the seas were running high. After it became broad daylight we discerned two men seated in a sort of cavern that existed about half way up the cliffs and saw that they could neither get down or up. Captain Johnson had a rope shot over to them and one tried to climb up that way, Evidently the rope had not become fastened at the top, however, for in a few moments we saw him fall and after hitting the rocks several times in his descent he lay still In a short time the receding waves had washed his body out of sight. The other man on the cliff was drowned later when the tide rose and the sea washed him from the cliff SAW SMOKE OF PASSING VESSEL. “Through the morning hours we waited and once saw the smoke of a passing vessel, but it had evidently not noticed our plight through the mist and rain and went on, “Shortly after noon it was decided by the officers that the only chance was in getting a line ashore. Captain Johnson | culled for volunteers to man a boat for such a desperate ven ture and I and several others were selected. Our position on | the ship had become terrible. There was no food, as every- thing was under water and all moveable articles had been washed overboard from the upper decks “Most of the railing, even, had gone by this time and it was almost impossible to hang on the drenched portion of the hurricane deck, which still stuck above the surface. Every few minutes some of the weaker ones gave up the fight and were washed away and we were powerless to offer any help of save therm. end BOATS GET AWAY. “We got the boat away finally from the lee side off the ship, but she was so low at this time that it was next to im possible to expect that it would protect us to any extent from the charging seas. We did get away, however, and made northerly along the beach, keeping as far out as possible to prevent being thrown on the rocks. This we were enabled to do only by almost superhuman efforts. It was almost. six miles away before we found a landing near Sea Bird rocks and went ashore. After we got ashore we could not get back on land to where we could even see the vessel, let alone haul a line ashore. It must have been harrowing for the poor peo- ple still aboard th Valencia when they waited there hour after hour watching for us to reach the cliffs opposite and failed to see any signs to indicate that we had succeeded in our at- tempt.” Mr, Campbell, with the others is now at Cape Beale light- house, where they are being cared for by the keeper of the lighthouse, T Patterson. From this point they will be able to secure passage back on one of the rescue vessels to Victoria FATED ‘CRAFT’S LAST MOMENTS on Board the Wrecked Vessel. The end came to the Valencia at 2 o'clock in the after- noon, All day long boats had been standing around in the offing, making several desperate attempts to reach the | stranded craft, but these were of no avail, Previous to 11 o'clock, when the Topeka arrived, the Queen had made a desperate sally in, but when within half a mile of the wrecked steamer the soundings became so low that it was * BOY MISSING One of the pa gers not account for is Harry Ward, 16, son of} he Minnle B Ward, who resides @ at! Bagie Harbor, He was one of | |e the passengers on the ill-fated vee He relatives at Eagle harbor, and te secur my yment in the icinity of his home, if possible, Mra, Ward fain the city and w remain unt hews is ceived regarding he on | Dr. T. H. P. Sailer, of Philadel | phia, addressed a meeting of Pres National Heater Received First Prize GOLD MEDAL sel, but his name has not appeared in the Mat of either survivors or At th Leute Pair those missing. The young man wa Cetera t main support of his mother, a for GREATEST Dt Widow, and two young sisters and aioe Aa bas been employed in Ban Jone RABILITY, EFFI tat for some months CIENCY an@ SIM was on his way to visit hi | PLICITY. | We have sold an extraordinary number of , nat Heating Stoves, Acorns, Howards byteriane this afternoon at the 3 tionals, together with Monarch Ranges in Yestminster church ne st real — ® the last few dave We n't know just why | people are 8 r to get them. It may be yocause of a f on of cold weather a | busy and don’t wait until you are all DOWN c aldron Af industrial ts gg ge 115] WITH BRONCHITIS. ACORNS and HOW Ma , t t re r ‘ | ARDS we are el ca ost; they are large Galena 0.8 stock # One of them rightly placed will heat y : nr gee ge WHOLE HOUSE. The NATIONALS are . a ae gv eeot, FIRST PRIZE, BLUE RIBBON WINNERS 1 ervative company, and one| can’t be beaten, BETTER BUY ONE NOW est Investments on the mar- | Valencia’s Battle With the Waves and the Final Signs of Life |« Five Days More of the Great Sale Great Rush for Heaters tt so after sighting the mthe ocean side and her rigging, many the boat pulled considered suicidal to go any further portion of the Valencia visible fro counting the a5 figures clustered in | wrapped with blakets and evidently women, out again to a safer anchorage SAW LIFE ON BOARD Hour after hour, since daylight, it had been thus. The men on the steamers and tugs around the scene kn@w there | were yet liding people aboard, could see them when close in | through their glasses, but could make no step towards a rescue, The waves rolled mountain high, the big Queen rising and falling 20 feet with every incoming reller, and it was out of the question to get a boat in towards the shore, even couldait have remained upright until it touched the water, which Cap- tain Cousins considered extremely doubtful To have placed a boat in the water would have meant | that it would be smashed against the vessel's side or over~ turned in almost less time than it takes to tell the story. That men could have succéeded in getting away in it, much less return, was absolutely out of the question WAVES BREAK OVER VESSEL And on the Valencia every succeeding wave broke clear across the craft, inundating everything excepting the people tied in the masts. These were constantly sprayed with water, although as high above the surface as they could reach. A portion of the afterhouse became visible at times, but only for a moment, for this was washed constantly with the mountains of water Thus the agonizing moments passed while the rescue ves sels waited and those helpless men and women remaining aboard the Valencia held on. It was a terrible predicament these vessels were in, lying there filled with men who cared not a straw for thir own lives if it had been possible to offer succor, and to know that it was helpless, and it was a living death, this painful wait, wait, wait, with the constantly rising sea sweeping higher and higher and higher, tipped with crests carrying death in its white-streaked, charging of foam, and breakers. SEEN FROM THE QUEEN Wtih the aid of the strongest glasses on the Queen some idea of what the poor souls on the stranded ship were doing could be gleaned. Frequently, during the periods between rollers several figures could be seen moving, or waving and before the sea became too high several shots were evidently fired from the doomed ship. At least it appeared so to those standing outside, Either that or from the shore, evidently signals of distress or an attempt to get a line to land, from which buoy breeches could be rigged and the imprisoned peo- ple carried to safety. When the end came those aboard the steamers outside knew nothing of it. From where the vessels were compelled to wait, to obtain a safe offing, the speck of the wreck wa: visible after the noon hour only at intervals. The sky wa: dreary and clouds low-flying, casting a half brackish pall over ‘everything that prevented clear sight for any great distance. Shorewards the waves rolled higher and higher and although there were signs of a change of wind to the westward, old mariners there knew it would come too late, if at all, to do |the hard-spent survivors in the rigging any good. WHEN SHE WENT TO PIECES. At 1:30 o'clock it was high tide and it was at this time that well versed seamen knew the crucial point had come, Their forebodings were only too true, for about that time, | with the sea plunging ever nearer the imprisoned castaways, |the Valencia must have given up the gallant fight and reluct- antly consigned her precious human freight to the elements, | which knew no mercy. Some time later in the afternoon a party reached near enough to see the remnants of the craft and to tell that all humans had gone to their doom. The re- port verified one reaching Bamfield an hour earlier from some intangible source and when the party returned to that point the sad news of the final reckoning with the sea god’s wrath was wired out to Victoria. WARD ESCAPED {.c0° Gk Me she ealled for Seattle veasel w | from Frisco and is alive. Such fs T. Ward, of the|the frony of fate ~ concluded to leave a Just why he the ship, is not known, Hopkins he position of second clerk on he Valencia and was aboard the hip on every run made to Nome last summer. He made his bome in he riginal ir ¢ southe in Graves | lege ond thief Frisco, and was well known in Se | Gravee’ father, who is an ¢ derly attle and Nome |man and wh i ec € : |tain and his from Frise ge r » come by B Captain O. M. Johnson, who was of the Valencia, had ny’s service for n command en in the co | consideration 12 years. rising from quartermaster | Ward left on the train the nigh ptain. He had made several lfore the Valencia sailed. trips to Ne and took the vessel wrecked last night to that place last Season. Chief Engineer E. W. Downing fs IRONY OF “Cale aeons W. Doring F J. O'Farrell ay service for | Freight Clerk B. her He kins, |, k and purser. | who had not been on duty on bo Before entering the company’s serv- the Valencia since last Qptober ; fee he w n the real estate busi- (turned to the ship when Balled | eus igo. Century Furnrrure Company Sxconp Avenve & Spring STREET $5 Down and $5 a Meath Buys a Monarch Range “The Best Ever” YOUR OLD STOVE TAKEN FOR ALL IT 1S WORTH IN PART PAYMENT. and Ranges