The Coquille Valley sentinel., December 21, 1923, Page 4, Image 4

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LIVES LOST IN SHIPWRECK
The Sentinel '
A QUO| PAPCR IN A GOON TO'
It W. TOUN®, Bditer
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ALLEN
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To Make worker
An Employer
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The C. A. Smith Started Out of Coos
Bay Sunday Morning, But Was
Wrecked on the Jetty. Lumber
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Carrier Broke up Tuesday
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The following thrilling account of
the loss of the lumber carrier, C. A.
Smith, at the entrance of Cone .Bay
last Sunday and Monday we copy
from the Daily News:
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'7 The League of Nations is an
•' pensive association. It costs MAOO,-
"5 000 annually to man It and at its last
meeting the question of defraying ex­
penses was the most troublesome
•problem that arose.
The peeudo-science of astrology
. hasn’t been boosted at all by thè tri­
al and sentence to death of Arthur
Covell. The movie colony at or near
•» Los Angeles in California probably
' ’ didn’t realise that they were qualify-
, ing as degenerates when they were
getting horoscopes from the Bandon
astrologer.'
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While in the newspaper business
' in the past we used sometimes to pub­
lish a list of unclaimed express pack­
ages, which were to be sold to pay
charges. At' a recent sale of this
, sort at Omaha, Nebraska, tho pur­
chase of a trunk full of black mud was
ridiculed until a chemical analysis of
the mud prov^Htojjejrorth >1,800.
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At our farmer home, Independ-
... enee. Kansas, tho heaviest snowstorm
, in years is reported on Thanksgiving
. morning. It wat<bnly nine inches,
¡ and the weather was mild, but we
never remember to have seen a
-1. Thanksgiving snowfall during the
thirty years we lived in southern Kan­
sas, and some years were practically
without, snow.
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Our old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Mar­
tin Johnsen, formerly of Independ­
ence, Kan»., whose Polynesian and
African pictures have frequently been
shown at the Liberty Theatre hare,
have just started on another African
trip, during which they expect t*
spend five years in East Africa, one
of the most unwholesome parts of
the dark continent. We were much
interested in seeing their former Afri­
can pictures made in the' Soudan, at
the
Liberty
a few months ago.
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w—ms—mmasssmi——
The Port Orford Tribune appeared
with a new-head last week under­
neath which is tho very appropriate
legend "Out Where the Weet Ends,"
Port Orford being the weeternmost
town in Oregon, and with tho excep­
tion of northwestern Washington, the
farthest west of any town in the con-,
tinental United State«—though all ot
Alaska is farther west.' When the
latter territory, or any part of it,
achieves statehood, however, that
statement will have to be rtfased.
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Common law marriage was recog­
nized at Salem this week by the state
industrial accident commission allow­
ing a claim' for >70 a month to a wo­
man who lived 14 years with a man
without being married.
Five children bom out of wedlock
will be benefitted. The case is from
Southern Oregon, names withheld.
Recently the man, a sawmill work­
er, was killed in an accident and the
woman made a claim for tho state
compensation,
Neighbor« «aid the
woman was a good mother.
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Though the senior editor of the
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Sentinel never had any inclination Ao
become a seaman, he once spent six
months in making a voyage to South
America on a sailing vessel. Born on
the east end of Long Island within
a mile of the coast and familiar irith
many seafaring men, he was between
. twenty-five and thirty years of age
when he left home and settled in the
Mississippi valley, so that after forty
years in the interior he felt more at
home again on the coast of Oregon,
where he could once more breathe
the salt air from the sea.
The wreck of the lumber steamer,
G A. Smith at the entrance of Coos
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Bay last Sunday night affords an­
other instance of the perils that lie
in wait for the men who go down to
the sea in ships. Of the 23 seamen
-ewho started but on that lumber car­
rier which set sail for San Francisco
„
last Sunday morning, nine had fond
• < * w,Ur7 rr,T* bX Monday—eimply
because they were not sufficiently con­
scious of the dangers they faced to
avail themselves of tho opportunities
they had to escape.
Death to ten men in the fdaming
water of the bar followed the wreck­
ing of the steamer C. A. Smith Sun­
day morning on the submerged north
jetty at the mounth of Coos Bay.
Nine men were loot in one of the life­
boats from the C. A. Smith, and one
from the tug Oregon-
No bodies have yet been recovered
and the G A. Smith is a total lorn.
The life guard saved the remainder
of the crew.
A strong wind and heavy breakers
were rolling across the bar Sunday
morning when the C. A. Smith ar­
rived at the mouth of the Bay to cross
ot for San Pedro. Captain Blomburg
of the G A. Smith was told by Cap­
tain Harvey of the tug Oregon that
the bar was rough, but the skipper of
the lumber boat decided to crosa out.
The tide had almost reached high
water when the G A. Smith pro­
ceeded through the channel, bucking
the high breakers and shipping water
which sprayed across her.
The ship With her heavy deckload
of lumber plowed her way forward
through the great swells. When al­
most to the Whistle buoy the G A.
Smith struck the rocks of the south
■pit, tearing away her propellers, and
putting her engines out of commis­
sion..
Those on board knew at once that
she was crippled. Water began to
seep into the engine room, and con­
trols failed to work. ' The heavy sea
swept the vessel to" the north and the
hull crashed onto the submerged
north jetty.
With her stern aground, and high
waves breaking over the decks, the
ship swung with each large wave. The
firemen and oilers were forced out
of the engine room, and efforts of the
dock crew were futile. At once the
captain blew the whistle and distress
signals went out to those on shore.
Probably thé first definite notice
of the plight of the C. A. Smith Sun­
day morning came from the coast
guard lookout on the promontory to
the south of the channel. He at once
telephoned word to the life guard
station inside the bay.
Captain Jensen immediately took
six men of tho life guard crew and
ran his power boat over the moun­
tainous swells and through the heavy
breakers to the side of the G A.
Smith. The Coos Bay life guard boat
was able to reach the side of the dis­
tressed veaael shortly after the s. o.
s. signals had been sent out
They pulled up to the leeward,
cast a line fore and aft, getting a
rope ladder aboard. When the life
guards first pulled alongside, a bare
half dozen men could be seen on deck.
The waves washed high, and lumber,
broken from the deck of the C. A.
Smith, piled in jumbled masses and
separated in the heavy movement of
the water.
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Thea six men under Captain Jensen
of the life guard endeavored to hur-
rÿ the escape of the crew on board
the distressed vessel.
The swells
washed them against the aide of the
G A. Smith, and away again in each
rush of the oncoming waves.
The first man came * down the
swaying rope ladder, and the second.
On deck the crew was running back
and forth, gesticulating, undecided.
The men had placed all their belong­
ings in the storeroom, and many of
the C. A. Smith crew wanted their
luggage before departing. Calls from
the life guards for speed in depart­
ing were unheeded, and time was
passing, with the little power life­
boat swinging back and forth. The
C. A. Smith was also suffering from
the crushing weight of the waves.
One of the last of the men to at­
tempt to board the life launch tried
to jump to the deck of the small
launch. He disappeared in the water,
and was given up for lost.
The coast guard crew thought he
must have been smashed when the
two boats came together in the waves.
He came up on the other side of the
life launch, and was hauled dripping
into the boat
,
The tide had swung the C. A.
Smith around, and she was still fast
on the breakers with a possibility of
the life launch being dashed to pieces.
Captain Jensen had seven of the
crew aboard, and called for the rest
No one showed up on the rope ladder,
and it was time to cast off in order
to save those who had already bean
the recovery of their possession when
The crew were still engrossed in
a last call was given and the lifeboat
drew in her ladder and lines, pulling
away from the slowing filling C. A.
Smith. With seven men rescued and
the rest remaining at their own vo­
lition, the task of the life guard was
not over.
The t waves were still mountain
high and every breaker sent a cloud
of water and spray over the little
craft. The launch pulled out toward
the center of the channel where the
tug Oregon stood by, when signals
were received on the launch that a
man had been washed overboard from
the tug boat.
He was floating near the life guard
launch, and the boat pulled alongside,
rocking in the high waves. A grab
was made for the man, and he was
pulled aboard. His eyes were glassy,
and his body rigid. First aid was ap­
plied. The work was hardly begun
when the open craft was again struck
by a volume of water that drenched
the occupants, and washed the man
just rescued into the sea. Charles
Nordstrom, veteran of 28 years, was
also carried out of the boat
Captain Jensen with a quick move­
ment saved his life guard’s life by
grabbing his heel. Two members of
the crew pulled the old sailor aboard.
After a moment of readjustment
from the shock of the heavy wave,
it was noticed that the man upon
whom they wens working had been
washed overboyra. He was not to be
seen anywhere, and it is thought by
the life guards that he sank at once.
The man was Charles N. Prescott,
mate on board the tug Oregon.
Prescott had gone out on his ship
with Captain Harvey, to Stand by
in case .i^Jife guard launch needed
assistant?- *Wh|le at the stern with
CapGin twar port pilot, a heavy
wave washed over the ship, throwing
Prescott overboard, and knocking
Captain Lund down. Lund received
a bad bruise, but was saved from the
foaming water of the channel.
At once a cry of "man overboard"
brought all hands to attention, and
the first mate was _ sighted a few
yards from the tug, lying on his back.
The crew of the Oregon called to
the man to take a rope which was
in the water
It was the rope which Prescott and
Csptarn TXind had been hauling in, and
coiling on deck. The man in the wa­
ter did not heed them. It is probable
that ho was stunned. A moment lat­
er, however, he was sighted floating
near some lumber from the C. A.
Smith, which he put hia arms around.
At this time the life guard launch
was coming away from the C. A.
Smith with seven of the crew, and
Prescott was waahed by the heavy
■wells near the launch. Men on the
tug signalled for the life guards to
pick up the mate, and a moment later
he was.in the life launch, only to be
swept out to a watery grave before
he could be brought to consciousness.
It was futile and dangerous for
the life launch and tug to stand by,
with the tide ebbing rapidly. They
proceeded inside the bar, and the wet
crew of the C. A. Smith was put
aboard the Cleone, where tlfty dried
their clothes, and received what aid
they needed.
Men from the C. A. Smith rescued
by the life guard stated that they
did not expect to get in alive from
the tremendous waves that washed
over the ljfeboat after it left the
lumber steamer. Captain M. P. Jen­
sen had six of his own crew with him
who brsved death in the high break­
ers.
* About noon Sunday part of the
crew of the C. A. Smith put off in one
of the steamer’s lifeboats. Almost
at once the boat was swamped, and
nine men drowned.
Their bodies
were washed out with the tide, and
the frail craft disappeared complete­
ly-
That afternoon the Cleone, with
three members of the life guard,
crossed to the C. A. Smith about 3:30.
The sea was still running high, but
showed signs of moderating.
The
Cleone passed by and turned to come
back. Signals between the captain of
the C. A. Simth and the Cleone were
given, and it was decided that it waa
not safe to try to rescue*the men.
With the appearance of better con-
ditions in the morning, the crew on
board the C. A. Smith waa left to
spend the night. The ship was head­
ed to sea, and it was thought that
¿he eteamer might last for three days,
atleast.
In the morning, with the tide right
for attempting a rescue, the Oregon
put out to the wrecked G A. Smith,
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Wages are paid right on thé hour every pay-day.
Set aside a part of your salary and start it earn­
ing interest at this bank. Some day your savings
wiD start a business for you. You can start with
The following additional stories of
the disaster are from the details pub­
lished in Tuesday’s Oregonian in a
press dispatch from Marshfield:
"A. Leland, the wireless operator,
waa a man with but one leg and the
other men were all solicitous for him,
being a cripple. It was therefore
thought advisable to put him in the
lifeboat and he chose to go.
“After the upset of the craft, mem­
bers of the crew who stayed on
board watched Leland for all. of a
half hour, swimming about the wreck­
age. Leland had taken the precaution
of belting lilmself with a life preserv­
er and adjusted it with the help of
■sen on the steamer Finally the cur­
rent changed gnd Leland floated out
of vision.
"A superhuman fight for life was
made by the third mate, H. Bodahl.
Bodahlwas a powerful man, a good
swimmer and full of blobd.
Soon
after the lifeboat overturned, those
left on board noted that he had
gathered together some floats from
the lumber that had been washed ov­
er board, and packing it together
clung to it and kept afloat With his
improvised raft, Bodahl was swept
here and there on the Croat of the
swells, Occasionally
encountering
breakers, but he' stayed by his frail
raft when it was believed that each
swell would separate the man fight­
ing for hia life and hia few sticks of
lumber.
"Bodahl, the craw Moped, would bo
waahed •'ear enough to the wreck to
be —by • line, but he failed to
come hack near the ship. The last
the crew saw of him, he was still
clinging to the raft and floating
northward along the beach They had
watched him for four or five hours.
It is expected his body will be found
somewhere along tho beach between
Coos Bay and Ten Mile creek."
"William Denman, of the Coos Bay
Lumber company, took a philosophi­
cal view of the disaster and looked
at it from the viewpoint of a sea­
faring man. He had, in a newspaper
career in California, learned all there
is to seafaring, all the dangers, all
the hopes, all the lighter and heavier
problems of wrecks and ship troubles,
and so, as many sailors hold, he
thinks ‘anything is liable to happen’
"Mr. Denman had no censure for
Captain Blomberg, who took a chance
and was bested.
"Captain Blomberg has been a
faithful and loyal employe and we
all like him," was the way the head
of the company expressed himself.
“Our steamer was fully insured and
was valued at 1200,000. The cargo
was worth somewhere between HO,-
000 and >60,000. But, that doesn’t
repay us, for our steamers are con-
structed especially for package load-
ing, and we cannot replace her with-
out building a new one, or purchasing
and remodeling. Ship construction
takes time and we are short on time."
One of the sailors who was dis-
cussing the wreck, said that it was
probable nothing would be saved, for
the wreck is liable to go down in tho
channel and all the engines and ap-
paratus be lost. *
"Captain Blomberg was so affected
by the experience and the results of
the tragedy that he could sob out
the details only at intervals. I re­
ceived some of the reports from men
of the crew. "
"Huberts, one of the seamen, was
evidently overlooked somewhere in
the records, for he had been sailing
on the Smith some time, but his name
did not appear in the roster furnish­
ed by the company yesterday. His
tale was similar to that of Captain
Blomberg, byt from another angle.
Huberts, although not listed, is well
known on Coo« Bay, and is another
man full of Mood and good judgment.
He was one of the sailors who prefer­
red to remain on board rather than
hazard getting in the ship’s lifeboat
when the sea about the wreck was
raging and threatening death to any
who might essay to escape ashore
while the chances were so uncertain.
‘‘We were fearful last night, when
the last attempt to eave us was
abandoned by the Cleone, which
could not hold her position in the
channel, that we were candidates for
Davy Jones* locker. The sea was
still running high and it appeared
that the vessel would break up dur­
ing the night •'
" "The steamer was resting square on
tho sunken jetty and we thought that
a dollar or more.
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Farmers & Merchants Bank
of Coquille, Oregon
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Machine Shop Work
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and Welding
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Gardner’s Garage
Phone 46J
Coquille
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Expert Battery Work
Is your battery run down?
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IM®» it mmd am wngvfvW -itezi’er.?
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We have employed a battery expert capable of doing all
kinds of battery work or he c®> make a battery for
you at a reasonable price.
When you are in doubt as to the condition of your battery
pay us a visit. We will thoroughly inspect it and tell you
just what is necessary to put it in first class condition.
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AD work absolutely guaranteed
at a reasonable price
Coquille Service Station
COLUMBIA BATTERIES
On thg Highway
Phone 133
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the high tide would probably float
her off and \hat would end the only
hope we- held of being saved. For­
tuno favored us and th» wreck stuck
on the rocks When we went onto
the jetty a break occurred amidships,
and we thought al) day Sunday that
it was only a question of a short time
when the vessel would separate into
two halves and bring death to us all.
"Seas were breaking from the stem
of the veasei, which stood seaward,
and ever the after part, and before
night we had been driven to tho
bridge and finally had to roost on top
of that to escape tho spray which wa<
constantly breaking over the vessel.
When the steamer struck it was but
a few minutes until the boiler rooms
were filled and the craft was wholly
waterlogged.- The Water soon was in
the galleys and so there was no food
left to sustain us. ' That, however, did
not worry us as much as the proba­
bility of getting ashore, for we al­
ways have the lifeboat« supplied with
hard tack and there were three boats
still hanging to the graft.
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