Old Barkentine Is Abandoned by Hpp Pppw Ilvl VlVHi – November 27,1905
Tampico Sights Her Adrift With Sails , Torn and Rudder Gone.
Ten Men and a Dog Are Taken Off and Landed Safely in This City • by the Steamer Homer.
Somewhere in the northern seas the old barkentine Quickstep, waterlogged, deserted and rudderless, is drifting a derelict. Her crew of ten men and a dog was landed in this city last night by the steamship Homer after undergoing nine days of privation and hardship and losing all their personal belongings. The Quickstep’s crew was taken from the disabled vessel by the Tampico, Captain Jofin Roberts, bound from Seattle and Tacoma to San Pedro. When off Grays Harbor Captain Roberts transferred the crew of the shipwrecked . vessel . to the steamship Homer, which arrived last night in this port, where a report of the disaster was filed at the Merchants’ Exchange. . The report was written by Captain Roberts of the Tampico and recites but the bare facts of the case. The Tampico, it says, was bound from Seattle, and Tacoma for San Pedro ¦with: a cargo .of general merchandise. She ;left Tacoma Monday, November 21 Fi and encountered light winds and a smooth sea until noon of Wednesday, when a. fresh southeast wind sprang up, increasing. steadily in violence. . . On Thursday a barkentine was sighted/ flying signals of distress. Her sails were in rags and she rolled heavily. -Rain; was falling and the atmosphere was so thick that it was impossible to make out the name of the disabled vessel. The Tampico at once went to her relief, however, and upon approaching closely made her out to be the barkentine Quickstep, waterlogged, rudderless and helpless.
The captain of the barkentine signaled a request for a tow to the nearest port, but Captain Roberts replied that he could not possibly tow him In as he did not have a hawser strong enough. He. offered to take off the crew before sundown and this offer was accepted. Captain Johnson of the Quickstep made preparations to take off his crew, but while doing. so his foretopsail blew away and the barkentine was left in a worse position than ever. The Tampico lay to for an hour, and as ‘no further attempt was made by the Quickstep to launch a boat one was sent out from the Tampico, in charge of Second Officer George B. Genereaux, with four seamen. An attempt was made to get the men off the lee quarter of the disabled vessel, but as the sea was running high this was found to be Impossible. . The boat was then brought around and the men lowered themselves into it by sliding down a rope from the end of the spanker boom. They managed to take their dog with them, but left behind every stitch of clothing save the oilskins they wore, and also lost what personal belongings they possessed. Captain Johnson says “the Quickstep first got In trouble on November 15,’ and from that date she had been in a waterlogged condition, with the forecastle and ; aft cabin stove In, the , boats smashed and all the provisions wet. The steering gear was washed away .and the vessel opened fore and aft. The members of the crew were in a sorry state, worn . with long 1 watches and hard work without sufficient sustenance. The dry berths and fresh fare on the Tampico were welcomed by the men, but they were: willing and eager to accept a transfer off Grays Harbor to the Homer, which landed them safely in port last night.”
The barkentine Quickstep was built In 1876 at Port Ludlow, Wash. She was of r’423 tons, 148 feet, long, 34 feet in breadth and 13 feet deep. She was owned by, S. B. Peterson of this city and was engaged in the lumber trade along the coast. When picked up by the Tampico she was nine days out of Mukilteo and bound for San Francisco.
References:
California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside – http://cdnc.ucr.edu
Blouin Artinfo International – http://www.blouinartinfo.com