AN ACCIDENT TO THE "QUEEN."
July 12, 1892.
At 7 P.M. last evening the steamer's whistle sounded the last signal,
all our passengers came on board, and we started. Going out of the
harbor, we passed numerous small islands covered with spruce-trees.
The view of the town, the harbor, and the surrounding mountains made a
scene of great beauty. At half-past seven the steamer struck a rock.
The bow was forced high up out of water, and the stern, where I was
sitting with some ladies and gentlemen, careened over so much that we
had to hold on to the railing to prevent ourselves from falling. There
was no occasion for alarm, as we were within two hundred feet of an
island, and about a mile from the harbor of Sitka, where we could see
a revenue cutter lying, with her steam up, and numerous rowboats
near. No one about us manifested any excitement, except one young
woman who became hysterical and had to be restrained. The tide was
rising, and our captain declined assistance from the captain of the
revenue cutter, thinking it best to wait for the tide to rise high
enough to float the vessel. The passengers were generally very cool,
except one gentleman from Chicago, said to be worth several million
dollars, who indulged in remarks about the proper way to navigate
steamers, and insisted that the captain of the _Queen_ did not
understand his business, or he would not have run the vessel on rocks
in the daytime. Captain Carroll, hearing of these observations,
stepped up to the great capitalist and said: "Sir, if you do not like
the way I manage this ship, you can go ashore," to which the
capitalist replied that he would. A boat was lowered, and the officer
in charge was directed to take this gentleman, together with his wife
and daughter, back to Sitka. There being no hotels in the town, and
hardly any accommodations whatever, except for Indians and dogs, the
prospect of being obliged to stop there for a week or two was not
entertaining, so the wife and daughter remonstrated. The matter was
therefore smoothed over with the captain, and all parties remained on
board. Soon after this incident, a line was run to the shore of an
island near by, and attached to the trunk of a tree, to assist in
hauling the ship off. Every half hour or so the propeller would
commence running, and attempts would be made to start the steamer,
with no success, until 12.15 A.M., when, with much grating on the
bottom, she was floated off into deep water. The captain thought best
to take her back to Sitka, so we were soon anchored there again,
opposite Mrs. Shepard's houses.
When I awoke this morning, the water was as still as a mill pond, and
the sky cloudless, giving us another perfect day. It was found that no
damage had been done to the steamer, and at 8 A.M. she started on her
course. We are now passing through Peril Straits, very narrow, with
mountains near, covered with trees. The water is shallow, and
sometimes our stanch vessel grates roughly over the bottom. At one
time, when passing an opening of a dozen miles, we looked upon the
ocean, with just enough swell to remind us how much more agreeable it
is to sail on water where you are not liable to sea-sickness.
The captain has issued his usual noon-day bulletin, stating that the
ship will arrive at certain places during the next twenty-four hours,
provided she does not run on rocks, and there is no fog, and that
"after Juneau, we will go to Taku Glacier, where we will obtain our
supply of ice." "Passengers are permitted to fill up with it, as it is
exceedingly cheap, and cooling to the mind."