Steamer and Clipper Collide in Seattle Harbor
A strong ebb tide causes the steamer South Coast to drift into the anchored clipper Thermopylae, destroying a smokestack and damaging both vessels.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Seattle, Sept. 11.—As the steamer South Coast slipped from her moorings this morning to start for San Francisco a strong ebb tide carried her down stream at a rapid rate and sent her athwartships into the old clipper tea ship Thermopylae, lying at anchor at the next dock. The figurehead of the Thermopylae was torn away and several stays smashed up. Her boom caught the smokestack of the steamer, which toppled over onto the deck, and the starboard anchor, which was close hoisted, cut through the house of the South Coast and bedded itself in the framework.
“The figurehead of the Thermopylae was torn away and several stays smashed up.”
This collision in the early Seattle waterfront era illustrates the chaotic, hazardous nature of the growing harbor long before modern maritime traffic control. The name 'Thermopylae' reminds us of the majestic clipper ships that were slowly being eclipsed by steam-powered vessels.
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