The Tragedy of the Bark 'Kamehameha'
A lone survivor of a shipwreck off Cape Flattery arrives in Steilacoom, providing harrowing details of a vessel lost with fifteen passengers aboard.
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.
Capt. L. Coffin of the Hawaiian bark 'Emilia' informs us of the wreck of a Chilean bark—named 'Kamehameha'—which had been loading with piles, and put to sea from Nuke Harbour, Vancouver's Island. From the only survivor of the wreck, who was taken off by Capt. C. in a partial state of derangement, and who has since died at Steilacoom, we learn that the vessel water-logged off Cape Chisel, about forty miles from Cape Flattery. Including the Captain of the vessel, there were fifteen passengers on board; among them a Minister, supposed to be Rev. Mr. Steins of Victoria. The Captain rigged a sort of raft, on which himself and two of the passengers started for Cape Flattery and are supposed to have been drowned. We have no dates, names or information to lead to a knowledge of anything important for publication, and we trust our Vancouver friends will furnish us with information in regard to the vessel and those on board.
“The exhausted condition of the men rescued prevented Capt. C. from obtaining reliable information.”
The treacherous waters off the Olympic Peninsula have claimed many lives over the centuries. This report captures the raw, fragmentary nature of news in a pre-telegraph era, where a dying survivor was the only bridge to a maritime mystery.
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