A Mysterious Collision on the Sound
The steamer Sehome hits a schooner in the early morning fog, leading to a sudden resignation and a wall of silence from the crew.
The steamer Sehome had a narrow escape from a serious collision last Saturday morning, about which the officers of the boat have been remarkably reticent. The only result so far has been the sudden resignation of Capt. P. Stetson of his position as pilot on the steamer. The accident occurred about 5 o'clock last Saturday morning, while the steamer was on the way from Seattle to Port Townsend. Pilot Stetson was on watch and in the wheelhouse when the jibboom of the schooner J. M. Colman went crashing into the port paddle box of the Sehome. According to the story of a passenger, the vessels remained fast together long enough for him to get up and hurry to don his clothes, when, he says, the jibboom of the schooner was fast in the pilot house of the steamer.
“I was [in the wheelhouse], and if you get any more details out of me you are a dandy.”
Collisions on the Puget Sound were once a frequent hazard of the maritime-dependent economy. This story captures the era's tendency for companies to cover up accidents and the 'man-of-few-words' stoicism of the mariners involved.
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