FACTSFACTS Her official capacity was 564
passengers but a year later she was overloaded with 1300 home-bound sailors
and a crew of 100 as she sailed from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco. As
the ship approached San Francisco, a raucous party started that lasted
into the early hours of the morning of May 31. A thick fog had hung over
the ship for thirty-six hours, but it did nothing to dampen the celebration.
A fog whistle from the nearby Farallon Islands, located just north of the
entrance to the Golden Gate, could not be heard over the party's din. Currents
and wind had thrown the ship's course to the north and at five o'clock
in the morning, traveling at a full speed of eleven knots, the ship ran
on the rocks of Southeast Farallon Island.
Hours spent in lifeboat drills
paid immense dividends. In the first three hours after grounding
nearly 600 troops safely made it to shore -- twenty-five at a time in eight
lifeboats and by a breeches buoy set up between the ship and the cliffs
of the island. Many arrived on shore after swimming through the frigid
water. Rescue ships from San Francisco began arriving later in the morning
and by early afternoon the entire company of passengers and crew had been
rescued. Despite freezing cold water, treacherous surf and currents every
one of the 1400 aboard was saved.
The ship broke into three pieces and sank within a few days. The captain was found to have made errors in plotting the course, failing to take soundings and allowing the passengers to be so loud that they prevented the lookouts from hearing the fog signals. Despite his achievement at seeing to the disciplined evacuation of the ship he was demoted to the rank of first mate.
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