The Rio de Janeiro Disaster
On the morning of February 23 the steamer Rio de Janeiro, from Yokohama, with 211 persons on board, struck on the reef at the entrance to San Francisco Bay, and sank within ten minutes, carrying down 131 of her passengers and crew, the captain of the vessel and the United States Consul at Hongkong, with his family, being among the lost. The vessel is deeply submerged, the wreck lying within a stone's throw of Fort Point. She had lain for hours outside the heads, waiting for the heavy bank of fog to rise. Just before dawn the fog lifted; the order was given to steam ahead, and when in the midst of the dangerous channel the cloud-bank came down again, shutting out every landmark. Having nothing by which to steer, the vessel was at the mercy of the treacherous current, which forced her upon the fatal ledge. This sad occurrence but emphasizes the danger of disobedience of orders. One of the standing orders of the company to its captains is never to enter the harbor in a fog, and the disastrous result of “taking chances” is terribly illustrated in this catastrophe.