Sausalito – In The News - Saturday February 22, 1913

Ferry Boats Collide In Dense Fog

A marine disaster occurred in the thick fog off Angel Island Friday morning, when the steamer H. J. Corcoran and the Southern Pacific steamer Seminole met in a collision and sank to the bottom of the bay. A remarkable feature of the collision was the fact that the vessels lost each other in the dense fog.  Neither crew knew that the other vessel had been fatally hurt.

The Seminole, on her way from the City to Sacramento, carried fifty passengers, seven of them women, and a crew of fifteen, and had on board a large quantity of mail and luggage. She was a new boat, built in 1911, at a cost of $114,200.

The Corcoran, which is owned by U. E. V. Rideout Company, was on its way from Antioch to this city with a crew of thirty-five men and bags of sugar, valued at $40,000, and two bags of gold from the Selby Mining Company worth $50,000.

The Seminole remained afloat for nearly an hour after the collision, so passengers, crew and most of the baggage were taken off by the gasoline launch Maryland or the Vallejo  The crew of the Corcoran were rescued by the immigration tug,  Ana Island, on its way from San Francisco to the island at the time of the accident. Both steamers turned bottom side and the Corcoran was carried by the tide through the Golden Gate to the open sea, where a Crowley launch took her in tow.

The Corcoran struck the Seminole amidships, tearing a great hole in the side and cutting the water pipes which controlled the oil fuel supply. The Seminole was still afloat when the Napa Valley arrived, and a line was made fast. The Napa Valley got under way with the stricken river boat in tow, but as the Seminole swung around…her hold filled and she keeled over. In the meantime all the passengers and crew had been safely placed aboard the rescue boats.

Grammar Schools Endangered

The multitude of bills before the legislature has attracted the attention of most people. There is one bill calculated to administer to the greed of large school departments. The law, as it now is, provides that every school district shall have the benefit of the daily attendance of children within its bounds.  The spirit of this bill is piratical and it should not pass. The board of trustees of a grammar school should have the same right and privilege in the matter of funds as is now extended by law to high schools. The grammar schools are the schools of all the people. They serve the needs of the greatest number. It is these schools which have driven illiteracy out of our nation. Let us not encumber the people elected by us to look after their proper maintenance.

Lady Bug Harvest In Full Swing

The ladybug season has opened and collectors of the state horticultural commissioner's force are going to the mountains to gather the tiny creatures by the pound.

The ladybug saves the cantaloupe in Imperial Valley each year by devouring the aphids, which would otherwise destroy the melon vines. Last week 100 pounds of ladybugs were gathered in the Coast Range Mountains.  There are 30,000 bugs to the pound. This makes 3,000,000 in captivity. 

During the Year: 1913  

17th – NY Armory Show introduces Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp to US public.

17th – 1st minimum wage law in US takes effect (Oregon).

18th – French painting "Nude Descending a Staircase" displayed in NYC.

19th – 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box.

25th – 16th Amendment ratified, authorizing income tax.