■m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. XLVIII. No. 16. NOME, ALASKA. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6 , 1946 PER COPY^-Tsi?
I
Ship Lost But All
Passengers And
Crew Rescued
i
SEWARD, Feb. 5—(AV-'Tragedy
struck the SS Yukon Sunday eve
ning. Apart from its tragic ap
pearance on the shoreline of Fair
field Point, the ventures of the
trim vessel of the Alaska Steam
ship Co., and sometimes referred
to as the flagship of the fleet, be
cause of its majestic name, the
^Yukon seems to have come to an
end, an end befitting the many
years she has served as skipper of
her fleet.
Robert Bassette, storekeeper of
the ill-fat^d ship reports the inci
dent in this manner: “We are glad
to be alive.” Jack Reinhold, staff
sergeant in the armed forces of the
United States puts it this way:
“We’re glad to be alive.”
After thirty minutes in the wa
ter, seeing some of his comrades
washed off the bow of the Yukon,
Chas D. Scrivener, from his cot in
? Seward General Hospital, reports:
“I’m glad to be alive.”
From hospital beds in our local
hospital the trio tell this story
with the reservations that are so
pertinent to military status. They
tell of their partners being washed
ashore, not ashore but just into
the water where the huge cliff
ahead kept them from being res
cued immediately.
According to members of the
trio the mishap occurred about
4:20 a.m. with the weather bad
and the sea rough. A long vigil un
til daylight merited nothi n g ,
4 while the vessel foundered prepar
atory to breaking apart.
According to this same trio no
measure of hysteria was notice
able among the many passengers
aboard the Yukon. Mr. Scrivener,
assistant purser of the vessel
states that while he was watching
waterspouts shoot 50 feet high and
throw a spray over his vessel, the
passengers on board acted with ]
caution, and sensed no fear for
their safety at any time. And so
it seems that some twenty odd
men have yet to be accounted for.
I Those who have been fortunate
to survive retell a story of their
experiences on the ill-fated ves
sel. Their story is complete: twen
ty odd not accounted for; some
300 odd who had no fear or hys
teria, and the lack of a shore
line; some thousand odd thinking
of these self same aboard.
Concensus of the survivors sums
up to this: To Major Leroy Berg,
to the members of the efficient
staff .of the fleet of vessels sent
out to contact those adrift; to
those who in any way assisted in(
this tragedy: their thanks will be
%
STRIKES
At A Glance . . .
Approximately a million, four
hundred forty-five thousand work
ers are idle because of labor dis
putes. Major developments are:
Steel and Motors—News of the
government price and wage policy
aimed to settle the big steel strike
is expected to be announced along
with the government’s position on
steel and price increases formula
aimed to end other major labor
disputes. CIO president Murray
summoned CIOs big three unions:
steel, auto and electrical, to a
strategy conference.
Shipping — The government
takes over the operation of the
strike bound tug industry in New
York Harbor, but 3,500 striking
AFL workers remain off their jobs
pending the outcome of an emer
gency meeting called by union
leaders. The Office of Defense
Transportation is in control of 91
tugboat companies under Presi
dent Truman’s seizure order.
Newspaper — Cleveland gets its
first daily paper in a month as the
strike of AFL pressmen halted
publication of the city’s three
dailies ends. The wage dispute is
to be submitted to a three-man
board of arbitration.
Communications — CIO leaders
in New York City say 90,000 CIO |
members are already pledged to |
join Monday’s two-hour strike by
7,000 Western Union employees.
The demonstration will halt vir
tually all communications except
by telephone between United
States, Europe, South America and
Africa.
- _ i
everlasting. Surviving such an or
deal is most pertinent in our most
intimate thoughts.
The lighthouse tender Cedar
from Ketchikan Coast Guard
headquarters it had removed some
of Yukon’s passengers, and was
attempting to remove others with |
rafts, army barges, motor whale
boats. They radioed that the Yu
kon was piled on the rocks at
Cape Fairfield on the western side
of Johnstone Bay, southeast of
Seward.
KETCHIKAN—About one hun
dred survivors of the Yukon wreck
are huddled on the bleak Cape
Fairfield beach southeast of Sew
ard, awaiting transfer by breeches
buoy to the rescue ships the Coast
Guard said. It announced that all
the rest of the 496 persons who
were aboard when the Yukon
grounded Sunday night had been
removed by rescue ships and were
now at, or enroute back to, Sew
ard.
(Continued on Page Five)
HERE’S TO YO U—Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov
(left) of Russia and Secretary of State Janies Byrnes of the (J. S.
touch glasses in Moscow in a toast to the success of the ‘Big Three’
meeting in Moscow.
NWA CHAMBER HOLDS
RATE MEETING
Monday evening in the new of
fice of the Wien Alaska Airlines,
the Board of Directors of the NWA
Chamber of Commerce held a
meeting regarding the rate hear
ing to be held the latter part of
February in Washington, D. C.
The board read and discussed
letters from the Fairbanks Cham
ber of Commerce, and from Nor
man Stines, who is now in the
States giving his time gratis to
represent the Fairbanks and Nome
districts at the hearing. The only
cost will be approximately $1200,
for travelling and other pertinent
expenses.
The discussions involved both
pros and cons of the proposed rate
hike, and different methods of op
eration by the shipping adminis
tration and a private company,
and the economic progress of
Alaska held in the balance.
Vice president Mitrovich ap
pointed a committee to gather
data immediately for presentation
to Norman Stines so that Iw will
have as much time as possible to
prepare his briefs and present
them at the hearing.
The board voted unanimously
to accept the Fairbanks proposal
to join with them in the battle and
to raise approximately $400 to
take care of our share of the ex- J
penses.
Mr. Stines represented Fair- j
banks and Nome at the CAB hear-1
ing, although Nome did not share'
Capt. Safford
Broke Naval
Regulations
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6— M*) —
Naval Captain Safford testified he
knew he was breaking naval reg
ulations when he undertook the
campaign to clear Rear Adm. Kim
mel of the blame for the Pearl
Harbor disaster. Safford told the
Senate and House investigating
committee he believed he had to
launch the campaign because he
at first felt bitter against the 1941
Pacific fleet commander. “I had
to do something to make amends.”
He said slowly.
Safford wrote a secret code let
ter to Captain A. D. Kramer in
January 1944 that Adm. Kimmel
and the 1941 army commander at
Pearl Harbor had been “framed,”
and asked Kramer to line up Adm.
Halsey in the “cause” of clearing
Kimmel.
in the expenses or the gathering
of information.
Vice president Mitrovich was
asked by the members to see the
mayor and city council to get their
cooperation and to make a request
to Washington, D. C., for permis
sion to be represented at the hear
ing.
Before the meeting adjourned
the nominating committee was ap
pointed, and asked ot report at
the annual meeting which will be
held in the Nevada Lounge at
noon, Friday, February 15.
NEWS IN BRIEF
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6—UP) —'
The House rules committee voted
to send to the House floor the Sen
ate legislation extending retire
ment privileges to district judges
in Alaska.
WASHINGTON. Feb. 6— (A*) —^
Admission of Alaska as the forty
ninth state is proposed in a bill in
troduced into the Senate by Judi
ciary chairman McCarran. Under
the bill the state would assume all
debts of the Territory, but would
get title to all vacant public land
unused by a government agency
and exclusive property reserved
i for the use of natives, naval oil re
serves, school lands, parks, and
| such areas are required by the
armed services for bases.
ASTORIA, Ore., Feb. 6—UP)—
A storm, which at the peak reach
ed seventy-eight miles per hour,
roared up the Oregon and Wash
ington coast, disrupting communi
cation and imperiling ships. One
seaman reported lost overboard
was found, injured, in the wash
room of his schooner. The Coast
Guard said he apparently struck
his head when the vessel lurched.
Two crabboats, missing out of
Aberdeen, were located riding out
the storm.
DENVER, Feb. 6—UP)—William
C. Shepherd, who started work
on the Denver Post more than
j forty years ago as a reporter, and
has been publisher and editor for
the past thirteen years is retiring-.
He will be succeeded by Palmer
Hoyt, former editor and publisher
of the Portland Oregonian.
CHEYENNE, Wyo., Feb. 6—(#)
Forest rangers scaled the eleven
thousand foot Elk Mountain in
bitter weather and recovered the
1 twenty-first victim of a plane
! crash. It was the body of a sol
dier, not identified.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 6— (JP)
| A screen of small atomic shells,.
- fired from battleships, making im
possible the approach of any air
| craft within fifty miles of an
I American target, is foreseen by
Navy Capt. Ellis Zacharias. “The
application of atomic energy will
necessitate immediate interception
of an enemy far from our shores,”
he told the advertising club.
HOQUIAM, Wash., Feb. 6—i/P)
Minus its normal crew of four, the
radio still, and the fog-horn blow
ing, a forty-foot Coast Guard boat
washed ashore ten miles north of
here. Coast Guardsmen from
Gray’s Harbor station are patrol
1 ling the beach for possible sur
vivors.