Steamers Spiked Immovably Together--
Passengers Scramble From One
to the Other.

    SEATTLE, Wash., Oct. 9.--The Canadian Pacific Navigation Company's steamer Premier was struck by the steam collier Willamette in a dense fog off Whidby Island, about ten miles south of Port Townsend, yesterday afternoon. Five men were killed and drowned, and seventeen persons were wounded. The steam tug Goliath arrived here this morning with three of the dead, all the wounded and other passengers, after having spent several hours in an attempt to save from the wreck the body of an unknown passenger wedged in there.
    The dead are Johannas Moe of Tacoma; Frank C. Wyncoop, son of D. J. Wyncoop of Tacoma; John Rankin of Seattle; and an unknown passenger, a man about 40, still in the wreck; and an unknown passenger, who jumped overboard and was drowned.
    The most severely injured are Gus Davis, watchman on the Premier, ribs broken, seriously injured internally; Thomas Foran, Seattle, arm hurt; W. H. Phillips, Helena, both legs slightly crushed; ribs broken; Jack Levy of the Premier, badly cut and bruised, had a miraculous escape of death; A. F. Lindberg, injured internally; Alban Leidholdt, waiter on the Premier, left arm broken and leg bruised. Of the others who were painfully but not dangerously injured, four are women.
    The Premier left Port Townsend about half-past one yesterday for Seattle in a heavy fog, blowing her whistle continuously. When off Point No Point, another whistle sounded close by and almost immediately afterwards a terrible crash was heard. The fore cabin of the Premier was smashed to splinters and the prow of the Willamette was found jammed right into her bow.
    There were a number of men in the Premier's cabin, one of whom was killed, together with a boy. A steward who was in the saloon eating his dinner was instantly killed. Several other passengers were jammed in the debris, some of them seriously wounded and all more or less bruised. There were some pitiable scenes. The stem of the Willamette was so deeply imbedded in the Premier that the passengers scrambled over broken wood work and on to the collier. The ladies were handed up first, followed by the wounded as fast as they could be moved. Men with broken limbs, and both men and women with bleeding faces and bodies were helped up.
    It was soon seen to be impossible to draw off the Willamette without sinking the Premier, so Captain Anderson determined to forge ahead, driving before him the steamer spiked on his bow. He forced her back on the beach and was so tightly wedged that he could not get off without dragging the Premier with him.
    The tug Goliath, towing out a schooner, was hailed and she took off the passengers. The receding tide left both the vessels stranded and still interlocked.

Source:

Unknown, "A Collision At Sea," The Hartford Courant, Hartford, Connecticut, Monday, 10 October, 1892, Page 1.