Show THE APIA DISASTER admiral Kimberly Kimber iye lp official re port to the secretary of the navy is dated apia abia march it says it becomes my painful duty to tc report to the department the disastrous injury and loss sustained by the vessels under my command in the harbor of apia abia during the hurricane which swept these waters on march and when the gale commenced there were in the harbor the following men of war the united states ships prenton Pren fon vandalia and N ampsie spew H B M S calliope and H 1 G M ships adler olga and eber also a few merchant vessels and small craft the had the inner berth and the trenton the last one to arrive the outer berth indications of bad weather appeared during the forenoon of friday march and at I 1 I 1 commenced preparations to meet the gale by sending down the lower yards and hoisten hoisting the topmasts top masts fires pi res were leightey lighten and steam raised by 3 the jale gale had developed it blew hard during the evening and about 8 pm m we parted our port bow cable t during the night it lew blew with great violence but with the aid of steam the vessel was kept in shape until morning at daylight we had hoped for a moderation of the w wind ind but were disappointed the gale set in with renewed fury and early in the forenoon it was evident some of the inner ships were ashore and those nearer to us riding uneasily the flagship lost her wheel about this time it was carried away with a crash and seriously I 1 injured some of the helmsmen relieving tackles and the spare tiller were applied promptly but it was discovered the rudder was broken and was soon entirely useless the wind by this time was blowing with hurricane force and the seas were very heavy the ship had begun to make water during the early mornin morning and the hand pum pumps Ps were 7 manned and all the bilge pumps in thoi the engine room put on the water gained and threatened to put out the fires the greater part of it seeming to come in through the hawse pi piper which are situated on the bem berth deck every effort was made to stop the flow of water at this point 0 by jamming in bedding and ay by V putting moul dings dings on the chains and by veering into the hawse p pipes ru jt could be checked in this way out not stopped for the violence violence of the sea was so great that it would force everything opposed to it all hands bands were set to balling bailing and by nine the fires had been put out and the men were u up from the fire room the work on the the hand pumps and with buckets continued from this time throughout the gale with a hope of being able to relight the fires and keep the ship afloat A little before noon the calliope was seen to be uneasy at her moorings and soon steamed toward us having slipped her cables and was making an effort to get out of the harbor she came near colliding with us and the steamer in the face of the hurricane in the afternoon the wind having lulled a little the flagship flaksh was more unsteady at her meorl moorings and parted two chains soon a after r we then drifted over toward the reef escaping the wreck of a merchant vessel vessel by the mere chance of her dragging as we approached her we drifted until our stern was almost against her destruction seemed imminent as the vessel was within a few feet of the reef for fora a long while and pitching heavily we drifted in this position along the reef for a considerable distance until we came to where it turned more toward the eastward here we found smoother water and our remaining anchor seemed to hold quite well for a time this position however put us directly on the hawser of the olga which had one of the smoothest berths in the harbor at this time she was riding well and had control of her en engines ines eff efforts orts were at once made over the 8 inch gun from the forecastle to assist in holding but it could not be done in time we scowl slowly drifted upon her and she avoided us twice by the skilful use of her helm and engines but soon after cut into our quarters first on one side and then on the other carrying away boats rigging and quarter galleys but not essentially injuring our hull during all this time the officers of the flagship made every effort to manage her by storm sails and huttl putting men in the rigging and we drift drifted by the portside of the olga and across the western reef dragging our anchor and tolling toiling now on the western reef as we had done before some of the wrecked vessels were now in plain sight the was welli well ashore shore on a good bottom with her stern to seas the vandalia sunk against the reef the masts are standing and the tops of the rigging are filled with men menthe the mastheads mast heads of of the asher are nowhere to be seen the adier was on her side high on the reef the olga had turned for shore and going ahead under steam and sail was beached on a good bottom and in a good position to the sea all this time the gale was blowing with unabated fury about 6 we were expecting to strike the reef momentarily it was waff directly under our stern but an eastern side undertow current seemed to carry us along the reef and kept us just clear of striking thus we came to the and it was evident our stern must soon strike her port side As we approached her rockets were fired carrying lines with the hope of reaching the people on her masts this proved very successful and the men from the main and mizzen masts were rescued first soon after we struck the with violence and her main and mizzen masts went by the board we then swung gradually and settled into a position alongside her just touching the bottom and our stern raising a small wreck on the reef the men were rescued from the foremast of the Van vandalia dalio and thence on during the night we continued to beat our bottom against the vandalia with great force the wind during this saturday night t blew with hurricane force squall following squall with hardly an appreciable interval the seas however were not so high as they were further out and we got through the night without additional serious mis for fortune tunk just before daylight the flagship was waa visited by two boats manned entirely by natives who carried lines to the shore this was dangerous work owing to the darkness and sea current the wreckage and to the difficulty of approaching the brenton on account of the ira fwu dalias wreck men were kept at a the pumps and buckets without ces bation with a view to hauling of off the sh ship IP if possible and keeping her afloat when the gale abated 1 the morning the wind mod moderated erSted I 1 then ascertained that had settled hard on the bottom and ana the water could not be reduced as it t was up to the engine room platform and rising under these cir c of cum stances and in tl the i e absence 01 docking facilities or marine appliances and powerful pumps 1111 a abandonment of the ship becanon necessary the stores were gotten and andl the up as rapidly as possible in people got their effects abere to med mediately lately thereafter the crew set work getting out and saving everything possible I 1 as WO on monday the water up to her gun deck and she bad na settled a littfe on her port sid side le to v tuesday she had settled r nore ote port dort and was still lower lowe r in thew the wac ater b the vessel was completely ou 81 d merged and only her foremast foie mast an all water head were showing above the waw in about sev the aidak was lying ris feet of water at low tide with would a and fall of four feet she houi probably have to be hauled astern some feet to float her at aan tide she has lost her kesta 10 alar also her rudder and her propeller PP badly damaged hiar her crew raa on board and she I 1 keeps eps her 0 free of water by her steam kurap P have ordered a board to the at once the possibility 0 of f saving wd and Nipe kand further inac investigate report upon all the cincu connected with the loss and d war g of our vessels by the g gale ale the led ed port of the board will wih be ja wf by the first opportunity after or of 00 c ceist by me the ere crews ws bar and trenton are i W rack on shore the th steamed into the harbor bai bal morning with signs of I 1 ing n g experienced heavy pool asi f she goes es to S sydney duey as soon a ye 0 the ais through ble lor for re repairs pal and het div di kindness of captain kw kano ivr to ing out outfit t has been turned a us and it will be of the ar et IL si stance I 1 in n saving the stores t rt to ta the mend MB services be ye trust at they vw win ment and carded ard d as worthy of of reo ogg tp flout wilson goes to abc r aport the catastrophe to the department by cable and to charter a steamer to take to san francisco the Van vandaliah dalias crew and others of the guadron squadron Qu adron who are sick and disabled by the calliope I 1 send a duplicate dispatch to sydney to be forwarded by the united states consul to the department I 1 have received most valuable assistance from mataafa i who has sent large numbers of men to help in getting the stores and public property from the ships the orope I 1 of ope when she went out of the harbor carried 90 pounds of steam making 74 revolutions and then was as just able to make headway ft W pat the gale and when outside durl during ug a period of four hours made 0 o headway engines running at full ull speed during the excitement captain farquhar showed great care re and good judgment in handling ois his ship axer through ough this terrific we sae and never left the bridge e was ably seconded b by y 1118 to executive and the navi navigating gatli k 9 officers and did all in his power to save the ship in fact as far as observed all the officers behaved extremely tr emely well under the trying circumstances and performed their duties cheerfully effectively and well as could be done of the disaster it is impossible to classify among the incidents those inseparable able from the prosecution of duties its ts magnitude however gives it a distinguished feature which fortunately natel TJ the service is rarely compiled to witness captain farquhar has demanded a court of inquiry L no disinterested officers are available here I 1 therefore respect ully fully refer the e entire matter to the department and if further invests 91 1011 is 18 necessary I 1 should be pleased A to have a court of inquiry ordered ver very respectfully bour your obedient servant L A P ear r admiral U S N commanding U S naval forces on pacific pact fl c station Sti tion in III a second dispatch from the late dated on boia wi the Vand vandalia afta march ath that calls the attention of the de POrt nent to the meritorious conduct of wm win floye a seaman A man fell overboard on march and booye oye JUDI jumped overboard an and d brought rought him to a rope knablin enabling him lm to get et on n board again on the 1 of barch march after a heavy blow with alth much swell in the roadstead it 88 discovered that a rope was foul the screw thus disabling the ship eq in an unsafe place booye went nt under the counter in the heavy bell well and succeeded in clearing the une on the same morning hum hitrys an ordinary seaman of the idoga W while hile working the dehors fell overboard he could bot swim and would have y drowned but for the courage 40 d presence of mind of floye who no jumped overboard from the castle swam to him with a pe and succeeded in getting him on board oard commander schoon in his report says in hs kwof of these ese acts of efficiency and boa humanity I 1 feel myself in duty wast to MR call them to the attention of the department and to ask if it will give such reward to booye as in its wisdom will be right in his official report to admiral kimberly relative to the loss of the trenton 7 enton captain farquhar the commander states that in his 0 opinion the ship has broken in two p places anion s he states it is possible the sh ship 1 might ig ht be floated to a dock with the assistance of the powerful pumps used by wrecking companies but as there are no facility facil it s of that kind at hand she will be a total loss captain farquhar says acl 1 attribute the loss of the ship primarily to the location of the hawse pipes I 1 have several times reported officially to the navy department part ment through them he further states the water poured and extinguished the fires notwithstanding the precautions taken after detailing the action of the storm on his vessel captain farquhar farhar uj har thanks admiral kimberly tr for his earnest counsel and for keeping us in good cheer particularly in our greatest danger by your good example during the trying days he continues the officers sustained the reputation that our navy is proud of the crew generally worked well lieutenant brown the navigator was by my side the whole time and to his excellent judgment at onetime one time the ship was cleared of the reef had we struck it I 1 fear of the souls soul on board the trenton none would be alive today captain farquharso Farqu hars last paragraph T I 1 b is as follows 1 I respectfully demand a court of inquiry commander mullan of the nipsie begins his off official iclal report to admiral kimberly by expressing re gret ret that he was compe compelled aled to beach 6 is vessel to save her from total destruction and to coave pave the lives of his command he fe says the vessel had three anchors down and veered to their full scope as far as possible in order not to collide with either the olga or mer during the height of the hurricane and at about 5 a in march the olga fouled the nipsy carrying away the whale boat the dily dingy and bensi port 0 rt railing of the poop deck eck bending ang the davits etc about A bout 6 a m the olga again fouled carrying away the hammock rail art of the smokestack oke steam lau launch and second cutter having lost his smokestack and there being no draft commander mullan says he found it necessary to use pork in the furnaces when the effort was bein being ia made to get the forecastle gun overboard as an additional anchor the starboard hawse chain parted and the ship continued to drag toward the reef finding it impossible to ke keep 0 p up steam the commander decided to beach the lipsic in order to save life so the chains were slipped and the ship beached in front of the united states consulate the gig capsized when being lowered and and seven men were lost lines were theft got ashore and all hands escaped the commander then gives give in detail a 9 most formidable and technical list let of the injuries sustained by the in conclusion the com mander said everything was done that could have been done to save the vessel from total wreck and the lives of those attached to the ship lieutenant carlin commanding the survivors of the Vand Van aUa dads in his report to admiral kimberly Kim beriy says the vandalia was prepared for heavy weather in obediente obedi obedience to signals enve from the flag ship when hen the strength of the gale reached the Vand vandalia cilia the ship was directly in the course of the Cal calliope dope which rendered it injudicious to veer about at midnight of the the vandalia began to draband dra gand commenced to steam up with a few intermissions until she struck a speed varying from eighteen to forty two revolutions her engines worked well with the exception of a short time when the steam ran down to twenty five pounds caused by an accident to one of the boilers of the eight and they fumi furnished shed all the steam the boilers could use at daylight carlin says the vessels were seen in the inner harbor to be in trouble the eber soon disappeared entirely and the adler struck the reef after the calliope put to sea carlin says an obstacle was removed from our path and the feeling that we must go on the reef if it remained where it was was dispelled every exertion was made to get into the inner harbor the engines were kept going until he was convinced the ship wat was hard and fast the ships head swung |