Show THEIR FIGHT FOR LIFE I Terrible Experience of Troops On Transport Manauense I STEAMER WAS UNSAFE SOLDIERS SPENT TWELVE DAYS BAILING WITH BUCKETS I Engines Broke Down Provisions Gave Out and the Ship Came Near FounderingSprung a Leak and Steam Pumps Failed to Work Criminal Carelessness Charged t Manila Nov 2SThe transport Man auense with Lieutenant Colonel Webb Hayes and three companIes of the Thirt firSt infantry on board has arrIved ar-rIved here She narrowly escaped disaster dis-aster The officers and soldIers were for twelve days bailihg with buckets The steamer was unseaworthy undermanned under-manned and short of provisions Her engines broke down and she rolled three days 1n a iJhoon When the Ianauense anchored in Manila bay thIs mornIng thlrt three days from San Francisco there were several feet of water In her hold and 400 grimy greasy hungry exhausted soldiers and sailors had been passing buckets of water since Nov Ii night and day FIrst Assistant Engineer Dunleavy was under arrest and according ac-cording to Colonel Webb Hayes official report the chief engineer would have been under arrest also If there had been anyone to replace him The colonels report also tlelares that the captain of the vessel told him that the only thing which brought them through was the fact that the men were greenhorns and failed to realize their danger while experIenced seamen would have deserted the ship and taken to the boats lii mldocean Senator Perkins An Owner Tho Ianauense Is a chartered ship flying the British flag She belongs to a firm of which Senator Perkins of San Francisco is aUeged to be a junior member The officOrs say the firm bought her for 15000 and they claim efforts to sell to the government for 150000 were made She started from San Francisco I accompanied by tho transport pen which carried the remainder of thc regiment reg-iment and encountered heavy seas w Honolulu without accident Aft r starting It developed that she was un dermtnned and soldiers had to be de ft ronet hgatop talleiT to act as firemen coal passers and walters and to do other work Before reaching Honolulu the crew concluded the ship Was not safe and the majority agreed to desert Though they were closely watched many of thp crew succleded in getting away and the Manauense left Honolulu with less than half her crew The captain of the transport on No7 Ii told Colonel Hayes that the vessel had sprung a leak and an investigation resulted In finding several feet of water in her hold The steam pumps were tried but failed to work and there I were no hand pumps on board Bucket Brigade Fermed However fortysix bukets were found others were improvised and the soldiers not employed In working the ship were organize into five shifts and stripped and forming lines they began bailing the officers working with the men passing the buckets which were I snt up to the deck by a windlass The l nest hale a shift could stand was I two hours and often the period was not longer than half an hour Tae baIling continued untII the ship I anchored here The Mme day the leak was discovered the mathinery collapsed and the electrIc lighting plantand distilling dis-tilling evaporating and refrigerating plants failed to work There were no lamps anj the few candles found were exhaustedafter a few days DurIng the last week of the pass ge the Menauense was In utter darkness at night She l1ac1 been rolling in heavy seas all the way but Nov 22 she encounter a tsphoQn and pitched and I tCfCW alarmingly The Pekln became separated from the Ianauensc in the storm The water rose rapid and the bailIng force was doubled But the buckets were gradually grad-ually sinaehed the barrels and boxes were substItuted for them the men working In darkness pUul1Srind pieces of iron shafting being plently washed wash-ed among them The firemen could only ContInUcd m Page 2 |