The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-08-14
The soour.se Of the Tropics in
10Y New York Bay. -. Z
yellow FEVER eNA sPANsxam0N+c CLAD
The Numancia's Arrival at
New York.
Eighteen Cases and Two Deaths
In the, Harbor.



Precautions. 81 vne Health Au1Auities- Diposi-j
tiass Of thy. sick-The Aurial of the
" Dead Description ofstAe veuel
" 4 -- 'o.a -
1he SpanfHl3iron clad ram 81 sam Nitrate NumanUfa
. war vessel Of the frst clsss and magnitude, ar
voyage cfseven days from Havana. The vessel was
signaeG outside Sandy II 0ok earlyin the afternoon
81 that day, and was pilahted into the Lowor Bay
~ Thomas @. Gillespie, belonging to the SANDY
Hook pilot boat No. ~. Upon being boarded by the
Hearth Oficer's deputy, stationed at the hospital
ship 7llinois at the West Asnk It learned that
the Numancia had seSeIseeen cases of weH-deAned
yeilow fever on board among her crew, and one
<ead man, q victim or the same pestilenoe, who
had died vfhile psBsing Sandy Book. Health
O0ncer vandrpoel had already been informed;
nat o large Spanish ironclad hailing from thej
West hdaes was outside. and judging from the
eaas0n that she might possibly have yellow fever ION
bOard he made preparations to receive and acco m
mOdate her. The Eumancla is o vessel'of gigan tic
proportions, and Il soon ascertainedthat tn ere
was NO anchorage In the Lower Bay at which she
could lie with safety DO herself and ether yes lels
ana the only resort under the eircumsta noes
was TO bring her up to the Narr0ws, where
vessels Of any known draught can md good
nay looks like young ocean with apparent room
for all the naves In the world to float upon Is sur
face, and this s In part the fact. There ist more
than enough surface; but comparatively few people
are aware that all the vast commerce OF he En-
plre City enters Its portals through one or two
narrow passages mapped out on the bOttO m OF the
bay, and that outside OF these passages lere are
numerous shoals and sand banks which arts covered
by water varying In depth nom twelve tokperhaps
twenty-nine feet ut high tide. 4 These
passages, known as the South Channel,
the Swash Channel &C, Of consdera bly, greater
depth, but are, unfortunately very row, and az
consequence no vessels are ever al0' we'd TO come
70 anchor In them, as other vessels entering and
leaving the port would be thereby mperilled or in
Oonventenced. The Numancia rawsftwenty- eight
feet Of water, and 1t was claimed t0;be impossible
shat she could anchor In the Lower Bay; FIRST be-
cause II anchored In the channels she would
owing to her great size, entirely 0bstruct them,
and, second, because II she were anchored else
where at high water she would probably ground at
1owstide and might careen and capsize as the tide
9ans0uh Hence she was brought
UP 10 THE NARROws
and dropped her anchors nearly opposite Clifton
che site or the old New York Yacht Club House,
where she now rides. Immediately upon the fact
felng ascertained that she had yellow fever on
board DR.. Vanderpoel was informed and prepare
4lons were made for the immediate removal Ofthe
sick to the hospital the West Bank. DR.. Van
.Aerpoel himself at once boarded the frigate, and
after o consultation with the ships surgeons ex-
amined the patients and ordered their transfer to
DE made at once and the vessel to be disin-
fected. One hours time was gwen the officers
20 have everything in readiness for the
removal Of their infected men, and they
expressed their ability to be prepared within that
time. Unfortur ately, however, at the expiration
OF the hour the heavy rain Of Monday afternoon set
In at the Narrows and the transfer of the patients
was necessarily deferred until yesterday morning.
victims Of the great scourge Of the tropics had
died, making a total Of six deaths since leaving
Havana, inclusive Of four fatal cases at sea.
Nothing, therefore, could be done On Monday
evening, so a strict quarantine police was
morning the work of transferring patients was COM
menced The quarantine ambulance steamer Gov
OF men was made from the Numancia's crew to
handle their sick shipmates Comfortably tucked
Ships SIDE to the OF the until ali
were removed, and then the tender sped away with
her rel to po the large
se sns ' seyen the Sixteen being
favorable to their ultimate recovery to permit them
TO remain on board the frgate. The nine who
ing BY themselves and TWO Of the hospital attend
ants Of the Numancia were ordered, with the con-
the patients to the hospital and tend them during
their illness.
THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD
frOm the frigate took place yesterday morning
early though from the labor attending the task 1t
was probably not completed until after midday
The bodies OF the two victims were low
cred into q small boat belonging to
the quarantine service, and mann manned by
force. The boat was rowed to Seguln's Point, near
the s0utherly extremity OF Staten Island, and the
corpses were Inferred in the Quarantine burying
seguins Point is a dreary and desolate locality,
IN marshy and uninhabitable part OF the island,
no pier landing place. and the burial party usual
" run their small boat up on the beach, and remov-
yards up the shore to the cemetery. The
metropolis here allotted to poor Jack' is sit.
asoS en- BY
wall The land surrounding this little graveyard,
around which must cluster SO many desolate re-
collections from far Off homes, is much lower, is
swampy and malarial, and is OF itselfa fitting and
competent barrier against encroachmept on the
city OF the dead. No fears, therefore, need arise
~ TO the possibility OF pstilence spreading from
the lonely and desolate spot.
lay at her cables yesterday almost midstream In
the upper part OF the Narrows, and attracted no
small share OF attention by her gigantic proper.
tions and trim, man-ol.war-iike appearance. She
n fulrfGae ed steam frfgate OF about aeO feet in
length, 1000 tons burthen and draws 2s feet of
water. She carries a complement OF 4a2 ofncers
and men, has On armament Of twenty-five guns of
power propelled by double engines. Her sides ar
nearly twenty-five inches In thcknesss with Q
hve-inCh iron oufside plating above her water line
and an iron 'skfnn plating inside. The
inner space between the plating Is filed with cop
perbolted oak and teak. Her ram-prow is Of iron
weighing nearly twenty tons, and is built in with
her stem. Its collision point is about six feet
under. water and extends forward abont eight feet
slopng outward from her bows in the form Of q
cutwater. She Is undoubtedly one OF the most
formidable war vessels that ever visited ire port OF
bombsrdments Of Callao and Valparaiso IA 1885,
during me allied South American rerublieS war
nfty-one times by the Peruvian ironclad Loa and
tme snore Dateries and her plating was severely