The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-05-02
THE SAMOAN DISASTER.
secretary Tracy's COMPLIMENTARY LETTER.

On Saturday last Secretary Tracy sent a let
ter to Admiral Kimberly generating the off,
GERS ia command of the wrecked vessels of tx;
q. s. Navy, which occurred at AVVia Samoa
last month. This Letter Was in answer to one
from Admiral kimberly asking for Court of
Inquiry, which the Secretary of the Navy did
not think necessary. The Secretary pays high
tribute to Capt. Schoonmaker, Paymaster Arms
Lieut.. Sutton and Pay Clerk John Roche. The
Secretary says in his letter:
In reply to your request and that of Capt Far
quhar for Court of Inquiry, the Department has to
say that it deems such court unnecessary. 1t Is
satisfied that the officers In command of the ships
at Apia did their duty with courage fidelity and
sound judgment, and that they We're zeaIously and
Loyalty seconded by their subordinates; that the
hurricane which caused the destruction of the yes-
sells and the loss of many lives was one of those
visitations of Providence in the presence of which
human efforts are of little avail that the measures
actually taken by yourself and the officers under
you were all that wisdom and prudence could die
tate and that il due to these measures that so
large a proportion of the crews were saved that
the one step which might have ayerted the eatas-
trophe, namely to have put to before the storm
had developed, could only have been justified in
view of the grave responsibilities resting upon you
at Samoa, by the certainty of overwhelming dan
ger to our feet which could not then be foreseen ;
that you rightly decided TO remain at your post
and that the Department, even IN the face of the
terrible disaster which it involved, approves abso
lutely your decision which has set an example to
the Navy that should never be forgotten.
To convene n Court of Inquiry under these cir
cumstances would seem to imply doubt the
part of the Department where no doubt exists ;
and Instead of ordering an investigation, it tenders
to YOU and through you 10 the officers and men of
your command its sympathy for the exposure and
hardshps you have encountered, and its profound
thanks for the fidelity with which you performed
your duty in n crisis of appalling danger.
From your own report and from other accounts
that have reached the Department, it appears that
the conduct of those under your command evinced
throughout that courage, resolution and fortitude
which the United States has learned always to eX-
pect from the officers and seamen of its Navy.
When her. Britannia Majesty's ship Calliope for
succeeded in her gallant effort to pass the Trenton
and steam out OF the harbor against the hurricane,
the ringing cheers from the American flagship, as
her crew were standing facing death, showed a
spirit alike generous and dauntless. During tho
whole Oh Saturday when the Trenton was helplessy
dragging her anchors, on the verge of destruction
the officers preserved their composure and heroic
conduct and directed her movements with
summate skill; the crew We're thrown into the rig
ging q substitute for sails, and through the cool
and exact Judgment of those charged with her
guidance, she was enabled to escape the extremity
of peril Finally at the close of the day when she
brought up alongside of the Vandaa. her officers
and men, notwithstanding the suffering through
which they had passed and the danger by which
they were still surrounded, thought only of doing
their utmost to assist their comrades of the Van
dalia whose distress was greater than their own,
and by firing rockets with life lines the masts
and rigging of the sunken vessel they succeeded in
rescuing all of those who had taken refuge there
while, under the inspiration of sentiment which
has awakened a response in every American
heart, the band of the flagship. to encourage those
who, dazed with fatigue and weakened by ex-
posure were still clinging in the rigging, played
the national anthem.