Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-04-16
WRECK AND RUIN.
Some Details of the Appalling
Disaster that Overlook Our
Navy at Samoa.
The Band PLAYS and the Sailors
CT eer in the Teeth of the
Storm.
The Samoan Disaster

that befel the ships Of the German and
American navies, in the hsrbor %
| Apia on the 10Th of March mas beer
received, rom which It appears thai
the tao us;lons have lost 1900 livei
and nearly three millions OF property
Three American men Of war, th,
Nipsic, Nandalia and Trenton wer,
swept ashore, and the two latter ar,
hopelese wrecks; the Nipsic suffered
less damage and few days after tn,
storm was hauled off the bar and Il
now aflost, the only relic of the Uuitec
States navy in that harbor. or tn,
German navy, the Eber, Adle: snC
Olga are all wrecks. The Calliope, the
only representative Of the English
government, managed to steam out to
sea In the teeth Of the hurricane and
was saved. Some of the incidents OF
disaster are truly dramatic. The entire
report Is too voluminous to republish,
but the following extracts will serve to
show how terrible the situation wac
and with what gallantry our sailor
boys conducted themselves:
In the morning the Vandalis and
Cslliope were seen TO be In the most
dangerous position, bearing back
against the reef rapidly. The Calliope
was nearest the shore ard her bow
was close TO the stern of the Vandalia.
Suddenly the great iron prov of the
English vessel arose high in the all
on the crest of an enormous wave anc
came down with full force upon tn,
port quarter Of the Vandalis. TIL,
crash was awful. The jibboom of tn,
Calliope was carried away and tn,
heavy timbers of the Nandslis wer'
shattered, a hole was tor7 below th,
rail and the water rushed into th,
cabin, Just sitter this collision Cap
tain Jsue, OF the Calliope, determined
to make an effort to steam out Of the
harbor as he saw TO remain in the
present position would lead TO another
collision with the Vandslia or throw
his vessel on the reefs. He accord
ingly gave orders to let go all anchors
The Cslliope's head was swung around
to the wind and her powerful engines
worked to their utmost capacity, The
steamer seemed to stand still for {
moment and then the rapidly revoly'
ing propeller had its effect and tn,
vessel moved up slowly against tn
great waves, She made headwsy q
fret inch by inch, but gradually In
creased her speed until 1t became svi
dent she could clear the harbor. A
she passed abreast Of the Trenton
great shout went up from the 400 me-
on the flag ship and three heart
cheers were given for the CaIliops
which were returned with will. Tn
English vessel passed safely out of IN
harbor and steamed far out to sea, r,
turning after the storm abated. Whe
the excitement on the Nandslia whic
followed the collision with the CallioT
Lad subsided little, IL was foun
necessary to act quickly TO save ii
ship. Lieut.. Carlin, the executi,
officer, was practically in charge Of Il
vessel, as Captain Schoonmaker ha
been thrown across the cabin the nigl
before and was seriously injured, h
head being badly cut and one ear {
: most torn away. Capt. Schoonmak
and Lieut.. Csrlin saw IL was useless
make a further attempt to save II
ship and as the engines were not po'
erful enough 10 steam out 10 sea as h
Calliope had done they determined
beach the vessel. Two OF her anchC
4 slipped And full head OF steam W
put on. She came on until her boz
struck on the soft sand about for
: yards from the stern o. the Nips
The vsndaliaswung around broadsl
10 the beach and II was seen that
= officers and crew were In great dang
In half an hour the vessel was seen
filling with water and settling dow
About 4 o'clock In the afternood I
Trenton and 0lgo were seen 10
n dragging back. The Olga was slmt
upon the reef where the Eber b
struck. The Trenton was coming doy
upon her and a collision seemed In
N vitable. The condition Of the Anne
D; can flag ship was very bad. Az
x o'clock her rudder and propeller h
been carried away by fouling with {
wreckage. Water poured In throuI
hawser pipes IN the bow In torren
Efforts were made TO close the piT
a. but the force OF the water was 20 stro
that the coverings were blown 9
The water rushed In on the Der
deck 10 the matches and poured do'