New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-15
4 WONDERFUL RECITAL.

The wreck OF the men-of-war in Apia har-
Dor would have been a theme in which the
genius of Charles Reade or Victor Hugo
would have revelled. Captain Dodd's escapes
from shipwreck and his sea-fght with the pi-
rates were trivial episodes Of maritime adj
venture in comparison with the two days con-
flict with the devastating hurricane in the open
roadstead, and the most thrilling passages Of
1.-THE Toilers of the Sea- are artificial and
prosaic when contrasted with the heartrending
experiences of the American, German and Eng:
lish sailors in battling with the Samoan tempest
Those great masters Of modern fiction never
had q subject that could be compared in tragic
interest and varied dramatic effects with the
catastrophe at Apia, when Nature, by q supreme
"eonstratiou of irresistible power, interviewed
il petty rivalres of Laions and brought to
y +he intrigues and jealousies of men.
- a., sndid use they could have made OF
ilGt ~ lal az was furnished in the columns
81 ytsa' rday's TRIBUNE. Even without the adj
ventitious aid of such genius rs theirs the mar
rative there published in detail was one OF
extraordinary interest and descriptive power.
Unpretentlous in literary style, it was master
~ bit of newspaper work, for which the man
ager of the Associated Press and his Samoan
correspondent deserve the highest praise.
Nothing better has been done for the press since
the battle-pictures of the Balkan, German
French and American civil wars were sketched
by trained correspondents in the field.
Few readers who began that thrilling recital
paused until they had finished it. Their inter
est could not have tagged so long as a single
ship remained afloat to maintain the desperate
struggle with hurricane Of unprecedented
violence in those tempest-tossed Southern seas.
With what varied emotions Of sympathy, ad-
miration and despair they followed the manoeu-
vres of those seven beleaguered warships in
futile defence against the victorious forces OF
Nature With what amazement they witnessed
the awful fate Of the Eber, which was literally
blown out Of the water and then overturned
and broken in pieces on the reefs! With what
patriotic pride they appreciated Mullan's gallant
and heroic struggle to save the Nipsic, and the
pucky and successful Bleaching OF the ship
when oil other expedients had failed How
their hearts went out to Schoonmaker, Wilson
and Carlin of the Vandaia, when the British
ship comprised her destruction by fouling her
and forced her TO run ashore in the jaws oil
death The Calliope made final successful
break for the open sea, and their involuntary
tribute was /" England rules the waves" Then
came dramatic touches when the Trenton's
400 sailors cheered as one man the gallant
English ship as she swept by in safety on
track where the American flagship could not
follow in her wake and, again when the band
played "'The Star Spangled Banner" to revive
the sinking hearts of the Vandalia's men. who
had been clinging for twelve hours to the Storm
swept rigging. II was story Of SURPRISING IN
terest which enabled the newspapers OF the day
TO Outriyal for once the browning imaginative
flights of the masters of modern fiction.
The moral of this remarkable narrative re-
mains to be pointed The newsgatherers OF the
Associated Press were too closely occupied win
their opportunities for graphic description to at
tempt to do this, and it was not their function.
But when the story is told the impression that
is most potent in the impartial readers nina
"a that of the irony Of Natures awful in
PREVENTION in petty international wran-
gle. That resistless hurricane wrought deVasta-
tion among the coral reefs, where scores oil gal
liant tars sank into unknown graves. but 1t had
q pacific mission in the affairs Of men and ma
tions. II has conciated public feeling in both
Germany and America, taught them to appre-
ciate the insignifcance Of trivial riyalries over
imaginary interests in the South Seas ana
opened the way, as we hope for an equitable
settlement of fantastic dispute.
-@>-~~-~-----~~-<--~~-~.
P1UPEROCRACY.