The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-04-14

quarter of the Nipsic. The shock carried
away several feet of the Nipsic's rail and
one boat The Eber then fell back and
! fouled with the Olga and this checked her
progress. She seemed unable to make any
! further efforts to save herself, and swung
around brOadside to the wind and drifted
slowly towards the reef. In a moment
more
THE GREAT WAVES ROLLED
in towards the shore and the Eber was
lifted high on the crest and carried broad
side on the reef. She came down with awful
| force, and in an instant there was not a YES
tage of her to be seen. She struck fairly
upon her bottom, rolled over toward the
! open sea and disappeared from view. Every
timber must have been shattered and half
of the poor wretches aboard of her crushed
to death before they felt the waters closing
above their heads. A cry of horror went
UP from hundreds of people on the beach,
! then with one accord they rushed to the
waters edge nearest the point where
the Eber had foundered. The natives
swan into the surf far beyond the
point where a white man could have lived,
and remained waiting to save any poor
creature who might arise from the water.
At first it seemed as if every man on the
ill-fated steamer bad gone 10 his death, but
the breakers on the reef had hidden a few
struggling souls who had come to the sur
face. Presently Il man was seen climbing
10 the piling under a small walk; he was
grasped bf willing hands and drawn upon
the shore. He proved to be
LIEUTENANT GAEDEKE,
o. the Eber, and was the only officer Of that
vessel saved. Four of her sailors We're
seen struggling in the water about the
same time, and were quickly rescued by
the natives and all taken to the American
consulate. Five officers and siXty-siX men
were lost.
The Adler was now close to the reef,
about two hundred yards west of the point
where the Eber struck and likewise was
approaching her doom, broadside on. In
half an hour she was lifted on top OF the
reef and turned completely over on her side.
Fortunately, she was thrown so far up that
nearly her entire hull was out of the water,
and the decks facing the shore, so that the
men were comparatively protected. They
had but few yards to swim to shore and
the greater number were rescued. OF 100
officers and men aboard, twenty were
drowned or killed. When the Alder struck,
many of the officers and men were seriously
injured.
Just after the Adler struck, the attention
of every one was directed toward the
Nipsic. She was standing off the reef with
her head to the wind, but the three anchors
which she had out were not holding. The
steamer was beating toward the point
WHERE THE EBER WENT DOWN.
She had on all the steam that it was posi-
BILE to carry, and had just succeeded in get
ting clear of the reef when the little
schooner Lily got in her track and was cut
down. The Olga was bearing down on the
NlpSic at the time, and the latter vessel was
trying to avoid a collision with the German
oh. ns-f,.1 4la I
on board the latter schooner, only Captain
Douglass was saved, by managing to grasp
one of the Olga's anchor chains and draw
himself up on the steamer.
The Nipsic then got well away from the
reef and the men were preparing to hoist
the heavy S-inch rife ON the forward deck
overheard to assist her anchors, when the
Olga again came down upon her. The
German struck the Nipsic amidships, and
her bowsprit passed over the port side of
the Nipsic and after carrying away a
boat and splintering the rail, came in con-
tact with the SmokeStack The SmOkeStack
was struck fairly in the center and fell to
the deck with crash like thunder. Great
confusion ensued, the crew believing the
steamer was going down, and many men
ran UP the rigging for safety. The iron
smOkestack rolled from side to side, the
men on deck rushing around to keep clear
of its track. Heavy blocks We're fin
ally placed under it, but by
that time the Nipsic had swung
around and was again approaching
the reef. Having lost her SmOkestacz, the
Nipsicwas unable to keep up steam power,
and it was useless to attempt to steam out
from the reef in the face of the wind. Cap
tain Mullen, who was on the bridge, gave
the order to beach the vessel One anchor
was slipped, and the few pounds of steam
which could still be used kept her in the
deep water until she had cleared the end of
the reef.
WHEN SIZE FINALLY STRUCK
the sandy beach, the vessel swung around,
forming an acute angle with the line of the
shore Orders were given to lower the
boats. Five sailors jumped into one but
the falls did not work properly, and before
the boat was lowered one end dropped
The men were thrown into the water and
drowned. Another boat, containing Sur
geon Derr and half-dozen sick men, was
lowered in safety, but capsized before it
reached the shore. Natives who were
standing in the surf seized the floating men
and passed them to the beach.
Several other men on the Nipsic
ran to the vessels rail and jumped
overheard, among them being Lieutenant
Davenport; all reached the shore in safety,
but two sailors. BY a desperate effort a
line was got to the bow of the steamer
and double hawser was passed ashore and
made fast.
Mataafa's men gathered in great numbers
in the surf and along the hawsers to assist
the men on the shore. The waves were
rolling high on the beach and the undertoW
was so strong that the natives narrowly
escaped being washed out into the bay.
THE TERRIBLE FORCE OF THE WIND
cannot be imagined Rain continued to
pour and clouds of flying sand grew thicker
every moment. Above the roar of the
wind and waves could be heard the shouts
with the loud cries and singing of the
natives as they stood battling in the surf.
Captain Mullen and several other officers
stood by the rail and directed the move
ments of the men. The sick and injured
were sent off first, and after that the men
came down the ropes quickly. The waves
were rolling so high that when the men
hadocome ten feet down the hawsers they
would often be entirely submerged, and
prevented them being washed off and car
ried off by the current. Captain Mullen
was the last to leave the Nipsic.
The Nipsic surgeon and his assistants
were busy several hours administering
restoratives to the wounded and exhausted
men. There was not much shelter for the
men to go to, however, and the dry cloth
ing with which they were provided was
soon drenched by the terrible storm.
They had been at work all night without
food and it was impossible to give
them all food for some time. A great
number of them visited saloons, and
many were soon intoxicated and quarrel
some. Lieutenant Tillette, with small
guard of American marines, did everything
in his mower to DreseTve order and several