Wichita eagle., 1889-04-14

effort on his part sdrifted ashore and was
saved.
1t was about 6 o'clock in the morning
when the Eber foundered.
THE ADLER" NEXT WRECKED.
During the excitement attending that
calamity the other vessels had been almost
forgotten, but it was soon noticed th at the
position of several of them had become
more alarming. The Adler had been
swept across the bay, being for moment
in collision with the Olga. She was now
| close to the reef, about 200 yards west OF
the point where the Eber struck. Like the
| Eber she was approaching her doom broad
side on. In half an hour she was lifted on
top OF the reef and turned completely over
on her side. Nearly every man was thrown
| into the water. Fortunately, however. the
Adler was thrown so far up on the reef
! that when she turned over on her
| side nearly the entire hull was out
| OF water. Her deck was at right
angles with the water and was facing the
shore. Consequently that portion of the
vessel was well protected from the storm.
| Most of the men who were struggling IN
the water had but few feet to swim to
reach the deck, where they chung to guns
and masts in safety. OF the $50 officers
and men aboard, twenty men were
| drowned or killed when the steamer cap
sized All of the officers, including Cap
taiu F'ritze, who was in command of the
German squadron, were saved. Many on
the Adler were badly injured, among them
| being Captain Fritze, who received Sc
| we're shock and a number of cuts and
| bruises. The natives stretched a rope
from the shore to the deck of the Adler
| during the day and a number of sailors es-
capped in that way, but the rope parted be-
r,,.a bod laft - mi h. nth
were not taken off till next day.
They chung to the wreck during
the long weary hours of the
day and night and were greatly exhausted
when the storm subsidized and boats could
be sent out to take them OF. The bottom
of the Adler, however, formed such pro-
lection against the storm that the men
aboard were comparatively safe
FUTILE EFFORTS OF THE ''NIPsIC."
Just after the Adler was struck the at
tention of every one was directed towards
the Nipsic. She was standing off the reef
with her head to the wind, but the three
anchors which she had out at the time
were not holding. The steamer was beat
ing back towards point where the Eber
went down. 1t was only by the most
skillful management her officeas and crew
were saved from the same fate that
befell the Eber. The Nipsic also
narrowly escaped destruction by being
run into by the Olga and it was blow
which she received from that vessel that
finally sent her ashore. The Nipsic had on
all the steam it was possible for her to car
ry and had just succeeded in getting clear
of the reef when the little schooner, Lilly,
got in her track and was cut down. The
Olga was bearing down on the Nipsic at
the time and the latter vessel was trying
to avoid collision with the Olga when
she struck the Lilly. The schooner sank
in a moment. There were three men on
her-Captain Douglas, pilot living in
Apla, Anthony Ormsby, a trader. and a
Olga but only one was saved. Douglas sank
underneath the Olga twice, but finally
succeeded in grasping one Of the anchor
chains and drew himself upon the steamer.
Ormsby almost reached the chain but was
washed away and drowned. The Hawaiian
was swept out to sea Life buoys were
thrown thrown to him from the Calliope
and the Vandalia, but he was not able to
save himself.
The Nipsic got well away from the reef
after she had struck the Lilly and the men
had attached hawser to a heavy 8-inch
rifle on the deck and were preparing to
hoist the gun overheard to assist her
upon her. The Olga struck the Nipsic
amidships, her bowsprit passed over the
port side of the Nipsic and after carrying
away boat and splintering the rail came
in contact with the stack. The smoke stack
was struck fairly in the center and fell
to the deck with crash like thunder. 1t
was difficult to realize for moment what
had happened Great confusion occurred;
the crew believed that the steamer was GO
ing down and men ran up the rigging for
safety Officers allayed their fear as we'll
as they were able. The iron smoke stack
rolled from side to side with every move
ment of the vessel and men ran to keep
clear of its track. Heavy blocks were
placed under it, but by that time it was
was again approaching the reef. 1t was
an anxious moment for all board. They
had seen the Eber strike on the same spot
and it seemed certain they would
go down in the same way.
Having lost her smoke stack
the Nipsic was unable to keep her steam
power up and it was useless to attempt to
steam out from the reef in the face OF the
wind. Captain Mullan was upon the
bridge at the time and remained cool ard
collected during the dangerous moments.
Excitement on the Nipsic had reached the
highest pitch. Several men stood by their
posts nobly, but many were demorallzed
and refused to listen to orders. 1t was
plain that in another moment the Nipsic
would be upon the reef and probably ev-
cry man on board would be lost. Captain
Mullan saw that any further attempt to
save his vessel would be useless, so he gave
the order to beach her. One anchor was
slipped and the few pounds of steam
which could still be used kept the vessel in
deep water until she had cleared the end of
the reef. Boxes of salt pork and other
inflamabie material were thrown in the
furnace to keep up the fires. Her head
was put around to the shore and she had
a straight course of 100 yards to the sandy
beach in front of the American consulate.
The engineers worked as hard as the lin
tied amount of steam would permit. When
the Nipsc struck her engineers did not
take time to stop her engines and her pro-
peller continued TO revolve for an hour,
while her bow stuck fast in the sand about
fifteen yards from the waters edge and
the vessel swung around, forming an acute
anle with this line OF the shore.
THE ATTEMPTS TO LAND.
Orders were given to lower boats; five
sailors jumped into one boat 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. The other boat. contain
ing DR.. f. c.. Derr, the ships
surgeon, and half dozen sick
men, was lowered in safety but it capslzed
before it reached the shore. All OF the
men half swami half foated, Until they
came within reach of the natives who were
standing waist deep IN the surf. When
they were pulled out on the beach several
of the sick men were much exhausted, but
they were quickly removed TO the consu-
late and revived in few hours. Several
men on the Nipsic ran to the rail and
jumped overheard, among them Ileuten-
ant h. @. Davenport. They all reached
the shore in safety, except two sailors who