St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-15
Admiral Kimberly, of the
Trenton, Talks Tearfully
Of the Great Storm.
Mataafa Offers to Allow Amer
lean Sailors the Use Of
Samoan Houses.
The "Star Spangled Banner y
Played on the Trenton as
the Ship Went Down.

APIA, samoa, Marcn 0U (Vla San
Francisco, April 14).-Atter the storm
of March 1e had su bsided, and after the
officers and crews of the wrecked YES
sells had come ashore, the evidence of
the awful destruction was presented ON
every side. The German survivors re-
mained in that part of the town where
the property of the German trading
company is located, but the Americans
were to be seen everywhere. The Off
GERS had lost their uniforms an
were dressed as common sailors.
Admiral Kimberly was the last
to leave the American flag
ship Trenton. He went at once to some
rooms which had been provided for him
in the house of the American resident.
The Associated Press correspondent
found the admiral a few hours later
sitting alone ON the porch of a small
house facing the harbor. There was an
expression of great anxiety on his face
as he sat watching the wrecks of the
American men-of-war. ''Is it not
awfulP" he remarked to the correspon-
dent. "In all my experience on sea L
have never seen storm to equal this
one. can hardly realize yet the full
extent of damage which has been done.
My chief anxiety now is to get these
eight or nine hundred sailors
BACK TO AMERICA.
1t would be of no use for them to re-
main here, and 1 must get them home
as quickly as possible. L shall either
fnln fn OBJ
to be sent from San Francisco to take
the men back Or | will charter steam
er in Auckland. They must get back
soon in some way. The admiral was
asked in regard to his own experience
during the storm, but had little to say
of personal nature. He continued: !:
The fires of the Trenton went out at
10 o'clock in the morning. and our rud-
der and propeller were carried away at
the same time. No one can realize the
force with which the rudder was
struck. l suppose piece of
wreckage fouled it. The pilot wheel
whirled around with terrible velocity,
every spoke in it was broken. and one
of the men at the wheel had a leg
broken. The great volumes of water
poured in upon the berth deck through
the haWse-pipeS, the fire-room was soon
flooded and the fires were put out. The
hawSe-pipeS should never have been
placed where they were. 1t was piece
of faulty construction which the gov
ernment officials had been asked to
remedy several times. If they had been
located on the deck above the water
would not have come in. | consider this
as Indirectly the cause of the
LOSS OF THE TRENTON.
After our steam gave out we used the
storm sail, and sent the men into the
rigging and used them as sails. The
ship was handled sllillfully. 1t would
have been impossible for us to steam
out of the harbor as the Caliope did, as
our engines were not powerful enough.
We had on every pound of steam that
we could carry, and with three anchors
out we were not able to hold up against
the storm. We fought against it as long
as we could do so, but were finally
driven back upon the Shore" The ad-
miral spoke feelingly of the death of
Capt. Schomaker and other officers and
men who perished. The confusion
which was present everywhere in Apia
during the first few days after the storm
had disappeared at the end of the week.
The quarters of the ship-wrecked sailors
had been made more comfortable, and
the daily routine duty Was properly at
tended to. Consul Blackl0ck's orders
prohibiting the sale of liquor to sailors
had good effect, and very few drunken
men were to be seen. The town is still
under marine guard in charge of Capt.
Huntington, and Mataafa's police have
assisted i'll maintaining order. The
men from the Trenton and Vandalia
have separate barracks, and have
erected temporary
TENTS FOR SHELTER.
The Nipsic men are still living aboard
their vessel, and the German survivors
are quartered in warehouse belong
ing to a German firm. Working part
les are kept busy all the time on the
wrecks Of the Trenton and Vandalia,
and articles of every description being
brought ashore from the vessels and
piled together in a large yard. Divers
have been at work and many articles
were saved in that way. The safes
from both vessels, containing large
amounts of money, were recovered.
been removed, and it will be placed on
the Nipsic, as the latter ship lost her
smOkestack in collision with the
Olga. The divers also have been
making an examination of the Nipsic.
and have discovered that her keel had
been carried away. 1t has not yet been
aScertained whether the Nipsic will be
able to leave the harbor or not. Admiral
Kimberly is most anxious to get her
away, and send her either to Auckland
or San Francisco for repairs, if he is
satisfied she can stand the trip. She is
not likely to leave, however. until the
arrival of some other men-of- war. The
Monongahela and Mohican are eX-
pected to arrive here soon. King
Mataafa came down from his camp a
few days ago.
a LIGHT RAIN
had fallen the night before and the
water had leaked into many of the tents
occupied by sailors. Mataafa pointed
out to Admiral Kimberly the danger OF
sickness breaking out among the men
on account of this exposure, and on be-
half of his own people he offered to va
cate all the Samoan houses in Apia and
allow the American sailors to have the
use of them. Admiral Kimberly thanked
Mataafa warmly, but stated to him it
would be almost impossible to control
the men if they were scattered around
among the native houses. He promised
to consider the offer, however, if the
situation became more pressing. There
is no immediate danger of the supply of
provisions being exhausted. Several
parties with whom contracts have been
made for the feeding of men have
plenty of provisions on hand, and the
steamer Lubbock will arrive from Syd-
ney in a few days, and a fresh supply
will he obtained from her The Offinnrc