The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-04-11
WRECKED ATtSAMOA
The American and German Gunboats
Destroyed by a Violent South
~ = Pacific Hurricane.

AUCKLAND, March 20.-Dlspatches from
Samoa state that he American men-of-war
Trenton, Vandalia and Nipsic and the Ger
man men-of-war Adler, Olga and Eber were
driven on a reef during a violent storm and
totally wrecked. or the American crews
four officers and forty-s'x men were drowned
and of the German crews nine officers and
eighty-seven men lost their lives.
/ II N1PsIc's OFFICERS.
NEW YORK, Special Telegram, March 90
Commander Denis W. Mullen. the COM
mander of the Nipsic. was ordered to that
duty! Oct. J., 1887. Commander Mullen
while not regarded as one of the
brilliant men of the navy, was
q good fighting officer. He was
o native of Massachusetts and was Of Irish
parentage. The executive officer of the
Nipsic, in the absence Of Lieut.. Hawley, was
Richard G. Davenport His reputation
as q first-class officer in every re-
spect was vouched for by all the navy
people here. He was a son of the late
Capt. Davenport of the nay who was one of
the most distinguished navel officers Of the
late war and who commanded b Congress
during the battle of Mobile Bay. The other
officers attached to the Nipsic were Lieut.
John T. Sherman, Ensigns William P.
White, John L. Purcell, Harry A. Field,
and Harry +. Jones, Passed Assistant Surgeon
Ferr, Passed Assistant Paymaster John Cor
win, Chief Engineer George W. Hail, Passed
Assistant Engineer Horace E. Frink aud
First Lieutenant of Marines 7. Glover Fill
cite. The complement of the Nipsic was ia
marines and blue jackets, although some Of
her short time men were sent home from
Samoa wnen the Adams left for Samoa when
49, Al-.~. q S-. Cr~ C~---;So@ 10 Tc~,~-
last. The Nipsic was q wooden vessel and
was built in 1873. Her displacement was
1866 tons and indicated speed ten knots.
Her battery consisted OF one 8-inch muzzle-
loading rifle, four 9-inch smooth bores.
one 6O-pounder breech-loading rifle.
In the secondary battery there was one
three-inch rifled howitzer, one twelve
FOUNDER and one short gattling gun. In ad-
dition to these there were sixty Hotchkiss
rifles of the latest improved pattern in che
armory, besides the usual number of pistols
and side arms Above ed by regula ton for ves-
sells Of the Nips:c c'ass.
THE VESSELS.
The Trenton and Vandalia were larger
than the Nipsic. The Trenton was a ship
rugged wooden cruiser Of ten guns
and 5000 tons displacement The
Vandalia was u bark-rlgged wooden
cruiser of 2 100 tons displacs ment, with a
battery of eight guns mostly smooth bores.
As far as known the Olga was the most for
midab]e of the German vessels at Apia. She
was unarmorcd and unprotected single deck
cruiser of 2, 200 tons. Her principal battery
consisted of eight incl Krupp lilies and a
number of Hotchkiss revolving cannon. She
carried about half a dozen Schwartz-Kopf
torpedoes. which are similar TO the White
head torpecoes in that they are projected
from tubes beneath the water line. The speed
Of the Olga was somewhat superior to that
of the Vandal la, her maximum trial speed
having been fourteen. The Adler and the
Eber were not as large or as strong as the
Olga, the Adler carrying four and the Eber
three Krupp rifles The great strength OF
the German feet from a fie hting standpoint
lay in it's possession of torpedoes.