Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-04-15

ashore, the evidence of the awful de-
struction was on every hand. The Ger
man survivors remained in that part of
the town where the property Of the Ger
man Trading Company is located, but
the Americans were to be seen every
where. The officers had lost their uni
forms, and were dressed as common
sailors. Admiral Kimberly was the last
to leave the Trenton. He went at once
to some rooms which had been provided
for him in the house of an American rss-
ident.
THE ADMIRAL's STORY.
The Associated Press correspondent
found the Admiral, q few hours later,
sitting clone on the porch Of small
house facing the harbor. There was an
expression of great anxiety on his face as
he sat watching tle wrecks OF the Amerl-
can men-of-war. SIS it not awful?' he
remarked, as the correspondent took
seat by his side. ''In all my experience
on eea, have never seen storm to
equal this one. I can hardly realize yet
the full extent of the damage done. My
chief anxiety now is to got these eight or
nine hundred sailors back to America.
1t would be of no use for them to remain
here, and l must get them home rs
quickly as possible. They must get back
coon in some way"
The Admiral was asked in regard to
his own experience during tho storm,
but had little to say of a personal nature.
He continued "The fires of the Trenton
went out at ten o'clock in the morning,
and our rudder and propeller were car
ried away at the same time. No one can
realize the force with which the rudder
was struck. suppose piece of wreck
age 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 his leg broken
Great volumes of water poured in upon
the berth deck through the hawser pipes.
The fire room was soon flooded and the
fires put out.
A FATAL FAULT IN CONSTRUCTION.
The hawse-pipes should never have
been placed wnere they were. 1t was
piece of faulty construction which the
Government officials had been asked to
remedy several times. If they had been
located on the deck above, the water
would nothave come in. | consider this
as, indirectly, the cause Of the less OF the
Trenton. After our steam gave out we
used storm sail and sent men into the
rigging and used them as sails. The ship
was handled skillfully."
cit would have been impossible for US
TO steam out of the herbor as the CALI
ope did, as our engines we're not power
full 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 Admiral spoke feelingly of the
death of Captain Schoonmaker and the
other officers and men who perished.
CARLIN's CLOSE CALL.
Lieutenant Carlin, of the Vandalia,
| probably had the most narrow escape of
any man on the ship. The cabin was
| flooded from floor to ceiling, and Carlin
fell from the deck above through the
skylight, down into the cabin. He
grasped small rope as he fell, and with
great effort succeeded in drawing him
self up on deck. In speaking of his ad-
venture, Carlin said: "My escape was
miraculous, and l hardly know how l
got out. | was standing on the poop
deck, when a great wave knocked me
through the cabin skylight. / felt my
self going, threw out my hands ard
caught small rope. | went down into
the water and was completely sub
merged. l held on to that rope with
one hand with all the strength | had left,
and it was that alone that saved me. If
the rope had broken, or my grasp upon it
relaxed, l would have been swept against
the side of the cabin, far out OF reach of
the skylight. The water in the cabin
Was swaying from one side to the other,
and would have been crushed to death
or drowned if | had not drawn myself
out when did. l thought it was all up
with me this time, but the vessel gave a
lurch, and came out again through the
skylight and drew myself on deck.
BRAVE sCHooNMAKER's DEATH.
In speaking of the death of Captain
Schoonmaker, Mr.. Carlin said: THE
Captain stood upon the deck the whole
morning, and it was pitiful TO see him,
He had injured himself severely the
night before, and was so weak that he
could hardly stand. After we struck and
the waves began to wash over us, stood
alongside of him and did all that could
to keep him on. He kept repeating to
me that he could not stand it much
longer and would have to 90 soon. l
urged him to go into the rigging, out he
insisted that he was not equal to the
effort. He said that he could not walk
across the deck ratliues, 30 / undertook
to show him how to go. I waited until
wave washed over the vessel, and then
rushed across the deck and climbed a
few feet into the rigging. The Captain
watched me intently all the time, but
there was dubious expression on his
face. l climbed down the rigging again
and started across the deck to assist the
Captain to walk over to the ratlines, but
in the meantime another great sea had
washed over the vessel, and when |
reached the spot where tho Captain had
been standing he was gone. The wave
had knocked the machine gun against
him and forced him over in the water.
After that l climbed to the mizzen NV
self and remained there until / escaped
to the deck of the Trenton"
AT WORK ON THE WRECKS.
Working parties are kept busy all the
tune on the wrecks of the Trenton and
Vandalia, and articles OF every descrip-
tion have been brought ashore from the
vessels and piled together in large
yard. Divers have been at work and
many articles were saved in that way.
The safes from both vessels, containing
q large amount of money, were re-
covered. The smokestack of the Van
dalia has been removed and it will be