The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1889-04-04
WRECKED AT SAMOA
The American and German GunbOats
|. Destroyed by q Violent South
Pacific Hurricane.

AUCKLAND, March 29.-Dlspatches from
Samoa state that the American men-of-war
Trenton, Vandalia and Nipsic and the Ger
man men-of-war Adler, Olga and Eber were
driven on u reef during q violent storm and
totally wrecked. OF the American crews
four officers and forty y-six men were drowned
and OF the German crews nine officers and
eighty-seven men lost their lives.
THE NIPsIC's OFFICERS.
New YORK, Special Telegram, March 90
Commander Denis w. Mullen, the COM
mander of the Nipsic, was ordered to that
duty Oct. !, 1887. Commander Mullen
while not regarded as one of the
brilliant men of the navy, was
good fighting officer. He was
a native of Massachusetts, aud 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 q 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 the Congress
during the buttle of Mobile Bay. The other
officers attached to the Nipsic were Lieut.
John r. Sherman, Ensigns William p
White, John L. Purcell, Harry A Field,
and Harry =. Jones, Passed Assistant Surgeon
Ferr, Passed Assistant Paymast er John Cor
win Chief Engineer George W. Hall, Passed
Assistant Engineer Horace E. Frink aud
First Lieutenant of Marines T. Glover Fill
ette 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
the Adams left for San Francisco in January
last. The Nipsic was wooden vessel and
was built in 1873. Her displacement was
1,365 tons and indicated speed ten knots
Her battery consisted of one S-inch muzzle-
loading rifle, four 9-inch smooth bores,
one 6O-pounder breech-loading rifle.
In the secondary battery there was one
three-inch rided howitzer, one twelve
FOUNDER and one short gattling gun. In ad-
dtion to these there were sixty Hotchkiss
rifles of the latest improved pattern i'll che
armory, besides the usual number of pistols
and side arms allow ed by regula ton for YES
sells of the Nips:c c'ass.
THE VESSELS
The Trenton and Vandala were larger
than the Nipsic. The Trenton was q ship
rlSS6u WOOueu cruiser VI Leu guns
and 5000 tons displacement The
Vandalia was bark-rigged wooden
cruiser of 2, 100 tons displace ment, with q
battery of eight guns mostly smooth bores.
As far as known the olga was the most for
midabe of the German vessels at Apia. She
was unaImorcd and unprotected single deck
cruiser of 2, 200 tons. Herprincipal battery
consisted of eight Inch Krupp lilies and O
number of Hotchkiss revolving cannon. She
carried about half a dozen Schwartz-Kopi
torpedoes, which are similar TO the White
head torpeGoes in that they are projected
from tubes beneath the water line The speed
of the O,ga was somewhat superior to that
of the Vandal ia, 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 Ebel
three Krupp rifles The great strength OF
the German feet from fighting standpoint
lay in lis possession of torpedoes.