The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-06-29

as recommended, they We called for
sea service.
Lieutenant Heath was an officer Of
most genial and kindly instincts, and his
loss will be mourned deep. in the ser
vice, where he had host o f2rn and
attached friends. He enteroi the ser
vice in 1878, and has made lises in
the European, South Atlantic and Pacific
squadrons.
The VandaIia's Sailor
It appears that Uncle Sam signs
contract with all able seamen no are
willing to take the risk OF going 10 sea
in his war vessels that if the vesseI sinks
he will pay them $50 bag money g. re-
munerate the sailor for his wardrole and
handkerchief. When those who 0ere
saved from the wreck of Samoa gail er d
together on the shore they thanked tcs.t
lucky stars for that provision in the uFl-
tract. The sailors could not draw the
money at Samoa, but after their ARR "
at Mare Island on the ROckton the
thought all they would have to do would
be to apply for the coin. They wera
mistaken. A part of the contract, O.
which they knew nothing, said that the
Fourth Auditor of the Treasury would
have to secure an application from each
person. This worked a great hardship
on many of the men whose time was up,
and who were sent adrift two days alter
they arrived from Samoa without any
money except their wages from the time
of the hurricane until their discharge.
Owing to the clothes they were COM
PEELED to purchase at Apia this was but
a small amount, and in no case over $24.
The men on the Vandalia were the
greatest sufferers, as the paymaster and
all his clerks were drowned, his records
were destroyed, and the men could not
get the back wages due them from the
Government, although some of them
were entitled to $3.50. AS no provision
had been made for an accident of that
kind, the money cannot be paid until
red-tape rules have been complied with
which will keep the men out OF their
money for the better part of a year.
Joe Hanson, one of the men of the
Vandalia, received a blank from Wash
ington which he was requested to fill and
have signed by the executive officer Of
the vessel He filed in $125 for wages
and $50 bag money, and took it to Lieu
tenant Carlin to have him atfix his sig
nature. Carlin looked the paper over
and then said that as he had not yet
been paid for what he had lost, he would
not help the men to get their money until
he had procured his. Many of the men
have skipped on deep-water vessels,
while others have gone into the country
and will probably never get their money.
A few have pawned their clothing and
are hanging around the front heaping
anathemas on the Government and hop
ing that by some accident they may get
funds. Most OF them shipped from
Eastern ports and need their money to
get back home.
The S. S. Rockton, an English steamer,
was chartered in Sydney at cost OF
So, 900 more than the Oceanic Company
offered to carry the wrecked men to San
Francisco for, and her bill of $40, 600 was
paid. But the Oceanic Company cannot
secure payment for the passage of the
forty men brought up on the Alameda
three months ago. 1t Is generally
thought that the money paid to the
Rockton might have been much better
distributed in settling the claims of the
unfortunate sailors, and the partiality to
the English vessel as compared with the
treatment accorded the American sailors
and American steamer is unfavorably
commented upon.