The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-05-15
SAFE IN PORT.
Return of the Omaha After Cruise of
Three Years.

Return of the Omaha After a Cruise of
Three Years.
The most important arrival in port yes
terday was tue United States steamship
Omaha. SHe came in during the forenoon
and was boarded by a CALL reporter in
search of news, bat as the bUat came along
side the ganZway, a marine rushed down the
ladder and ordered the boat to shore off.
NO one is allowed 10 board, and you must
keep Of" were his orders.
Being informed Of the nature Of the busi-
ness OF the visitor the marine hunted up the
officer OF the watch, and after a number Of
mcsSenger-bOys had been called and dis
patched to various parts OF the ship, the re-
porter was allowed to board her.
I'VE can tell you nothing relating to the
voyage without the Captains sanction" !"
said one of the officers. The Captain has
just laid down and will not be disturbed-in
fact, he gave orders not to allow any re-
portars on board at all. No, sir. we did not
see the Itata at all; we arrived at San Diego
twelve hours too late. We were detained
outside By head wind, and, you know. tue
Omaha is not the fastest ship in the world
in fact for twelve hours we barely made
two knots an hour, and it " as not a strong
wiud, either.
NO LATE NEWS.
ave came up from MaZatlan, but did not
see either the Esmeralda or the Itata, but
we heard that the ESmeralda was some
where on the coast. We left Acapulco on
April 23d and were there four days. The
only thing we heard of the Itata was that
she is faster steamer than the papers give
her credit for being"
On being asked what the chances were Of
her being OYerhaued by the Charleston the
officer laughed. "NO chance at ALL" he re-
piled, "unless she broke down at sea- which
is not likely. l don't think she will put
into Acapulco for coal. She took sufficient
coal from San Diego TO carry her down to
Valparaiso, and why she should put into
any port before she reaches Chile is mys-
terry to me-"
Whether the Charleston would 90 clear
down TO Chile tie Officers of the Omaha
could not say, but they were under the I'M
preston that at Acapulco the chase would
be abandoned ard she would be ordered to
return to San Francisco unless something
else turns up to prevent it.
AN UNEvENTFUL CRUISE.
In regard to the cruise of the Omaha the
officers stated that it had been most un-
eventful one, but they had been kept on the
move most OF the time since departure from
Panama on the 9TH of May, 1888. The
cruise has been mostly in China aud Japan
aud during the three Fears over 1920 miles
had been traverSed.
some very heavy gales were met with
in the China seas" said one OF the officers,
and during one of them we had all we
could do to pull through. The ship rolled
fearfu.ly; her decks were constantly full of
water and one poor fellow was carried of
| the tOpgalant fUTecaste by heavy sea and
drowned. No boat could 1--we for an instant
| ia such n sea and the crew could do nothing
to save bin.
"While firing a salute in Yokohama two
| years ago the loader and SpOnger of the
| after gun on the starbOard side were blown
| t0 atoms by the premature discharge of the
gun. One shot had been fired and the men
| neglected 10 sponge the gun out as should
! have been done. but Inserted the heavy
! charge Of powder and proceeded 20 ram il
home. Fire must have remained in the gun
| and as soon as the powder reached this the
| EXPLOSION occurred. u iii men were torn
| all to pieces. The sad accident cast n
! gloom over the ship, as both men were well
liked"
| AN OLD-FAsHIoNED SHIP.
! The Omaha is one of the oid-fashioned
/ wooden ships, and IS armed with ten 9-inch
! smOCth-baTts, OHe 8-inch rifle and one CO.
! pound breech-lOading rifle. Her tonnage is
/ 24GO, and her length over all 2S8 feet, with
! a beam of 50 feet. The ship has been in
| commission fer six years, but her present
crew has been on her only half of that
! time. All hands seemed glad to be back in
! the United States. and hope to go up tC
| Mare Island and be paid off as soon as pos
! sible.
The following is list of her officers. in
| addition TO Which she carries 2l5 seameu
! and marines:
Captain, B. J. Cromwell; Lieutenant Com
mander, w. w. Reisinger; Lieutenants-JameS
| NJ. Miller, John NJ. BOwyer, Henry Miuelt, 81.
mon Cook; Enslgn II. e. Defenbach; Chief En-
! gIneer, q. VI. L. Maccarty; Payma,ter, c. A. Nc
| Daniel; Medical Instructor, George r. Brush
| First Lieu enant y. &. Bergman, u. s. NJ. {.
Passed Assistant Surgeon, V. &. h. Means:
| Passed Assistant Engineer, A. " Zane; Assist
| ant Surgeon, James q. Field; chanlain, w. C.
! Morrison; b0atswain, William Manning, aud
carpenter, john q. Tiiden.