The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-03-16

said yesterday she could make IA knots if
pushed to it. She was in Boring sea from
July to October last year. and it is ex-
pected she will be sent there again this
year, though she has received no official
orders as yet. This is the first time she
has been in the Sound south of the straits,
but she was in Departure bay for coal on
her way to Boring sea last year. She will
take on coal here, and probably remain
three or four days before proceeding to the
navy yard site on Port Orchard bay with
the Nipsic. By that time she will prob
ably have received orders. Lieutenant
Commander S. W. Very said he
would receive visitors On board as soon as
he finished taking on coal or at any time
that it did not interfere with the work of
the crew.
Following are the names of her officers:
Commander c. S. Cotton, commanding;
Lieutenant-Commande S. W. Very, exc
cutive; Lieutenant I. H. Stevens, navi-
gator: lieutenants, H. r. Tyler and A. f.
Flechteler; ensigns, Joseph Beale, Hous-
ton Eldredge, J. d. Mcdonald and Will
lam X. Harrison; chief engineer, Charles
J. Mcconnell, and first assistant engineer,
Scion Arnold; surgeon, NJ. II. Simons,
and assistant surgeon, G. I. Smith; pay
master, John G. Sullivan; first lieutenant,
o. c. Bergman, and pay clerk, 2. 0.
Morley.
The Nipsic is the only one of the three
United States men-of-war which survived
the hurricane off the Samoan islands in
1889, the Trenton and Nandalia having
been completely wrecked, along with some
eighteen other foreign vessels, mostly
German. The Nipsic was so badly used up
that it cost about $25, 900 to have her re-
paired at Honolulu, and she has been of
but little use since. Sergeant John Col
man, now on the Nipsic. was on the Van
dalia when she was wrecked. Forty-tive
members of her crew were lost and five
were lost off the Nipsic in the storm. The
Trenton's crew all escaped except one
man, who was Killed by something falling
on him.
As originally built, the Nipsic was much
smaller than she now is, but in 1873 the
work of enlarging and improving her was
begun at Washington City, and in 1879
she was launched again. She is 1S5 feet
long, 80 feet beam, II feet hold, of els tons
register and ,375 tons displacement. Her
engines were $50 horsepower, and she had
a record of nearly eleven knots per hour
as her rate of speed, but since she was
damaged her machinery has been in poor
condition and she cannot make
more than four or five knots per
hour. This is why the Mohican
towed her up from San Francisco, though
she kept up steam most of the time and
helped TO propel herself. She was steam
ing along independently coming in yes,er-
day. She has been out of service for over
year and will be turned over to Lieuten-
ant Wyckoff to be used for a storehouse
and furnish quarters for himself and the
other officers engaged on the Port Orchard
navy yard. The vessel was stripped of her
guns when she went out of service. but at
the request of Lieutenant Wyckof four
guns were placed on board of her before
bringing her up.
She brought up crew of seventy men
| under command of Captain II. E. Nichols.
The crew will return TO San Francisco by
| the next steamer.