The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-03-16

On the morning Of February 9th
the barkentine Hilo went ashore near
Keauhou, point on Hawaii, about
twenty-five miles northeast of Puma
luu. She afterward proved to De a to-
tai loss. A full account of the wreck
appeared in the ADVERTISER as soon
as the news reached this city. Some
additional facts were gained last
night in au interview with J. f. lie
Ballister, the master of the vessel.
The captain and his wife arrived
"Wednesday onthe steamer WIG. Hall,
and are registered at the Arlington
Hotel. Both are in good health, and
are glad that they escaped the hard
ships attendant on shipwrecks. Mrs.
lie Ballister is a most pleasant
woman to meet, and, although she
Greatly regrets the destruction of her
husbands handsome vessel, she feels
more keenly the loss of her library and
ners5nal effects, which took her years
m gather. The captain feels more
liscousolate as a number OF his friends
owned shares in the vessel, and, as she
was uninsured, every dollar invested
in her is lost.
The ADVERTISERS account of the
wreck was substantially correct, with
Tho execution that it did not give the
avac, reason for the cause of the disast-
or II turns out that KapOho Point was
taken for Kalae and this error was
the immediate cause of the loss of the
vessel. The captain is anxious to cor
rect a wrong impression in regard to
a statement made by local paper.
The statement in question was TO the
effect that he was about two hundred
miles out of his course, while as a
matter of fact he was but three miles
ont of the way. In speaking of the
loss of the vessel, he said:
"On February Goth, at 1890 P. NJ,
we made land on the port bow, while
the starboard watch was on duty. We
hauled up close on the wind and head
ed north east by north. This caused
us to run along parallel with the land
until | was afraid that the vessel
would get on a lee shore, so / backed
the ship and then headed her south
until midnight. We then kept OFT
southwest, and about A. M, on Feb
ruarv 9th, the mate called me and
said that the wind had changed and
that they would have to jiDe. l i'm
mediately went On deck and after
seeing that everything was all right,
7 gave the course northwest by west
from a point that took to be to the
westward of the right course, as L
wished to clear everything and to
keep little distance from the land so
rs not to get becalmed.
"After giving the course L went be-
low and laid down without taxing OH
NV clothes. Just previous to leaving
the deck / could see quite distance
ahead but could not discern any signs
of land. naturally felt quite safe
and YOU can imagine my surprise
when at 4 o'clock / heard the men on
deck cry out breakers ahead 1t
took me but a moment 10 reach the
deck and at a glance / saw that the
vessel was lost as the breakers did not
look TO be more than two lengths
away. Nv prediction was right as
Int a few moments elapsed when the
vessel struck hard and fast with
latter taking q survey of the situa.
hon / saw there was no chance OF
getting ashore alive, as the beach was
very rocky and the surf was very
high, and to make the situation more
hazardous a southerly storm was
brewing. Taking every thing into
consideration | concluded that moth
ing could be saved from the vessel, SO
we launched the long boat and the
entire crew of twelve people with
myself and wife jumped in and start
go for Honolulu.
1--WE took but small portion of
our necessary apparel and some
soda crackers and a keg of water.
The morning was cold and the
rain came down in torrents
and to add to our discomfort the. sea
was in a choppy condition. The boat
being heavily laden, she naturally
took in much water, and one man was
kept busily engaged bailing it out
@There was no wind and four men
were nut al the oars, with relief at
short intervals. We thought that we
would never find a landing place, but
ut last we fetched up at Punaluu buoy.
You know the rest of the story"
Before concluding his statement
Captain LIE Bailister said that the
cause of the loss of the vessel was that
he took Kapoho for Kalae Point. The
captain and his wife will remain III
town for about two weeks before leav-
ing for San Francisco, They are both
loud in their praises of w. z. Feneii
and Mr.. Stone of Punaluu, who dld
everything they could for the comfort
of the entire party.
Thrnn DAYS Is q very short time I'D