The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-08-24
ANOTHER CATASTROPHE.
What Followed the Terrific Explo-
sion at SaDtander.

took fire, and, at 4 o'clock in the after
noon, exploded, killing some six hun
dred persons, wounding a thousand,
wreckiug scores of houses, besides
those of the four or five blocks that
were burned to the ground.
Among the houses, the interiors of
which were left in almost complete
ruin, was that of the American Board g
mission, in which was the chapel and
school-rooms, and the residences of
the pastor and school-teacher. 1t had
been recently bought and remodeled
at a cost of some $4,000, and in the
month of August it had been dedi-
Gated"
AS soon as possible after the catas-
trophe, 1 commenced the reconstruc-
ton of the house-as hundreds of
other proprietors in the city did of
their houses that were in the same
plight. On the Goth of this month, of
March, our work was done; the
masons and carpenters, the white
washers and the painters had left the
premises, their accounts had been
paid, amounting to several hundreds
of dollars, and we were ready for
new dedication of the building, when,
at 8 o'clock in the night of the 22d of
this month, the city was shaken to
its foundations by another explosion,
which, on the instant, everybody
knew must be that of the ill-fated
Cabo Machichaco.
For the moment all were happy at
the thought that this time not much
damage was done, as though the glass
in the windows was scattered in
showers, the doors and partitions
were not injured, but as the citizens
ran to the docks, their joy was turned
to horror and indignation as they
learned that three brave divers"
that were ten feet under the water
and in the hull of the wreck, and ten
or fifteen laborers on the dock, had
lost their lives in the explosion.
1t is a bad and a sad story. Dur
ing the two weeks after the first
explosion some six hundred pack
ages of uneXploded dynamite
were safely taken from the wreck by
the divers, and ever since then they
had been removing the remnants of
freight and wreckage preparatory to
either floating the hull or of breaking
it up by explosions, so that it could
be removed from the place at the
wharf that it was encumbering.
Large quantities of nitro-glycerine
were found in the corners and Gre
vaces of the wreck, and it was known
that it might be exploded accidentally
at any moment; but, as time went on
and nothing occurred, the engineers,
the workers on the wreck and the
at large to some d5gree
lost the sense of danger, and the work
not attracting great deal
of attention nor inspiring much fear.
So truly was this so that that very
afternoon hundreds of strollers, enjoy
ing the pleasant weather, had loitered
near the wreck, watching the work
that was there in progress. Had the
explosion taken place then, there
probably would have been a hundred
victims instead of the ten or fifteen at
nine o clock at night.
But the experts consulted by the
Government as to how best to remove
the wreck, were anxious. Meeting
after meeting was held, but no deci-
sion was arrived at. At one time it
was almost decided to produce an eX-
plosiOn, under proper safe guards, but
that plan was suspended, and at the
last moment they were trying to dis
solve the nitro-glycerine by injecting
into the depths of the hull hot water
and steam, and then to pump it
mp, and that work was going on by
day and by night.
1t now transpired that the divers in
the employ of the company owning
the steamer had refused weeks ago to
work longer on the wreck, on account
of the danger arising from the nitro
glycerine that had filtered through all
the lower spaces of the hull. The d.
vers who then carried on the work
were three in the regular employ of
the port, and they may well go down
in history as true heroes. 1t is now
said by their friends that they well
knew the danger, and that they were
working with their lives in their
hands, impelled to it only by the
sense of duty. One of them, as if in
of his fate, that evening
tenderly bade goodbye to each one
of his family as he left them for his
work. Two hours later parts of his
body were gathered up from
the dock.
Not only the city of Santander but
the whole country, We may say, is up
in arms against the management of
the work; the feeling is widespread
hat there has been lack of intelli-
gence and of care in its prosecution.
1t is said that the afternoon before
The explosion the directing engineer
Of the factory in Bilbao that made the |
iynamite that was on board of the |
Nachichaco, in a divers dress, was
over an hour under the water in |
,pecting the wreck, and that he re-
ported that there was no danger from |
what there might be of nitro-glycer-
ne. In less than five hours from that |
line ten or fifteen men had been
blown to pieces by the explosion!
1t would seem that the simple truth |
# the matter is that the experts are
yet ignorant of some of the mysterious |
conditions and powers of dynamite,
md of its chief component, nitro
,lycerine. 1t is supposed that one of
he unfortunate divers must have
Iropped something on some crystals
# nifrO- vcarine in his Dath-Dut !