The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-15
ALONG THE WATER FRONT,
The Ship Merioneth Arrives
With Scurvy From Rio
Janeiro.
SHE Is IN QUARANTINE
Terrible Experience Of the Ship
Benjamin Seawell In Gales off
the Horn.

yesterday, ninety-two days from Rio de
! Janeiro. She was boarded by the Quaran-
tine Officer, DR.. Chalmers, who found
Andrew Anderson, sailor, afflicted with
| scurvy. He had been sick in the hospital
at Rio and has been i'll all the way from
| that port.
| DR.. Chalmers detained the ship at the
quarantine grounds, turning her over to
| DIR. Packham of the United States quaran-
tine station at Angel Island.
On the vessels bill of health United
States Consul General Cleary reported
thirty deaths from yellow fever, three
from choleraic dysentery, which is simple
| cholera, and eighteen from smallpox.
| The vessel left Rio June IL. In his re-
marks the Consul says:
"None of these diseases are considered
| epidemic. The health at the port is good
| for this time of the year."
| The health authorities did not think
there was any particular danger in the
Merioneth, considering the period of time
| that had elapsed since her departure from
the Brazilian port, but they deemed it adj
| visable to take the safe course and there
fore quarantined her, particularly because
her ballast is gravel and soil taken on
board at Rio de Janeiro.
| The vessel is not really in quarantine,
| but merely detained at the station until
| the health authorities determine what to
do with the ballast, this being soil and
| gravel taken from the beach of the most
| plague-stricken place in the world The
sanitary officials feel that they have
cargo of possible danger ON their hands
The Harbor Commissioners will object to
having it dumped in the bay and it cannot
well be disinfected, so the ship and the
load of Brazilian republic in her hold is
| tied up in the quarantine grounds. The
| sick man will be sent to the hospital and
| the ship fumigated.
The British cruiser Hyacinth arrived in
| port yesterday from Esquimalt. She is
| the first English vessel to visit this harbor
| for several years. The Hyacinth is an old
vessel of 1920 tons burden, 200 feet long,
| 3S feet beam and Is feet 9 inches depth.
Her engines are of $50 horsepower and she
was built in 1881, costing $685., 0C0. Her
| battery is eight 6-inch, one 1-inch and
| four machine guns. She will remain here
| to coal and prepare for her voyage home,
| when she will go out of service. AT Co
| quimbo, on the coast of Chile, she will be
| relieved by the cruiser Cordelia on her
way out from England.
| The American ship Benjamin Seawell,
| days from New York. She had disastrous
| trip, and was battered by sea and gale all
| around Cape Horn. May 16, in latitude 81
| south and longitude 60 west, she met her
| first strong blow, which carried away the
mizzen and lower topsails, unshipped
! matches and flooded the cabin. Boats were
stove in and the rails smashed on both
| sides. The ship was hove to, but so fierce
| was the gale that she drifted to leeward
| like a racehorse. On the 21st she again
| encountered storm, which smote the ship
with greater fury than before. Several
! topsails went to shreds, and the seas
| boarded the vessel so often that the decks
were kept full of water for hours, making
| it impossible for the men to move forward
| or aft.
June 4 saw the noble ship bending
| down under another storm, which
seemed to whirl her around to all
points of the compass. The steam
and the cabin again flooded. A sick man
named Benjamin CARLSON lying in one of
| the rooms was dashed around in the tor
| rent of water, the patient being unable to
help himself. The galley was wrecked,
and the Chinese cook badly injured. The
water tank on deck was stove in and ran
| empty. The storm lasted SO long that the
| people on board being unable to get at the
| water in the hold suffered from thirst, and
also from hunger, as the galley was in
ruins and the stores were damaged by the
seas that battered themselves into the
storerooms. They managed to cook
little food in the cabin, and finally pro-
cured water from below.
During the gale the men could not go
forward. but remained aft perched up on
the higher parts of the deck out of reach of
the seas. The ship was practically I'M
manageable, and she went where the wind
and waves pushed her. They tried to
| 11r<~ IL - & Il IL
but were blown off again. On June 16 they
saw large painted-port ship drifting in
the stormy ocean. She was British YES
sci, without sails. some of her spars gone
and no signs of life on board. The Seawell
did not stop to examine the derelict, and
her officers have no idea who she was.
June 20 they put in at Tome, on the
coast of Chile, south of Valparaiso, where
CARLSON died July 8. The snip sailed from
there July 7.
The American ship Conqueror arrived
yesterday 127 days from New York, and
the British ship Beacon Rock from New
castle, England.
days from Newcastle, Australia, and the
overdue British four-master Otterburn 175
days from Newcastle, England. The voy-
age was miserably stormy one and the
seas were boarding them all the time while
in the vicinity of the Horn.
The passage began badly for shortly
after sailing a sailor named James Nichol-
son was sent aloft to the upper mizzen top
gallant yard to perform some task. That
was the last ever seen of him. 1t is believed
that as he was not strong, having just re
covered from spell of sickness, he grew
dizzy and was pitched overheard, dropping
in the water unnoticed.
The Italian ship Emanuele Accame, ar
rived las days from Swansea. She was
damaged while in st. Georges Channel and
was repaired at Swansea, taking aboard
steel fore and main masts and lower yard.