The sun., 1896-09-28
CHAPTER OF SEA MISHAPS.
HURRICANE SPINS THE STICKS OFF
sEWALL'8 SHIP SOLITAIRE.

Miles to This Fort Steamship Rospo
Get Two Bad Buaets from the Same
storm-A Sea Teiophone-A Coilisiou.
The stout oaken Yankee clipper ship Solitaire.
which sailed on Sept. 10 from the Delaware
Breakwater for San Francisco, low-laden with
o general cargo, and Vision of nautical strength
and grace, came in here ingloriously yesterday
In tow of the British steamship West Indian.
with only the stumps OF her fore and migzen
masts standing, her mainmast gone, her rails
broken. and two OF her boats stove. No square,
rigger that has come into this port for many
years has been so badly smashed aloft as the
Solitaire. Her down East skipper. Capt. Z. II.
Thompson, narvelled that no one was hurt In
the tumult that stripped the ship of spars and
canvas and flooded her decks for nearly half q
day.
The Captain knew by tho falling glass on
Tuesday evening last, when no was @50 miles
east-southeast of Sandy Hook. that q big blow
was coming. He recognized the premonitory
signs of a West Indian cyclone. and shortened
sail to meet 1t. On Wednesday morning the
wind was blowing q gale from northeast. Tho
ship was ON the port tack. smashing into a
heavy southeast sea, under reefed fore and main
lower topsails. Combers frequently broke clear
over the lee rail and swept across the dock.
All hands were below except the skipper and
the men at the wheel at 1880 O'Clock on We'd
nesday night, when q hurricane squall struck
the ship and whisked out tho three topmaats
and the heads of the main and mizzen. The
jibboom and all head stays wens over the star
board side in the tanRle of spsrs, sails. shrouds
and stays. The men below were temporarily
demoraliEed by the havoc. They did not re-
spond to the cry Of "All hands on deckW
and the Captain and mate had to rout them
out Even then they could Do little to clear
& and shrouds, @ thresened to pound IN the the sSiDs
starboard side. The gale began to moderate q
snd as Tie ship Io the sSs
scooped In tons OF water that made work on
The Grew were nearly panic-stricken at>,7
o'clock on Thursday morning by the fallinGSat
the foreyard. which broke in half and cracked
By the he skipper. and ali hands ~ We're % att. Three
hours later. the m ainmast, which was supported
port side the ship rolled to port Much of
the wreckage that had been pounding esAinst
etays that had become entanEied in the main
and whs9 s4s biz Ss
More ,han half the crew ran for shelter. Some
hid themselves and did not respond " the call
The sea became calmer. and before noon oil
hands were clearing away the wreekaze and
To- port SnasS jury rT Tie Il pS
sail that had not been carried away wa. furis4
take him many days to rig frail jury mas.s. aad
many more days to get within the towtcat
%s Of sa S f. bum
fs sounded and showed that tho 1i ship WAS
A. g O'Clock on Friday morning the skipper
made out the liRhts Of q Steamship to the south
Now Orleans to liverpool. The The West S indian Jan
had sssn the blue liEhss and and torches on the dis
john c. McGuinness Of the solitaire was rowed
to the West Indian at $3.50 o'clock on Friday
%b with to ,ss make
r. A nearest xmerean peFt; a hfs,; csp.; = I
The belief that ihe Yankee skipper thought
bell wouldn't make a bargain with the Soil:
taire's mate. SO Capt. Thompson. as he had
miazsD 0u sasnx ss That p thas the %
Ysnsss wa, S,lling TO pay for the toying joe
Indian which will NOT be less than Eve figures.
The Captains wife and and bis, his daughter ,t 4 Emily
Indian run stout steel hawser from the steam
made as to y R9sshoms the
heavy iron cable, and. at 2 A. NJ. the ships
Quarant,ne at 0 O'clock last evening.
Tbs hawser Stacked and sank 70 the bottom
eap.ten sta W tried to % haul 10 1.-THE the cable they found
they couldn't move 1t. Evidently the eteel
hawseE had got a-foul of something at the bot
tom. The steamship went ahead and the haw-
ser stifteped. bringing up q big anchor, which
dropped Off the moment tho hawser was taut
Miss Emily Thompson, who is Just. in her
teens; says she ts going back to Brunswick Me.
Solitaire belongs TO Arthur sewnll & Son and
has been in the San Francisco trade almost
month TO repair.
STEAMSHIP IN THE SAME BLOW.
The Lamport 81 Holt line steamship Rosse.
which arrived yesterday from Brazilian ports,
solitaire. She steamed directly through the
heart OF the great swirl and caught its full
On g. nors
vest blast which shifted to northeast, and
For ffteen hours the Rosse was battered by
good deal Of the time. At night a. big sea
part Of tho bridge. smashed the starboard side
light and broke tho engine room skylights,
Two Of the boats were stove and a part of the
sstarooard s rail was carried @ away: on wednes-
Where f Capt. Alien a DOESN'T @ know, as he hadn't
been able 10 take an observation for several
daysIthe Rosse got another lambasting that
the the 65ides with the ,sSgins, room sas
were broken and the Wheel house was smashed.
that leaped as ,hieh as tho bridge. ,and'that the
men on duty there feared to lash themselves. as
they didn't know when the whole structure
might be swept away. They simply had to stick
20 the bridge and dodge the cataracts.
Four men were stationed on the lee side from
the bridge to the engine room and over this
human telephone the Captain gave orders to
the engine room. When the sea that ruined
the bridge loaped aboard Chief Engineer Neville
and Seaman Young were on deck.
They were hit by q part OF the wave and
knocked up against the deck house. YounR's
left leg was badly hurt, and Neville was laid up
for several hours with bruises about the body.
The Roses cargo shifted. and she came In
with a list OF ten degrees to port.
- HEAD-oN COLLISION IN PORT.
Less than two miles above the place where
the dismasted Solitaire anchored, two broken
bowed British steamships, the Stag line freight
or Nymphe, and the tramp May, lay within
hAillng distance of each other after the fog rose
yesterday morning. They had met in the Swash
Channel, near the bell buoy. at 10 O'Clock in
tho morning.
The Nymphe was bound in from the Mediter-
ranean with cargo of sulphur and dried fruits
and the May was bound out for BarRnquilla
Capt. Munro of the Nymyhg says that when he
passed the Hook at $3.50 A. NJ. q thick fog sot
In. He dropped anchor near the Romer Beacon