Omaha daily bee., 1898-11-06

l have the honor to make the following re-
port of the loss of the Infanta Maria Teresa.
"On November l at l &. m. l found that
1t was blowing hard and went on the lower
bridge. We had left Watlng's island light
abeam at 10 o'clock and up till midnight the
weather was pleasant, and all went well
with the ship, although we had trouble in
keeping the pump in the forward fire room
from being choked with coal. The wind
continued to increase in force until perhaps
3 a. m, when it reached it's height, al
though there were times all day when 1t
blew as hard. The direction was about
northeast The sea continued to rise until
perhaps p. M; there was heavy sea all
the following day. The pumps were re-
ported every hour.
Soon after l came on deck l relieved
the second mate, Mr.. Johnson. so that he
could go below to fight the water. About
$3.50 the first mate, Captain LeCato came
up and he also went below to work. Cap
tain Chittenden, who was on deck almost
as soon as l, gave his attention to the pumps
and especially to primng the centrifugal
pump in the forward fire room. There were
many new leaks. When a heavy sea struck
the sides the plates leaked at the butts and
beams, showing after the fire they had re-
not tight. There was at the malnmast an
inch of thwartshp vibration and only half
an inch longitudinal vibration. While maxi
Ing this examination, about 4;3O a. M, Cap
tain Chittenden was thrown down and fell
on the chain, hurting his side and back
enough to temporarily disable him. He
! continued TO give us valuable advice.
Sea Breaks Into Coal Bunkers.
'At a. m. We made signal to the Vul-
can and Merritt, to go to windward, which
' they did as well as they could, Up to /
o'clock a. m. we were running the STAR
board main engines and had steam on the
two central boilers and three OF the short
forward boilers, but the trouble in the for
ward fSe room caused the steam to run low
and tighten fires under the starboard after
! boiler and stopped the engine so as to run
! the steam up for the pumps. The pump
for keeping the water from the forward com.
partment was driven by belt and when
the sea broke over the bows. the belt be,
came wet and slipped. AS soon as the water
was up to the floor place in the forward
| fire room, the rolling of the ship swashed
| into the coal bunkers and carried the coal
out, choking the pump and carrying the
| floor plates about, which made 1t difficult
! and dangerous to work there.
| about s o'clock | called for volunteers
to hoist coal and water into the ash hoist,
Everybody responded and the work was con-
| tinued as long as it seemed OF any use.
/ About $3.50 a. III. 1t was reported that water
| was coming into one Of the starboard for.
ward coal bunkers and running into the fire
! rooms. Where the water came from we
! do not know About 2 o'clock the 1l-inch
gun In the after turret ran out twice.
; When it recoiled the second time something
gave way and 1t settled to extreme eleya-
| ton and remained stationary.
Took TO the Boats.
"At p. M. Captain Chittenden asked me
TO signal the Vulcan just off the Merritt 9
tow lines and have the Merritt come along
side. ! then assumed the command, told
the men what was to be done and assigned
| them stations. ! told the chief engineer
10 start the engine to aid the Vulcan in
/ keeping our head up. He did so, but IL
, could run but short time with The steam
! we had.
I'VE sgnalled the Vulcan: We are about
to abandon ship try To keep US head TO
| wind.
Il ordered Captain LeCato to take charge