The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-08-15

on a sand spit. some Of her crew being
lost in the attempt to get ashore.
Next came the Adler. for no anchor
could hold against such a sea. Straight
down upon the reef. where already the
bodies OF the Eber's unfortunates were
being battered on the coral, she bore,
put more fortunate than her sister
snip, she was lifted clear up upon the
reef. where she lay with broken back.
hung so high that in calm weather the
swell barely dampens her skeleton. On
shore Mataafa's men were under arms,
but in this extremity of their foes they
came calamity forward to help in the
rescue, and did yeoman work. They
reached the wreck by the most valiant
efforts and brought back a line, but 1T
was broken, and not until the following
day were the crew rescued by life lines.
Twenty had been lost.
Meanwhile the CalliOpe, menaced by
the drifting Vandalia and the Olga.
both of which were dragging their an
chors. cast loose, and stalking every
thing on the power of her engines,
made for the open sea. Literally foot
by foot she forged ahead in the teeth
of the racing mountains of waves and
found the Trenton in her way. of
what followed Stevenson writes:
I'm the fair way of the entrance the
flagship Trenton still held on. Her
rudder was broken. her wheel carried
away; within she was Hooded with
water from the peccant hawespipes;
she had just made the signal fires ex-
tinguished' and lay helpless awaiting
the inevitable end. Between this mel
ancholy hulk and the external reef
Kane must find a path. Steering with
in so yards of the reef flor which she
was actually headed). and her fore
yard passing on the other hand over
the Trenton's quarter as she rolled, the
Calliope steered between the rival dan
gers, came to the wind triumphantly,
and was once more pointed for the sea
and safety. Not often in naval history
was there a moment of more sicken!ng
peril. and ii was dignihed by one If
those Incidents. that reconcile the
chrOnicler with his otherwise abhorrent
task. From the doomed flagship the
Americans hailed the success of the
English with a cheer. 1t was led by the
old admiral in person, rang out over
the storm with holiday vigor, and was
answered by the Calliope with an emo
ton easily conceived"
1t was in reference TO this gallant
courtesy that Captain Kane, on his re-
turn with the only ship which survived
the hurricane, wrote to Admiral KIM
berley and received the reply:
w could not ave been gladder If
ii had been one Of our ships, for in a
time like that blood is thicker than
water"
The Trenton was near her DOOM.
Shortly after the Calliope fought her
way out the Vandalia crashed upon the
reef and settled, her captain and AZ
of her men being swept overheard. The
Trenton parted her cables at 3 o'clock
in the afternoon of the 18th and bore
down toward the same spot, not direct
ly, but staggering like "A drunken giant,
To the distress Of the Olga, which
lodged the bigger ship as best she
could; but though skillfully handled.
she could not avoid the American, and
they came together. Under steam and
sail the German captain beached his
ship safely on sand. The Trenton, CO.
ing slowly. approached the Nandalia
and by mean of rockets got ropes 10
the men on her sister ships masts and
took them off before she herself settled
alongside the Nandalia ard pounded
there. ONLY one man was lost from
the Trenton, and il was characteristic
of the American admiral's spirit that
he had up the band and sent the
strains of HAL Columbia" blaring
through the storm.
On the morning of March II Ma
taafa's warriors were again forward IN
the work of rescue, for which both
America and Germany rewarded them
with gifts later on. But now there
were chances of trouble again. rhe
Americans and Germans We're together
on the beach. Not even he terrible
experience of the hurricane and the
fate of their comrades and wrecked
warships had subdued their G@ ltinS
blood. Admiral Kimberly formed camp,
had his quarter se~ntineied. and gave
- riot ,rIs,s= tb.f anNy mon l,Spappl1-
ing a challenge should be shot dead.
Furthermore he gave notice thar he
would destroy the stock of any saloon
keeper selling liquor 10 an American
sailor. As most of the saloons were
German, this caused the German con-
sui to grumble, but it was doubtless
only by such measures hat the cast
aways were shipped out of Samoa
without having done that which might
have plunged their nations INTO war.
Stevenson ends his account of these
happenings in these words:
The so-called hurricane Of March
l6 made thus a marked epoch in me
worlds history. Dire.ry and at once
it brought about he congress and
treaty of Berlin; and. Ivy a process still
continuing, it founded the modern
navy of the States. Coming years n
other historians will declare the in
fiuence of that.
As for Mataafa, he became joint ru-
Ter with Laupepa, while the German
puppet, Tamasese. was deprived of his
rule and cast aside to die of a broken
heart. Germa supremacy was a thing !
of the past. But in 1898 Mataafa's
people again rose in arms over some
intricacy Of Samoan politics. The ma
lions united against him, and rather
that his peoples blood should he
shed he s~urrenderer himself to exile.
he returns at the petition of all
in Samoa, to find his friend and
the historian of his people, Robert
Louis stevenson, lying in Mount Vaca,