The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-01-21
WHAT SAILOR MEN TALK OF
CAPTAIN MOSHER TELLS OF THE
KAALA WRECK.
Survivors Return to Town-The He
lene's Rough Trip-Bad Weather
on Kauai-News and Gossip.
5 coaling this morn


ing.
The L. $. gunboat Concord has or
ders to sail tomorrow morning for
Yokohama, and thence to the Asiatic
station. During her stay here she
has taken in $50 tons of coal, of which
thirty tons had to be stored on deck.
The Mauna Loa sailed this morning
without having had her foretop mast,
carried away i'm the recent gale, re-
paired. There was no time to do the
work. 1t will be necessary to put in
a new foremost, and that will be at
tended to as soon as possible.
The dredger is now working on the
lowest level of the new Kings wharf
slip. at a depth of 80 feet. Captain
Smith thinks that the work will be
completed in another three months,
making the finest slip in the harbor.
The Mil<ahala arrived this morning
from Kauai, with $500 bags of liila-
uea sugar. which goes into the Gee
anic dock warehouse. Captain Thomp-
son reports the weather still very bad
up there. Kilauea could only be
worked at intervals. on account of the
high surf. The James Makee and the
Ike Au Hou are again weather bound
at Hanamulu. Communication could
not be had with the other steamers.
The Helene arrived last night from
the Hamakua coast, after fifteen days
of the worst weather she has ever eN-
perienced. She left here with big
cargo, with a big deck load, and being
a bit topheavy. rolled so fearfully that
antIl1 lpnn 1r,. n 1nn1y-
During the first week no landing
could be made. but later the weather
moderated little, and little by little
the outward cargo was landed. Only
1000 bags of sugar were secured Cap
tain Freeman reports that the wealth
er is still very rough. The Helene
picked up a 5000 pound anchor off IA
auhou. 1t was lost several years ago
from one of escompany's vessels.
Someone put up job on All Kee,
the steward of the Mauna Loa. and
came very near keeping him ashore,
when his steamer was ready for SEA.
1t was reported to the Marshal that
the old steward was engaged in the
opium trade, and had some of the
stuff in his cabin. A search was made
and sure enough two tins lay in plain
sight in All KEGS room, but in such
plain sight that the Marshal reached
the conclusion that it had been plac-
ed there by an enemy of the stew
ard. and All Kee was released from
custody in few hours after he had
been arrested. He has sworn eternal
vengeance upon the head of the man
who placed the dope in his room.
Captain Mosher and the officers of
the fated steamer Kaala arrived home
last night, having come over the Pail
on horseback. According to the cap
tain's story the bar at Laieu was not
rougher than usual when he attempt
ed to get over it on Monday evening.
'We were going slowly" he said this
morning. land had cleared the bar,
when blind swell struck her and
stopped her Roadway. The next threw
her back in the trough of the sea, up
on the reef. think she struck amid
ships, for moment later | looked
down into the engine room and saw
four feet of water there. When she
struck, the engineers came running up
on deck. l. jingled the bell to back
her, but the machinery would not
move. | am inclined to think that it
was knocked to pieces by the jar di-
rectly beneath the engine room. The
steamer did not strike again, but drift
ed back over the bar. With the aid
of the sails, / managed to swing her
around so as to launch a boat on the
lea side and then let go the anchor.
BY that time she was in shallow wa
ter and the seas were breaking over
her. One boat was stove and carried
away, and the deck houses commenced
to go. Within fifteen minutes from the
time she struck we had lowered our
other boat and deserted her. Within a
few hours the deck houses and every
thing above the decks were washed
away. Just before we left her, for
some reason, don't know why, l went
to the pilot house. A sea picked the
house up and lifted it from over me
without touching me. Purser Spen-
Ger got a crack over the head. but was
not hurt much. We hauled the SAILS,
wheel and few other things ashore,
but lost all our personal effects"