The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-12-01

! dermaDned and UnScaworthy - She
! Springs a leak and the Pumps Fail
to Work For Days the Officers and
| soldiers Keep the Vessez Afioat Only
by Constant BaiIiH& She Reaches
Manila With Everr One Exhausted.
Manila, November 49,, 7:35 p. m.-
The transport Manauense, with Lieu
tenant Colonel Webb Hayes and three
companies of the Thirty-first infantry
on board, has arrived here. She mar
rowly escaped disaster. The officers and
soldiers were for twelve days bailing
with buckets. The steamer was unsea-
worthy undermanned and short of
provisions. Her engines broke down
and she rolled three days in a Iyphoon.
When the Manauense anchored in
Manila bay this morning, thirty three
| days from San Francisco there were
| several feet of water in her hold and
| 400 grirny, greasy, hungry, exhausted
soldiers and sailors had been passing
buckets of water since Novembe 18th
night and day
|
was under arrest, and, according to
| Colonel Webb Hayes official report.
the chief engineer would also have been
under arrest if there had been any one
| to replace him.
| The colonePs report also declares
| that the captain OF the vessel told him
| that the only thing which brought them
| through was the fact that the men were
l,
| danger, while experienced seamen
would have deserted the ship and taken
to the boats in mid-ocean.
| The ManauenSe is a chartered ship
| flying the British flag. She belongs to
| a firm of which Senator Perkins, OF San
francisco, rs alleged to be junior
member. The officers say the firm
bought her for $4,000 and they claim
efforts were made to sell her to the gov
ernment for $150,00O She started from
! San Francisco accompanied by the
| transport Pekin which carried the re-
| mainder of the regiment and encounter
| ed heavy seas to Honolulu, without ac
| cident. After starting it developed
| that she was under-manned and sold
| iers had to be detailed to act as fire.
| men, coal paSSerS and walters and ito
! do other work. Before reaching Hon
olulu, the crew concluded that the ship
| was not safe and a majority agreed to
desert. Though they were closely
| watched many of the crew succeeded
in gettius; away and the Manauense
| left Honolulu with less than half her
| crew. The captain of the transport on
| November 18th told Colonel Hayes that
the vessel had sprung leak, and in
vestigation resulted in finding several
| feet of water in the hold. The steam
| pumps were tried but failed to work
and there were no hand pumps on
| board. However, forty-SiX buckets
| were found, Others were inlprovised,
/ and the soldiers not employed in work.
| ing THE ship We're organized into hVe
| shifts, and, stripped and forming lines
| they began battling, the officers work.
| ing with the men, passing the buckets
| which were sent up to the deck by
| windlass. The longest time a shift
| could stand was two hours, and, often,
| the period was not longer than half an
! hour. The bailing continued until the
ship anchored here.
The same day the leak was discover
| ed, the machinery collapsed, and the
electric lighting plant and evaporaing,
distilling and refrigerating apparatus
failed to work. There were no lamps
and the few candles found We're ex-
hausted after a few days. For the last
week of the passage the Manauense was
in utter darkness at night. She had
been rolling in heavy seas al the way.
but November 22nd she encountered
typhoon and pitched and tossed alarm
ingly.
The Pekin became separated from
the Manauense in the storm. The wa
ter rose rapidly and the bailing force
was doubled; but the buckets We're
gradually smashed, and barrels and
boxes We're substituted for them, the
men working in darkness, planks and
pieces of iron shafting being violently
washed among them.
The firemen could only feed the fires
by being lifted on the shoulders OF the
other men, through water waist deep.
The typhoon lasted two days and
half. and in the midst of it the engines
stopped The officers then held a coun-
Gil and found that there We're 42O per-
sons on board with life boat accomHno-
dations for H3.
In the meantime the men below, ig-
norant of their extreme peril. We're pass
ing buckets and singing Whaf tine
He'll Do We Care while the ship rolled
helpless ON the ocean, with hatches
closed.
The heat was intense until the ty-
phoon passed, and then the Pekin,
which had retraceu her course about
seventy miles. came alongside the ship,
which was rolling so heavily that the
soldiers in the hold could at each roll
see the Pekin through the hatcnes
overhead.
of the Thirty-first volunteer regiment,
ordered the Mananuense to proceed TO
Gaum and await relief, but the cap
tain of the Manauense demurTed, the
officers say, because the government
was renting the ship for $500 per day.
Throughout the remainder of the
voyage the engines of tine Manauense
fa,iled frequently and the ship would
roll for few hours. while the engines
were repairing. Then the steamer
woufd proceed again for a few hours.
The meat and vegetables rotted be-
cause OF the failure OF the redrigera-
tors, and were thrown overheard
After the storm, the water supplied
to the ship at Honolulu had to be used
for the boilers and there was little or
none for drinking purposes In fact It
is asserted that during, the last week
of the voyage, the men lived almost en-
tirely on whiskey, beer and nardtacK.
The officers and soldiers were utterly
exhausted when they reached Manila