The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-12-06
Thirty.First Infantry Narrowly
Escapes Drowning.
KEPT AFlCAT BY HARD WORK
The Engines Poor and Ship
Struct Bad Weather. Off
GERS and Men Suffer and
Toll Together.
GERS and Men =!
Toll Together.

the Thirty-f first infantry on board ba:
arrived there. S;.e narrowly escaped
disaster. The officers aud solcier>
were for y days bailing with buckets.
The steamer was ulst awnr;hy, under,
manned and short Of provisions. Hel
engines broke d5wnand she rolled three
days in syphoon.
When the Manauense anchored in
Manila bay this morning, 80 days from
San Francisco, there were several feet
OF water in her hold, aud 400 glimy,
greasy, hungry, exhausted soldiers
aud sailors had been passing buckles
Of water since Nov 18th, highland day.
First Assistant Engineer Dunleavy was
uLd,r arrest and, according to Col.
Webb, Hayes official report, The Chief
e1giueer would also have been under
arrest if there had been any ole to re-
pl &c him.
,.'ne colonel's report also declares That
the captain Of the vessel t0ld him that
the only thing which bTpnghs shem
tAIuu.:i .Sas the fact that ;hc men "elu
grveanvrns and failed to realize thclc
Danger, while experienced seamen
would asvc deserted the snip aad taken
to the ou-t, il mlG-ocean.
The Mauaueuse Is chartered ship
fyiog tie British hag. She belongs to
"a firm Of which Senator Pe-kius OF San
FlauciSco is alleged to be jallor
member. The officers say the firm
bought her for S43, 900 AID they claim
efforts Were made to sell her to the
government for $50, 900. She started
from San Francisco accompanied By
the tra rauspors Pckiu, which carried the
remainder Of the regiment and eu-
counter.d heavy seas to Honolulu with
out accident. After starting it de-
7cloped that she was undermanned aud
soldiers had TO be detailed to act as
fremen, coal passers aud walters and
TO do other work. Before reaching
Honolulu the crew concluded that the
ship was not safe aud the majority
agreed to desert. Though they were
closely watched, many Of tie crew sue
ceeded in getting away. and the Man
aueuse left Honolulu with less than half
her crew. The captain OF the transport
on Nov. 18th, told Col. Hayes that the
vessel had sprung leak aud an inves-
tigstion resulted in 6Ddlpg several feet
of water in the hole The steam pumps
were tried but failed to work, and there
were no hand pumps Oh board. Bow-
ever, IS buckets were found, others
We're impro7ised, and the soldiers not
employed iu working the ship were
organized into FIVE shifts and, stripped
and forming lines, they began bslllRg,
the officers working with the lien, pass
ing the buckets. which were sent up to
the deck by w;ndlass. The loogest
time shift could stand was two hours,
and, often, the period was not longer
than half an hour The bailing con-
tiuued until the ship anchored here.
The same day the leak Was dlscoV-
cred the machinery collapsed, and the
electric lighting plant and evaporating,
distilling and refrigerating apparatus
failed to work. There were as lamps
ana the few candles found were ex-
hausted after few days. During the
last week Of the passage the Manauense
was in utter darkaess at night. She
had been rolling in heavy seas all the
way, but Nov. 22d she encountered a
typhoon and pitched aud tossed alarm
iugly. The Pekin became separated
from the Manauense in the storm.
Tue water rose rapidly and the bail
ing force as doubled. But the buckets
were gradually smashed, and barrels
and boxes were substituted for them,
the men working in darkness, plauks
and pieces of iron shafting being vio-
leutly washed among them. The fire.
men could only feed the fires by being
lifted on the shoulders of1the other
men, through water waist deep.
The typhoon lasted two days and a
half, and in the midst of it the engines
stopped. The officers then held a coun-
Gil ard found that there werA 42O per
sons on board with life boat accommo-
datioDs for 2l3. In the meantime the
men below, ignorant of their extreme
peril, were passing buckets and siuging
What the hell Go We care, while the
ship rolled helpless or tho ocean, with
hatches closed.
The heat was intense un;i! the ty-
phoon passed, and then the Pekin,
which had retraced her course abou,
~ miles, came alongside the Manauense
which was rolling So heavily that the
soldiers iu the hold could, at each roll
see the Pekin through the ha,ches over.
head. Mr.. James s. Petit, commau-
der Of the Thirty-irst volunteer regl-
ment, ordered the Manauense 20 proceed
TO Guam and await relief but the c~p
tain OF the Manauense declined, the
officers say, because the government
was renting tle ship for 500 per day
Throughout the remainder Of the
voya age the engines Of the Manauense
failed frequently and the ship woulC
roll for few hours while the engine:
were repairing. Then the steamer
would proceed again for few hours
The meat and vegetables rotted be
cause Of the failure of the retrigerators
and were thrown over board.
After the storm, the water supplied
to the ship at Honolulu had to be usec
for the boilers and there was little o.
none for drinking. Intact, it is assert
ed that during the last wees of the
voyage the men lived almost entirely
on whiskey, beer and hardtack.
The officers and soldiers were utterI,
exhausted when they reached Manila
They declare the engineers were gross
ly incompetent. The officers also sa!
tnat the behavior Ct the troops was be
yond praise. For days they worked il
the dark, sufocating hold with wate
up 20 their shoulders, aud plauks wash
lug about in manner dangerous to Iii