Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-11-29
A FLOATING COFFIN.
Soldiers Bail for Life on
Transport Manauense.
Engines Break Down, Ship Starts a
Leak and Provisions Spoil.
For Days the Troops Bail With Buckets "a
Keep Ship from Sinking.

| Manila, Nov. rs, 7.35 p. M.-The trans
port Manauense with Lieut.. Col. Webb
Hayes and three companions of the
| Both Infantry on board has arrived
| here. She narrowly escaped disaster
The officers and soldiers We're u days
bailing with buckets and the steamer
was unseaworthy. undermined and
short of provisions. Her engines broke
down and she rolled three days in a
| typhOon. The Manauense sailed from
| San Francisco Oct. 90
Sl5 T. M.-When the Manauense
| anchored in Manila Bay. this morning
3; days from San Francisco. there was
several feet of water in her hold and
400 grimy. greasy. hungry. exhausted
| soldiers and sailors had been passing
buckets Of water since Nov. Il. night
and day. First Assistant Engineer
Dunlevey was under arrest and ac-
cordng 10 Col. Webb Hayes official re-
| port. the chief engineer would have also
been under arrest if there had been
any one to replace him. The c0loneIs
| 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 greenhorns
and failed to realize the danger. while
experienced seamen would have de-
serted 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, is alleged to be a junior
member. The officers say the firm
! bought her for $4,000, and they claim
efforts We're made to sell her to the
government for Sl5o.o00 She started
from San Francisco accompanied ~
the transport Pekin. which carried the
| remainder of the regiment and encoun-
tered heavy seas to Honolulu without
| accident. After starting it developed
| that she was undermined and soldiers
had to be detailed to act as firemen.
coal passers and walters, and do other
work. Before reaching Honolulu. the
crew concluded that the ship was not
safe and the majority agreed to desert.
They were closely watched. many of
the crew succeeded in getting away
ana the Manauense left Honolulu
with less than half her crew.
The captain of the transport. Nov
Il, told Col Webb Hayes that the YES
sci had sprunk aleak and an investi-
cation resulted in finding several feet
of water in her hold. The steam pumps
We're tried but failed to work and there
were no hand pumps on board. How
ever, As buckets were found. others
We're improvsed and the soldiers not
employed in working the ship We're or
ganiZed into five shifts and. stripped
and forming lines, they began bailing,
the officers working with the men.
passing the buckets which We're sent
up to the deck by a windlass. The
longest time a shift could stand was
two hours, and often the period was
not longer than half and hour. The
bailing continued until the ship an
chored here.
The same day the leaking was dis
covered. the machinery collapsed and
the electric lighting plant and evapo-
rating. distiling and refrigerating APP
paratus failed to work. There We're no
lamps and the few candles found were
exhausted after a few days. During
the last week of the passage the Man
auense was in utter darkness at night
She had been rolling in heavy seas all
the way. but, Nov. %. she encountered
alarmingly. The Pekin became sepa-
rated from the Manauense in the storm.
The water rose rapidly and the bailing
force was doubled. But the buckets
were gradually smashed and barrels
and boxes We're substituted for them.
the men working in darkness with
planks and pieces Of iron shifting or
being violently washed among them.
The firemen could only feed the fires
by being lifted on the shoulders of
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 Il coun-
ell and found that there were APO per-
sons on board, with life boat accom-
modations for 213. In the meantime
the men below, ignorant of their ex-
treme peril. We're passing buckets and
singing What the hell do we care
while the ship rolled helplessly on the
ocean, with matches closed. The heat
was intense until the typhoon passed
and then the Pekin, which had re-
traced her course about 10 miles, came
alongside the Manauense. which was
rolling so heavily that the soldiers in
the hold could at each roll see the
Pekin through the matches overhead.
Col James S. Petit, the commander
of the 31st Volunteers, ordered the
Manauense to proceed to Guam and
await relief. but the captain of the
Manauense demurred, the officers say.
because the government was renting
the ship for $500 per day. Throughout
the remainder of the voyage the en-
gines of the Manauense failed frequent
ly, and the ship would roll for few
hours while the engines We're being re-
paired. Then the steamer would pro-
coed again for a few hours. The meat
and vegetables rotted because of the
failure of the refrigerators and We're
thrown overheard.
After the storm the water supplied to
the ship at Honolulu had to be used for
no boilers L.