The San Francisco call., 1899-06-19

by them. so for a whole month they lived
as best they could and sailed the water
logged hulk 1850 miles into safety.
Nineteen days after the disaster. when
the transport Pennsylvania showed up,
the sailors would have deserted the
Hesper in a body had Mrs. Sodergren ac-
cepted a proffered passage TO Nagasaki,
but she positively refused to leave her
husband and he would not leave his YES
sell so all hands stayed by the bark. The
officers Of the Pennsylvania say it was
one of the bravest and pluckiest acts they
ever saw performed on the ocean. There
was a vessel practically wreck and un-
seawOrthy. Another storm would as
suredly have sent her to the bottom, yet
The captain would not give up the ship.
the wife would not leave her husband
and the crew would not desert the
woman.
This must have been very gratifying
experience for Captain and Mrs. Soder-
gren. 1t IS not so many years ago since
1woof the crew Of the Hesper were hanged
for killing Second Mate Fitzgerald They
also attempted to murder Captain Soder-
aren and the first mate. after which il
was their intention to make for the coast
of South America with the vessel, taking
Mrs. Sodergren with them. Their plans
aniscarried and the Hesper reached
Tahiti. from which island the mutineers
We're sent TO San Francisco in irons,
where the ringleaders were executed.
Chief Officer J. Ibsen Stousland of the
United States transport Pennsylvania was
i'm command of the boat that was sent 10
render assistance to the waterlogged
Hesper. and the accompanying picture of
the bark is from a snapshot taken from
the deck of the transport.
1t was Tuesday, May l6, that we sight
ed the Hesper." said he yesterday. We
had had rain and fog all night. but about
Is A. m. il cleared up bit At $50 q. m.
I turned in, but had to get out again, as
the quartermaster came and told me the
captain wanted ITO see me. When | got
on deck | saw we were steering for a
waterlogged bark with distress signals
dying. At $3.50 a. m. we were close up 10
the vessel so the engines We're stopped
and a boat lowered. / took command of
The boat and we started for the ship. We
had to be very careful in getting along
side as there was a nasty swell. She
was the well known bark Hesper of San
Francisco, Captain F. p. Sodergren.
She left Port Townsend, March g. load
cd with heavy lumber for Kiaochau a
new German naval station on the coast
ne. On April % in latitude % degrees
D minutes north, longitude l44 degrees
~ minutes east, not far away from the
Ladrone Islands, she ran into q severe
hurricane. and at midnight shifted her
immense deckload over TO port, breaking
stanchions and bulwarks. and became
waterlogged. When the storm was over
she was listed over to port fully eight
planks, main rail several feet below the
water cabin and all rooms full of wa
Instruments, books, charts and clothes
ruined.
With the ship in this condition and
handicapped as he was with his ruined
Instruments. Captain Sodergren proceeded
toward his destination, and when | board
ed him he was about one thousand miles
nearer Kiaochau that when disabled
having covered that distance in nineteen
days.
when l asked him if he was going to
abandon his ship he said that If We could