New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-29
FACED DEATH FOR DAYS.
TRANSPORTS PERILOUS VOYAGE TO
MANILA.
THE MANAUENsE. LADEN WITH TROOPS.
NARROWLY ESCAPES FOUNDERING
IN THE PACIFIC.


with Lieutenant Colonel Webb Hayes and three
companies Of the 3lst Infantry on board. has
arrived here. She narrowly escaped disaster.
The officers and soldiers were for eleven days
bailins with buckets. The steamer was unsea-
worthy, undermanned ard short Of provisions.
Her engines broke down and she rolled three
days in a typhoon.
The Manauense is thirty-three days from San
francisco. When she anchored in the bay here
to-day there were several feet of water In her
mold, and four hundred grimy greasy hungry,
exhausted soldiers and sailors had been passing
buckets of water since November II. night and
day. First Assistant Engineer Dunleavy was
under arrest, and, according to Colonel Hayes S
Official report, the chief engineer would also
nave been under arrest II there had been any
one TO replace him. The Colonels 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
tailed to realize their danger, while experienced
seamen would have deserted the ship and taken
to the boats in midocean
SOLDIERS MAN THE VESSEL.
The Manauense is a chartered ship. flying the
British flag She belongs to a firm of which
Senator Perkins. OF San Francisco is alleged
firm bought her for $4,000 and they say eff
forts were made to sell her to the Government
for $4,000. She started from San Francisco
accompanied by the transport Peking. which
carried the remainder OF the regiment and en-
countered heavy seas to Honolulu, without ac-
cldent' After starting IL developed that she
was undermanned and soldiers had to be de-
tailed to act as firemen coal passers and
walters, and to do other work Before reach
Ing Honolulu, the crew concluded that the ship
was not safe, and the majority agreed to deser,.
Though they were closely watched many of the
crew succeeded In getting away and the Manau-
ense left Honolulu with less than half her
crew The captain Of the transport, on Novem-
Der IL, told Colonel Hayes that the vessel had
sprung a leak, and an investigation resulted
in hnding several feet OF water in her hold.
Ihe steam pumps were tried, but failed to work,
and there were no hand pumps on board. How
ever, forty-six buckets were found, others were
improvised and the soldiers not employed in
working the ship were organized into five
shifts. and stripped and forming lines they be-
gan bailing, the officers working with the men,
passing the buckets, which were 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 an hour The
bailing continued until the ship anchored here
The same day the leak was discovered the
machinery collapsed and the electric lighting
plant and evaporatng distilling and refrigerat-
Ing apparatus failed t. work. There were no
lamps and the few candles found were exhaust
ga after few days. During the last week of
the passage the Manauense was In utter dark
ness at night.
ENCOUNTERED A TYPHOON.
She had been rolling in heavy seas all the wav.
but on November % she encountered typhoon
and pitched and tossed alarmingly. The Pekng
became separated from the Manauense in the
storm. The water rose rapidly. and the bang
force was doubled. But the buckets were grad
ualiy smashed, and barrels and boxes were sub
stituted for them, the working in darkness
with planks and pieces Of iron shaftlng, or being
violently washed among them. The fremen
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 1t the engines stopped. The off,
GERS then held a council and found that there
were APO persons on board, with lifeboat ac-
commodatlons for 213.
The heat was intense until the typhoon passed,
and then the Peking. which had retraced her
course about seventy miles. ran alongside the
Manauense. which was rolling so heavily that
the soldiers in the hold could at each roll see
the Peking through the matches overhead.
Colonel James s. Petit. the commander OF the
31st Volunteer Regiment. ordered the Manau-
ense to proceed TO Guam and await relief, but
the captain of the Manauense deTnurred the
officers say, because the Government was rent
ing the ship for $500 day.
LIVED ON wHIsKEY. BEER AND HARD
TACK.
Throughout the remainder OF the voyage the
engines Of the Manauense failed frequently, and
the ship would roll for a few hours while the
engines were being repaired. Then the steamer
would proceed again for few hours.
The meat and vegetables rotted because Of the
failure Of the refrigerators. 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. In fact.
It is asserted that during the last week Of the
voyage the men lived almost entirely on whis
key, beer and hardtack.
The officers and soldiers were utterly exhaust
ed when they reached Manila. They declare the
engineers were grossly incompetent The OFF,
GERS also say that the behavior OF the troops
was beyond praise. For days they worked in
the dark. suffocatng hold, with water sometimes
up TO their shoulders and planks washing about
In a manner dangerous to life and limb. The
officers took the lead in bailing and encouraged
the men, The captain Of the ship promised the
men 25 cents an hour for bailng. but he now
proposes 10 pay them 81 80 day. The soldiers
talk Of attaching the ship.
The regiment will proceed to Zamboanga on
the Peking TO garrison several ports on the ISL
and OF Mindanao
SAY THE MANAUENSE WAS ALL RIGHT
TRANSPORT OFFICIALS CANNOT UNDERSTAND
THE STATEMENTS FROM MANILA.
San Francisco Nov. 2s.-Transport officials at
this port are at n loss to explain the alleged un-
condition OF the transport Manauehse'
whose arrival al Manila was reported to-day
of The Associated Press talked with
a number OF officials to-day. and In every instance