The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-11-29
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
Compelled to Work Hard on the
Passage to Manila.
KEPT BAILINe TWELVE DAYS.

The Transport Manauense Was I'm.
dermanned, Unseaworthy and shor,
of Provistons-The First Assistan,
Engineer Arrested.
Manila, Nov. 23.-The transport Man.
aiense. with Lieutenant Colonel Webt
Hayes and three companies OF tht
Thlrty-frst infantry on board, has ar
rived here. She narrowly escaped dis
aster. The officers and soldiers wers
for 10 days bailing with buckets. The
steamer was unseaworthy. underman-
ned and short Of provisions. Her en-.
gines broke down and she rolled three
days In typhoon: =
When the Manauense anchored In
Manila bay yesterday, So days from
San Francisco, there were several feet
Of water In her hold and 400 greasy
grimy. hungry. exhausted soldiers and
sailors who had been passing buckets
Of water since Nov. II, night and day
First Assistant Engineer DHnleavy wae
under arrest, and, according to Colonel
Webb Hayes official report, the chiel
engineer would also have been under
arrest If there had been anyone to re-
place him. re.
The colonei's 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 their danger, while experienced
seamen would have deserted the ship
and taken to the boats in mid-ocean.
The Manauense is chartered ship
flying the British nag. 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 $45, 900, and they claim
efforts were made to sell her to the
government for $4,000. She started
from San Francisco, accompanied by
the transport Pekin, which carried the
remainder of the regiment, and en-
countered heavy seas to Honolulu
without accident. After starting 1t de-
veloped that the Manauense was un-
dermanned, and soldiers had to be de-
tailed to act as firemen. coal passers
and walters, and to do other work. Be-
fore reaching Honolulu the crew con-
cluded that the ship was not safe, and
the majority agreed to desert. Though
they were closely watched, many of
the crew succeeded in getting away,
and the Manauense left Honolulu with
less than half her crew.
The Captain of the transport on Nov.
II told Colonel Hayes that the vessel
had sprung leak, and an investigation
resulted in finding several feet of water
In her hold The steam pumps were
tried, but failed to work, and there
were no hand pumps on board. How
ever, As buckets were found. others
were improvised. and the soldiers not
employed In working the ship were Or
ganized into five shifts. and, stripped
and forming lines, they began bailing,
the officers working with the men, pass
ing the buckets, which were sent up to
the deck by a windlass. The longest
time SHIFT could stand was two
hours, and often the period was not
longer than half an hour. The bail
ing continued until the ship anchored
here.
The same day the leaking was dis
covered the machinery collapsed and
the electric lighting plant and evapor-
ating, distiliing and refrigerating ap-
paratus failed to work. There were
no lamps, and the few candles found
were exhausted after a few days. Dur
ing the last week of the passage the
Manauense was In utter darkness at
night. She had been rolling in heavy
seas all the way. but on Nov. ~ she
encountered typhoon and pitched
and tossed alarmingly. The akin be-
came separated from the Manauense in
the storm.
The water rose rapidly and the ball
ing force was doubled. But the buck
cts were gradually smashed, and bar
rels and boxes we're substituted for
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
half, and in the midst of 1t the engines
stopped. The officers then held coun-
Gil and found that there were 420 per-
sons on board with lifeboat accommo-
dations for 213. In the meantime the
men below, ignorant Of their extreme
peril, were passing buckets and sing
ing What the do we care" while
the ship rolled helpless on the ocean,
with matches closed.
The heat was intense until the ty-
phoon passed, and then the Pekin,
which had retraced 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.
Colonel James s. Petit, commander
of the Thirty-tirst volunteer regiment,
ordered the Manauense to proceed to
Guam and await relief, but the captain
of the Manauense demurred, the Of
ficers say, because the government was
renting the ship for $500 per day.
Throughout the remainder of the
voyage the engines of the Manauense
failed frequently, and the ship would
roll for few hours while the engines
were repairing. Then the steamer
would proceed again for a few hours.
The meat and vegetables rotted be-
cause of the failure of the refrigerators,
anu WAS tuIOWA oNClDoulu. AlICl thO
storm the water supplied to the ship at
Honolulu had to be used for the boil
ers, and there was little or none for
In fact, 1t is asserted that
during the last week of the voyage the
men lived almost entirely on whisky.
beer and hard tack
The officers and soldiers were utterly
exhausted when they reached Manila.
They declare the engineers were gross
ly incompetent. The officers say the be-
havior of the troops was beyond praise.
For days they worked in the dark, suf-
locating hold with water sometimes UP
to their shoulders and planks washing
about In 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 day for bailing, but he
now proposes to pay them $3.50 for the
trip. The soldiers talk Of attaching
the ship.
Deafness Cannot he Cured