Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1899-12-01
FEARFUL EXPERIENCE.
Troops on tho Transport Mnnuense Mar
rowly Escape Disaster.

Troops on tho Transport N1anuense Mar
rowly E.cape Disaster.
MANILA, Nov. 29.-The transport
Manuense. with Lieutenant Colonel
Webb c. Hayes and three companies of
The Thirty-irst infantry on board, has
arrived here. She narrowly escaped
disaster. The officers and soldiers were
for twelve days bailing with buckets.
The steamer was unseaworthy, UNDER
manned and short of provisions. Her
engines broke down and She rolled
three days in typhoon.
When the Manuense anchored in Ma
1ila bay, 33 days from San Francisco,
there was several feet of water in her
.old and 400 grimy. greasy, hungry,
exhausted soldiers and sailors had been
passing buckets of wafer since Nov. II
night and day. First Assistant Engi-
aeer DunleGvy was under arrest, and,
according to Colonel Webb Hayes off,
cial report, the chief engineer would
also have been under arrest if there had
been anyone to replace him. The colo
nels report also declares that the cap.
tain Of the vessel told him that the only
thing that brought them through was
the fact that the mon were greenhorns
and failed to realize their danger, while
experienced seamen
Would Have Deserted Their Ship
AMI take1. to boats in midocean. The
Manuense is Il chartered ship flying the
British flag. She belongs to a irm of
which Senator Perkins of San Francisco
is alleged to De a junior member. She
started from San Francisco uccompa-
MED 10y the transport Pehin, which
carried TIE remainder of the regiment,
and encountered heavy seas to Homo
lulu without accident. After starting
it developed that she was under
manned and soldiers had to be detailed
to act as firemen, coal passers and watt
ers and do other work. Before reach
ing Honolulu the crew concluded that
the ship was not safe and tho lajor;ty
agreed to desert. Though they wero
closely watched many succeeded in
getting away and the Manuense pro-
ceeded with less than half crew. On
Nov. II the captain told Colonel Hayes
that the vessel had sprung aleak and an
investigation resulted in finding sew
eral feet of water in her hold. The
steam pumps were tlied hnt failed to
work and there were no hand pumps
on board. However, AZ buckets were
found, others were improvlse ed and the
soldiers not employed in working the
ship were
Organized Into Five Shifts
and, stripped and forming lines, they
began bailing. the officers working with
the men, passing the buckets, which
were sent up to the deck by 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 leak was dis
covered the machinery collapsed and
the electric lighting plant and evap-
Grating, distilling and refrigerating ap-
paratus failed to work. There were no
lam, and the few candles found were
exhausted after a few days. During
the last week of the passage the Manu-
eusc was in utter darkness at nj ght.
She had been rolling III heavy seas all
the way, but Nov 22 she encountered a
typhoon and pitched and tossed alarm
inG'y. The lyphoon lasted two days
and a half and in the midst of it the
engines stopped. The heat was intense
until the typnoon passed and then the
Pekin, which had retraced her course
about ~ miles, came alongside the
Manuense, which was rolling SO heuv-
lily that
The Soldiers in tho Hold
could at each roll see the Pekin through
the matches overhead. Colonel James
J. Petit, commander of the Thrty-first
volunteer regiment. ordered the Manu-
ense to proceed to Guam and await Or
1ers, but the captain of the Manuense
demurred because, it is said, the gov
ernment was renting the ship for $500