The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-03

~ Il = ma history OF Puget sound ship
rdnr there Is no story like that OF
s&$ the awful experience of the trans
/ mart victoria. A rainbow spanned
q. usvsit OF Juan de Fuca when on the
Y isS7 - the morning of November Is the
,ssSrla5r Of November . the transport
Ssedsd for sea. Ono mariner sang:
{. ssk.Sow At night Is sailors delight;
"a SOW IN the morning Is sailors
Warming"
Ssss r.h,na the rainbow Of promise lay death
ssle filehtful form. Beyond the rosy span
sssl4be ~ wAs torn by conflicting eaies. whiie
~ vRyes crouched for their prey, to
,as,,,nr ID terrific heights as the storm In
s'7-ss~ssd ard the ship entered Its center.
Ss3sssrvsIous II was that no human life was
-. s,SfSa mn TO appease the storm Gods
fsG.sK pitiful II was that over hundred
Il ~ .he dumb brutes on the ship. penned in
4 vrvieidinr stalls should have been pounded
md beaten to death.
NIX veteran mariners on the Pacinc coast
NO NV something OF the storm on cape
81lsfterv. In the maelstrorn OF which the
I. e,srsnort victoria was buffeted and pound
"a for yeyenty-two hours, have yet to re-
.sember during the past thirty years one
40 Ike H. There were men on the Vic
z s$c,,e Who had been to sea over quarter
.:sxsf : century. but they unite in saying that
N hind Of weather they experienced for
sthrse days and nights was the most dell
IN they ever saw or heard OF.
j The government employees who were on
X the Victoria have partially reduced their
hr,dseg and sores received from the three
{ AN siege they had with Old Boreas. But,
K thoueh they maksl merry of their cuts and
! Abru1sss and by generous applications Of
synicas ana saives have been able to elm
inate the black and blue spots to some
extent, yet they cannot, try as they may,
forret thoss three horrible nights ON the
transport when she was fighting for her
very life against gales that came appar-
eutlr from every point In the compass and
which followed the staunch little ship like
4 I Nemesis. aeemingly bent upon her de-
sfructIon. During the three days they
were on Cape Fiattery the ship made just
80 miles. or less than days average run.
e X q q
THE Victoria passed through the Strait
! OF Juan de Fuca about 10 o'clock
on Thursday, November q. There was
something OF q swell on, but the glass.
treachercus In the information It
furnished to the captain, prom
ised good weather outside. Soon after
noon, with the wide Pacific in front Of
her and the land at the mouth of the straits
448{k OxS3pVe8TIuB SlSuts Lis NlClOAIa
4 ran her nose into the very teeth of
southeast gale. From this time till she
turned about the following Sunday morn
ing. at o'clock, sit was hell from start
to finish," in the language of one of the
big burly Transfers on the ship. There
was scarcely a moment in all those long
days and nights when a mans life was safe
on the deck Of the transport. The ship
lay to from time to time, her engines
barely pulsing. while from every quarter
came terrific winds, and big waves that
seemed to be twice the size of the ship to
the men aboard Of her.
Thursday night at midnight several ami
mails received their death strokes from the
enfaged elements. They were boxed in
In narrow stalls made of stout fir plankg,
which beat against their bodies breaking
their necks and backs, and crushing their
ribs. The ship during the afternoon of
Thursday had struggled against the winds
and tried with all the power in her engines
to break her way through the awful circle
OF storm and waves and desolation which
surrounded her. But it was to no avail.
OH bags were emptied upon the raging
waters In an effort to still them and make
the Victorias bed an easier one. These
EFFORTS. although under ordinary circum-
stances might have proven efficacious,
seemed to be farcical In the minds of the
a struggling men on the transport.
Friday morning the sixty government
II employees looked for the first streaks of
eray dawn In the East in the hope of find
ing q sign of better weather 1t had
poured at times during the night, and on
Friday morning the wind died somewhat
away. and the rain was reduced to a
But while the wind had moderated some
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