The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1899-12-08
~BUFFETED BY WAVES
Fearful Experience Of the Thirty
First Infantry,
WERE CAUGHT IN A SEVERE STORM.
Tor Twelve Days the Transport Mnnau-
onse Was at the Mercy Of
the Waves.
WERE CAUGHT IN A SEVERE STORM.

Advices from the Orient state that
Nthe transport Manauense, with Lieu
tenant Colonel Webb Hayes and three
companies Of the Thirty-frst infantry
on board. arrived at Manila on Tues
day. She narrowly escaped disaster.
The officers and soldiers were for
twelve days bailing with buckets. II
Is claimed that the steamer was I'M
'seaworthy, undermined and short Of
provisions. Her engines broke down
and she rolled three days in typhoon.
When the Manauense anchored in
Manila bay Tuesday morning, thirty
three days from San Francisco, there
were several feet OF water in her hold
and 400 grimy, creased, hungry and
exhausted soldiers and sailors had
been passing buckets of water since
( November 18th, night and day. First
Assistant Engineer Dunleavy was I'M
der arrest, and according to Colonel
Webb Hayes official report, the chief
engineer would also have been under
arrest if there had been any one to
replace him.
The eolonel'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 re-
y alize their danger, while experienced
seamen would have deserted the ship
and taken to the boats in mid-ocean,
The Manauense is a chartered ship
flying the British flag. 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 accident. After starting it
developed that she was undermined
Oand soldiers had to be detailed to act
{ps tiremen, coal passers and walters,
and to do other work.
Before reaching Honolulu the crew
concluded 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 Honolu-
lu with less than half her crew. The
captain of the transport on November
18th told Colonel Hayes that the YES
sci had sprung a leak, and an investi-
lmgation resulted in finding several feet
!. II water in the hold.
The same day the leak was discov-
cred the machinery collapsed, and the
electric lighting plant and evaporating,
distilling and refrigerating apparatus
faile d to work. There were no lamps
and the few candles found were ex-
hausted after few days. During the
last week of the passage the Manau-
ense was in utter darkness at night.
She had been rolling in the heavy seas
all the way, but November 22nd she
encountered a typhoon and pitched
and tossed alarmingly. The Pekin be-
came separated from the Manauense in
the storm.
The water rose rapidly and the
bailing force was doubled. But the
buckets were gradually smashed and
barrels and boxes were substituted for
them, the men working in darkness.
The typhoon lasted two days and
half, and in the midst of it the engines
stopped. The officers then held
council and found that there were 400
persons on board with lifeboat accom-
modations for 213.
In the meantime the men below, ig-
norant of their extreme peril, were
passing buckets and singing "What
the He'll Do We Carer" while the ship
rolled helplessly on the ocean, with
matches closed. The heat was intense
until the typhoon passed, then the
Peking, which has retraced her course
about seventy miles, again came
alongside the Hanouense.
The officers and soldiers were utter
ly exhausted when they reached Ma
Mia. They declare the engineers were
grossly incompetent. The officers also
say the behavior of the troops was be-
yond praise.
The captain of the ship promised the
men twenty-five cents a day for bail
ing. hut he now proposes to pay them
$3.50. The soldiers talk of attaching
the ship.