The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-04-21
.TRE HISTORIC REBELLION
"REMINISCENCES OF MARCH /;
1850
Joseph Sticlney Ecdcscribes the
Frightful Scene OFF Apia When
Il Squadron was Lost

In the terrible hurricane which
| visited Apia March Is, 1889. 146 off
GERS and men lost their lives, and out
of the six men-of-war driven upon the
reefs or the beach only two ever got
Oft The United States squadron,
consisting of the cruiser Trenton, the
corvette Nandalia and the gunboat
| Nipsic. under command of Rear-Ad-
miral Lewis A. Kimberly, the German
squadron, which contained the Eber,
the Adler and the Olga, and the Brit
! ish cruiser Calliope were lying at Apia
harbor to see that. in the struggle for
the throne, no one of the three ma
| tons most interested got the better
of the others When the hurricane
began all the vessels got up steam.
Finding the wind increasing in force
and blowing from such direction
as to make it evident that the harbor
would be swept by the heaviest seas
OF the Pacific, the captain of the Cal
| liope got under way and drove his
ship seaward by the exceptional pow
er of his engines. As she passed the
United States flagship the latters
band was brought on deck to play
God Save the Queen" and "Auld Lang
SynC,' and the Trenton's crew cheer
ed the departing ship as farewell
from our seamen to those of kindred
blood. whom they might never see
again; for while it was practically
certain that the Calliope would es-
cape. if her engines held out. the out
look for the ships remaining at an
Choir was doubtful in the extreme.
1t was impossible for any of them to
follow the Calliope to the safety of
I . L.. /
boilers and engines of inferior power,
while the Calliope was compare
lively new cruiser.
Fiercer and tiercer blew the hurri-
cane. and bigger and more powerful
became the waves. With all anchors
down and their propellers churning
in vain efforts to keep the ships from
dragging, the six remaining vessels
of war plunged and wallowed in the
terrible sea then running. Suddenly
the German gunboat Eber was swept
back upon the pitiless coral reef. She
made one mad plunge and then dis
appeared, having been wholly capsiz-
ed and carried under the ledge that
lay less than two fathoms beneath
the surface. Only one officer and four
men, out of total crew of seventy
six persons, were saved.
Then the Adler and the Nandaia
dragged toward the fatal reef that
was at one moment hidden in a mass
of foam las white rs carded WOOL"
and that was an instant later
visible above the receding waves
like the fangs of sea dragon.
The Trenton, having fairly good
engines, was able to hold her
own longer, but her hawse pipes--the
holes through which the chain cables
passed-eptered the ship at point
so low that the tremendous waves
forced tons upon tons of water into
the ship, in spite of every preventive
| that could be invented. Finally the
water rose in the firerooms until the
| fires were put out, and then the Tren-
ton went down in comparatively shall
low water. Meanwhile the Vandalia,
terribly battered by the numerous
waves, had also gone to the bottom
and, not being as large as the TPen-
ton, she afforded little or no protec-
ton to her crew.
Then the Vandalia and the Trenton
were driven toward each other until
their yardarms almost interlocked.
Lieut.. Carlin and many of the men
who still survived succeeded in
reaching the deck OF the Trenton,
thus saving their lives. The total
death roll of the Vandalia was five
officers and thirty-nine men. They
were still in deadly peril. From sea-
ward the waves came rolling in with
their fronts all acurve like the fanged
jaws of monster serpents; looking to
leeward the backs of these same
waves ran in sinuous, undulating
line still suggestive of snakes, but
snakes that were already gorged with
prey.
But the Trenton was strongly built
and, although her bottom was soon
crushed, the remainder of the ship
held together; and, as her hull stood
comparatively high out of water, the
men on board were able to hold until
the storm went down. Only one OF