The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-02-16
WERE EIGHT LIVES LOST?
BOATS FAILED TO REACH THE
INvRRNEssHIRB.
Fear That They Were Blown to the
Open Sea and viii Never be Seen
Again.

Are eight of the men who started to
the rescue of the ship Invernesshire
last night adrift in the open sea, con-
fronting the awful fate of starvation
in two small row-boats? This is the
question that is being discussed all
along the water front today, and there
is an ugly unanimity of opinion in an
affirmative answer among those who
should know bet. Three white men,
one of them Captain Harry Evans,
and five natives were seen to fail in
their efforts to get to the ship in the
driving gale that was blowing. They
started to pull for the harbor again,
but never entered the channel. If they
finally failed to get to the Inverness
shire, there is scarcely a shadow Of
hope that they will ever be seen again.
By this time they are miles and miles
to leeward.
The efforts to get new crew on the
drifting ship were watched last night
from the bark Albert and from the an
chored island steamer Iwalani, outside
the channel. When 1t was first seen
that the big ship had lost her anchorage
and was going before the wind Cap
tain Peattie and Police Captain Harry
Evans made hasty efforts to get crew
together and also to get steamer to
go to the rescue. The Kauai was the
only vessel available, but she would not
have been of any service as a tug for
such a large ship, in the weather that
prevailed. At that time it was not
known that her services were needed
to save life, and she started on her
! schedule run to Kauai ports.
| Captain Evans secured a crew and
four small boats left for the scene of the
! drifting vessel They were the pilot
| boat, with Pilot Saunders, Captain
! Peattie and several Honolulu seamen,
! the Invernesshire's boat, with the mate
and two seamen and Captain Evans,
| the shore boat Jump In" and the
! Dewey" One of the two latter was in
tow of the pilot boat, which used sal,
The pilot boat, with it's sail up, scudded
! through the channel at fearful rate.
| towing the shore boat. Behind were / g
ships boat and the other shore boat, all
so making incredible speed, under the
influence of the gale. The pilot. with it's
| tow, was seen to reach the Inverness
shire, and those on these two boats
got aboard Captain Simerson of the
| Iwalani reports that the other two
boats failed to make the ship and he
saw them trying to row back against
the wind. Any seaman knows that
this was an impossibility. There were
only two men rowing in each boat, and
the wind made all their efforts useless
I'VE had glasses out" said Purser
Christ tian of the Iwalani this morning
"and watched as long as we could. II
is possible that the two boats on being
blown out were able to get to the ship
later. They could row probably faster
than she was drifting, but 1 do not see
how they could see her. She was soon
out of sight of our glasses. We saw
the men trying, to pull the two boats
back to Shore"
John Mahuka, the Board of Health
watchman at the light house at the
channel says that the two boats never
got back, and the companions of the
men at the boat landing this morning
gave the same report.
From the deck of the Iwalani a watcf
was kept up till far into the night, will
glasses 1t was thought that lights
might be visible, but none was sighted
There was also some expectation thai
the drifting ship would send rockets ol
burn blue lights, but nothing was
Vusible to leeward. This means either
the two boats got to the ship before
dark, in some unaccountable way, ol
that they had no chance of reaching hel
at all. The high wind is blowing agalI
to-day and if the eight men are adrif
in their little boats, there is only tn,
bare chance of their being picked III
by passing vessel, between them ant
the fate that is the worst of all tn,
the dangers of the sea. Only the return
of the Invernesshire will settle tn,
question.
Considering her lightness and tn
state of the weather, it would not sur
prise many people If she spends
month beating about before she make
the detour that is necessary before sh
can get off port again. Pilot Saunder
is on board, with Captain Remit
Mrs. Peattie, the wife of the captain o
, the Invernesshire, is on shore. but a
the boat that took her husband OUT 4
. known to have reached the ship, sn
has no cause for fear.