The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-09-18
Tells OF HIS VOYAGE.

ltl0 VI H|O vUIAGE
DR.. Simpsons Description OF
His South African Trip.
VESSEL WAS ASHORE OFF HAYT]
Denison's Veterinarian Tells Of his
Trip to the Seat Of War. Taking
Mules to the British Army. Was
| Gone Four Months.
Leaving Denlson on Tuesday after
noon. May 9Th, arrived at New
Orleans on Thursday morning at 1000
a. NJ, and reported tony employer at
once, and everything being in readi-
ness we drifted down the river to The
Point where we remained until about
10 O'Clock Friday, when tug boat
arrived with Is muleteers aboard.
After signing them on board we pro.
ceeded down the river and went out OF
the pass that evening at about seven
O'Clock. The weather was fine and [
soon began to discard the heavy cloth
ing which I had been wearing while
in Denison. The Gulf by moonlight
with its hundreds of boats of every
description, moving in every direction
with all their lights and with their
whistles footing, is indeed beautiful
sight to look upon.
Our ship, the Carinthia, had 1452
mules on board divided between decks
as follows: 300 on the upper deck and
the rest equally divided between the
two lower decks, with plenty of tunnels
and wind-shutes to carry air to them.
Feed was stored below the decks and
water was carried in large deep tanks.
The mules were feed and watered FIVE
times daily, it taking each muleteer
about half an hour to tend his mules,
about 35 in number
T We passed the west end of Cuba one
evening, ard on the morning of the
i 10Th of May the vessel ran ashore
about $50 feet from the beach off Point
Ora vols, Hayti. The night was ex-
tremely dark and it rained harder than
had ever seen it rain before. We
could hear the breakers after the
engines stopped, but owing to the rain
and heavy mist it was some time be-
fore we could see them. Some of the
men were quite badly frightened, and
one fellow put on three life-preservers,
which no doubt would have drowned
him had he fallen overheard. Soon
after striking. preparations were made
to make everything secure for the
night. but it was hard nights work.
The next morning the I'd officer went
ashore and after travelling all day
arrived at Aux Cages. and notified the
English consul, who in turn notified
the owners and the war department.,
and came to the wreck the next day on
the neutrality-suspicious. steamship Vo-
lensia. After several unsuccessful at
tempts to tow us off the rocks the
vessel with the Consul on board LETT
for Kingston, Jamaica, where the En-
glish Admiral ordered the cruiser
Proserpine to come and help. and the
steamer, Ready, to bring water, as
most of the fresh water was pumped
out soon after grounding so as to
Tighten the vessel. About l,5O0 tons of
coal were also thrown overheard.
The vessels towing pulled the Ca
rinthia over to the right side and
caused list varying from % to 30 de-
grees which made it very uncomfort-
able in getting around, and was the
cause of a great many mules being
killed by getting down and trampled
to death by the others. Each mule
was allowed 10 gallons of water each
day. but owing to the shortage we were
compelled to cut the allowance down
to two gallons per day. The short
water, allowance together with the in
tense heat and no fresh air caused a
great many mules to die. We began
pushing the mules overheard on the
right side of the ship which was away
from the land. The natives were
around the ship in canoes, and as soon
as mule was overheard would capture
him and lead him ashore. Some OF the
mules got away and swan out into the
ocean and were drowned, while some
others who tried to reach land without
the aid of the natives, were dashed to
death on the rocks, and quite num-
Der were killed by the propellers of
some of the other boats
We finished unloading on the 18th
and went ashore. the mules in the
meantime having been taken across
country to Aux Cages and distributed
among the farmers in punches of from
10 to 100, who looked after them, we
furnishing part of the feed, which was
saved. The sick and injured mules