The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-08-23
HAD IN EXCITING YEAR The GRAND JURY REPORT.
THE CARNEDD LLEwELLYN'S
TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
Fearful Weather Off Cape Horn-Sail-
ors Severely Frost-Bitten and the
Ship Frozen-Two Gales.


I'm twenty trips round the Horn 1
have never known such hard weather."
said Captain Griffith of the British
ship Carnedd Llewellyn this morning,
in describing the vessels experiences
at the dreaded southern cape. The big
ship has passed through many excit-
ing adventures since she left Honolulu
16 months ago She was in the terrible
gale in the North Sea last February,
the worst gale ever known in those wa
ters. The Carnedd LlewHyn lost her
boatswain in the storm, but weathered
1t in safety. In single coast town of
England "a widows were made by the
wrecks Of small vessels during this
storm.
On the Llewllyn's present trip Ru-
dOlph Noight, young man at sea for
the first time, was lost overheard in
some mysterious way. He disappeared
early on the morning of May s. He
was seen at breakfast time but never
afterwards. Though there were men
aloft and on deck no one saw him go
overheard.
1t is though by the boys companions
that he committed suicide, sneaking
forward and casting himself quietly in
to the sea. He probably sank under
and did not rise till the big ship had
sailed past him, and as he made no
sound the loss was not discovered till
he was called for.
Voight appeared to feel the hardships
of sea life a good deal and this is sup
posed to have caused his suicide, if
such it was. 1t is the talk among the
men that the boatswain was down OH
him."
The Carnedd Llewellyn's experience
at Cape Horn were such as few vessels
ever pass through. For week there
was a steady gale from the south,
causing such bitter cold that five of the
men We're severely frost bitten, and the
ship could scarcely be handled at all.
One man who went aloft to work on
the mizzen topsail was so badly bitten
by the icy blasts from the south that
he was laid up for two weeks. The men
say it was so cold that human en-
durance could not stand more than
short time away from fire.
There were icicles as big as my arm
on the ship" said Captain Griffith.
Water froze before it could run off the
decks. When 1 left my cabin and went
on deck I found in a few moments that
my mustache was frozen hard The
moisture of the breath was hardened in
two minutes.
Blocks were all frozen and the lines
and sails We're as hard as iron. The
ship was almost unmanageable, but the
wind took us north. Luckily we had
only about a week of this, or we should
never have got out of it. / think II we
had gone just a bit farther south we
should have had the ship frozen in al
together. AS it was she was just like
a big iceberg.
when we came to use any of our ap-
paratus or gear we had to use hammers
and hot water to break the ice"
Before reaching the Horn the Llewel
lyn encountered a two days heavy
southwest gale, off the river Platte,
during which the men had a taste of
hard work that was preliminary to
what was coming. After getting away
from the icy ATTITUDES she penetrated
the ship made the port of Honolulu in
Az days, which is about the record time
for journey from the Cape. She went
as far as So degrees south. The whole
trip from Hamburg was made in 124
days, which is good average time The
ship has 27O0 tons of freight, of which
1900 tons are for Seattle and the re-
mainder for the Hawaiian Fertilizer
Company.
The Llewellyn has made strange re-
cord for losing men during her nine
years of service. Captain Griffith has
been to sea for 35 years and says he
never lost a man till he took the Car
nedd Llewellyn. In the nine years that
have followed he has lost six. On one
trip he buried two at sea.
The ship arrived off the harbor during
the night and was towed in by the
Fearless early this morning. Her crew
gave the harbor here the best samples
of sailor singing that have been heard
here for some time. There was a strong
chorus of Rio Grande" and John
Browns Body" as the. men heaved an
Choir with the capstan, and quite a
crowd gathered to listen and watch, on
the old fishmarket wharf 1t is only
six weeks since the sailors were in the
midst of the terrible cold of So south,
and they were glad to tie u to wharf
in n balmy cline.
Captain Griffith is an old seaman
who has a number of friends here. He
left Honolulu on his last trip home
ward bound in April 1899. Since then
he has certainly had his share of the
dangers and hardships of sea-life, but
the big vessel was brought safely out
of them all and is as sound as ever. She
goes to Seattle and then "home" again,
with another try at the Horn.