The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-05-06
Rickmers' Tale of Hard Luck.

The German bark Willy Rickmers,
Captain Beneke, arrived at San Fran
cisco the other day minus her fore. main
and mizzen topmasts, and with her
came a story of great gales and the
seas fury The Rickmers was only fiji
ty-six days out from Hiogo, Japan,
for Chemainus, and in view of the fact
that the big ship was dismasted when
within a few hundred miles of the Jap
anese coast, the time from Hiogo to
San Francisco is remarkable. Many
ships, with the use of all sails, have
been out nearly twice as long on the
trip across the Pacific.
After taking on 1,500 tons of sand and
rock ballast the Rickmers sailed from
Hiogo on February 22d for Chemainus
to load lumber. A strong breeze car
ried the ship along until March 4th,
when in the afternoon, in latitude AZ
degrees north, longitude 172 degrees
east. the barometer began to fall rapid
ly. AT night top topsails were reefed,
and preparations were made for a
storm That this was sure to come was
shown by the barometer, which went
down to %. The gale came on early on
the morning of Tuesday, March 5th,
and the starboard watch was sent aloft
to put on preventer gaskets and make
everything as secure as possible. All
hands were on deck, and the ship was
rolling like a log, when at about $50
O'Clock in the morning on the 5th, the
vessel made three tremendous rolls,
causing the foretop, main and mizzen
topmasts to come crashing down, the
yards and rigging swinging about the
deck and threatening to sweep the men
overheard. 1t was with the greatest
danger that the crew succeeded in cut
ting away the wreckage, which fell
over the port side. and they were near
ly six hours at the work. The next
morning at o'clock the mizzen upper
topsail yard went over the starboard
side.
For the purpose of Tightening the ship
days the men worked with buckets
until 300 tons had been thrown into
the sea. This made the ship easeir. On
March 7th, while at work on the fore
castle head assisting in rigging a jury
sail, Cornelius de Boer, seaman, was
thrown overheard by the heavy lurching
of the ship in a gale. Two life buoys
were thrown toward him, and his
but the gale prevented his recovery.
He was so close to the ship that when
1T rolled heavily he went under with it,
coming up on the other side of the
vessel The man was in some manner
injured while under the ship and soon
sank. He was a native of Holland, 20
years old, and was the best swimmer
on the Rickmers.
After discharging the ballast, the re-
naming yards were trimmed and the
Willy Rickmers steered her course for
San Francisco. The first vessel sighted
was the schooner Rosamond, on March
10Th, in latitude 35 degrees north, longi-
tude 155 degrees west. Captain Benke
says that he was very anxious to send
a report by the Rosamond, and that
the schooner, being to windward, could
easily have gone close by. Captain
Ward of the Rosamond did not take
the trouble to do this, as has already
been reported, and the identity of the
dismasted ship was not definitely known
until the arrival at San Francisco a
few days ago of the barkentine J. c.
P1uger, which spoke the Rickmers al
! 10 o'clock on the night of April 18th