The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-02-18
Earthquake Threw Ships Out of
Water.

Earthquake Threw Ships Out of
Water.
| A violent earthquake threw the
| steamer Guatemala partly out of the
water and caused the vesseI to trem-
Bile from stem to stern for at least a
| minute off the coast of Ecuador during
| the trip up to San Francisco from the
| South American coast The shock
i've miles off the coast, eighty-two
miles north of Payta and about 1e0
! miles south of Guayaquil at fla
o'clock on the evening of January s.
The weather was clear at the time,
Z the sea was calm, and when the stern
of the big steamer seemed to rise out
| of the water and settle again, and
shake as though it had run on a reef,
| the officers and passengers were at a
| loss to understand what had taken
place. Captain Harris and Chief I'm
gineer Campbell were on deck at the
time, and before an investigation could
be made by them the steamer was
again blowing through the water at
the usual speed. 1t was then believed
that the disturbance had been caused
l. by an earthquake, and this belief was
confirmed upon reaching Guayaquil a
few hours later. There it was learned
that the most violent earthquake in
the history of the place had taken
place at the moment when the Guate-
mala had been so rudely shaken, the
residents of the city being so panic
stricken that they ran into the streets.
No serious damage was done at Quay
aquil. The exact position of the steam
er at the time of the subterranean
disturbance was in latitude 4 deg. II
min. south. longitude 81 deg. % min.
west. The steamer suffered no damage
from the shock. Earthquakes are of
common occurrence farther south, in
Peru and Chile, but seldom disturb the
residents of Guayaquil. The one re-
ferred to continued for four or five
minutes on land.
Old Australia Rescues Crew.
Sixteen days on a burning ship in
midocean, with the hot decks warped
and threatening momentarily to blow
up, is the thrilling story brought to
San Francisco by Captain Robert
Bryce and the crew of twenty-nine
men of the big four-masted steel ship
Pyrenees. They were picked up at Ia
hiti by the steamer Australia and ar
rived at San Francisco on the 7tn In
slant, on the way to England. The
PyreneeS was a vessel we'll known IN
San Francisco, having been there on
several occasions. the last time in
June, 1899
The Pyrenees sailed from Tacoma on
October Ia for Leith with a cargo or
$3.50 tons of wheat and barley. All
went well until the afternoon of No
vember IT, when Chief Mate John Kerr
informed the captain that smoke was
issuing from one of the after venti-
lators. The ship was then on the
equator, in longitude 126 west All
hands were called, and without delay
the matches We're battened down ana
everything possible was done to pre-
vent the air from getting below.
The captain tells his story as fol-
lows: My plans for continuing on the
voyage were necessarily abandoned,
for it became apparent at once that
we could not successfully fight the
flames, and for the succeeding few
days | was undecided what to do. It
was hoped that some vessel would be
sighted, so that We could be sure of
rescue if in attempting to put out the
fire we should be unsuccessful. When
it seemed as if something must be
done l decided to make for Pitcairn
Island, 100 miles distant, with the in
tention of Bleaching the ship. Once
this resolution was made, all sail was
crowded on, and under a fair wind
the Pyrenees steered for Pitcairn.
bic to remain anywhere except on
deck, for the cabin and every part OF
the ship below deck was full of deadly
gas, arising from the burning grain
Fortunately. we had a quantity of pro-
visions on deck, and all our water but
all hands were put on short rations.
The water was bad, as a result of the
gases, and could hardly be swallowed
Thomas McKeown and ]. Holland,
Doth able seamen, tried to go below
when the fire was first discovered, but
McKeown was instantly overcome by
the gases and fell unconscious He and
Holland were hauled back on deck
and nothing more was done toward
fighting the flames
Every moment we expected the fire
to break out. Day and night all hands
were kept in state of the greatest
anxiety. The wooden deck became so
hot that the men could scarcely walk
upon it, and before Pitcairn Island
was sighted portions of the deck were
badly warped All this time the crew
were kept hard at work pumping water
upon the deck. for if the pitch in the
cracks had been allowed to melt the
flames would have burst out. With
scarcely any rest this work of flooding
was kept up, and the water steamed
as it ran over the hot boards. Some
relief was felt when, on the morning
of November 90, we reached Pitcairn.
1t had been my intention to run the
ship ahead on until she stuck hard
and fast, but such a tremendous sea
was breaking on the shore that l felt
that half the crew would be lost in
getting ashore.
We were within mile of the shore
when Mr.. Mccoy, the Governor of the
island, came out in a whaleboat with
provisions. He learned of our predica-
ment and advised me to sail the ship
to the lagoon at Manga Reya in th.
Gambler group, 300 miles west-nortt-
west. This was disheartening and
many of the crew objected to going
farther. Still. when / decided to go on
to Manga Reva the men all ac-
and Mccoy volunteered to go
with US. The next morning we stecred
for Manga Reva with bulging decks.
and expected that the masts would
fail any moment. Nobody cared To go
aloft. On the morning of December 2,
sighting the lagoon 1 ran the Pyre-
nees inside. striking on reef A few
minutes later the ship slipped into
deep water, and was then carried easi-
ly and broadside upon a sand bar.
ending her usefulness.
We landed at the little French set
tlement, where only eight or nine
white persons were found, all the other
inhabitants being natives. Thirty-six
hours after we quit the Pyrenees the
flames shot up from below and burned