The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-04-11

AUXILIARY cruiser Hornet, returned
home yesterday. Mr.. Stacy X. DeVany,
who also went with the reserves as
IT ey all tell interesting stories OF their
dreadful experience on the Hornet.
Mr.. Brogden tells the following about
ibis experience:
w crossed the bar at Southport
labout 1890 a. m. Monday at about Is
knots an hour. There was a good. stiff
breeze and while the waves were high
the sea was not rough. At l p. m. the
lbreeze picked up and it kept stiffening
up till 5 .. m. when il got pretty rough.
All the boys were sea sick and could
leat neither dinner or supper. A short
while after we got we'll under way after
lcrossing the Cape Fear bar, the boiler
tubes began to leak and the steam
Irould not be KEPT I'D to it's full head
This made it necessary to slow down to
s or 10 knots an hour We had nc
SERIOUS trouble. however. until We got
in sight of the. Charleston light ship
Monday night about S or 9 o'clock. 1t
was then blowing hard and was rain
ing and the sea was awful rough. The
ship was rolling terribly and the water
lpiled in on the deck. EVERYBODY was
lseasick. The tubes {. the boilers began
TO leak badly n We were not able to|
keep up steam enough TO run very fast
This made it so much rougher for us
and water was pouring into the hold of
tALN ,,o-.o1 W. 80 % H.
bar about 10 p. M, but as CaptainI
Morse, the navigator. was not familiar
with the lights. he decided 20 lie off I'M
til morning. In the meantime a regu-I
lar gale struck us and the wind blowed
terribly and the rain poured down
Then something got wong with the
pumps, and with very little steam, the
navigator either slowly ran out to sea
or the wind blew us out about sixtvl
miles. Everything was thought to bel
safe till 1 o'clock that night when II
heard a long. low whistle. The whistleI
sounded for a minute at Il time. and it'll
blew three different times. This wasI
the distress signal and everybody onl
board, but Captain Tom Morse, the
navigator, became very much frighted.
Myself and some others were in the
hold in the bow living on some ropes
irving to keep warm when some of the
Officers came and told us to come out,
the shin was filling n was sinking
Some of US crawled out through the
hatch through water that was pouringI
over the deck when the seas would
break. We got wet to the skin, but we
went out and Joined the others and with
buckets. pitchers and everything else.
we began to pass water out of the boil
er room. We stood in water knee deep
ISomething got wrong with the pumpI
and it wouldn't work and the water!
was gaining on US. At the same time the
storm was raging, it was raining, and
the seas were beating over us. l don'tl
know what those who had. been to seal
before thought about it but some of usl
Thought every minute would be our
last. The boys were praying on all
sides and everything was excitement
Ii felt the ship strike and she eitherI
struck bottom o times or tremendous
waves would strike the ship. for shel
lseemed to thump n tremble froml
stern to stem
Captain Morse had been asleep in his
bunk and he came out and got US of
1.-THE reef or whatever it was. The huSrl
waves would strike the ship and first
one side and then the other Of the ShiI
was under water as she would roll, anGl
every now and then the seas would rOi
clear across the ship. Water poured
idown the hatchoways, and the wate1l
in the boiler room got so deep that i'll
,-@- 49, o,,4 ~ f~nC n I'D No ru1I
not keep up steam. We could not there-
fore run the electric lights and theSl
went out. 1t was as dark as pitchl
and the Onlv light I saw was Il l%anterH
In the engine room. The water covert
I'll the coal and small coal and coal
dust was mixed with it. making an uG
|ly mess. The boys had to stand in thi
black water and pass the buckets ont
and every now and then some OF tn:
water would spill back over our headsl
clothes. We were black as impsi
and were wet all over. The water m
the engine room was heated by theI
boilers and it was s~uffiocatiug. Whe7
we would go on deck we would get|
chilled and our sufferings were awful.
Some of the Joys were either so sick
or frightened that they would not .
could not work n the officers bad Z
order them out at the point OF the pis-
toll. The ship rolled and pitched fear
NIL o@1 OF $1,000 g.
got loose On the deck but We managed
70 get it fast again. About 2 o'clock
Tuesday morning our condition wasi
that we were in despair. We wersI
helplessly but finally the navi-i
gator cast ancho We worked all
night with the buckets and when d..
lost, the chaplain, CaptainI
IT. G. Skinner, held services and prayed
He read a chapter in the Bible about
the shipwreck Of Paul. read Talmage'sI
and we all repeated the creeo.I
Some one came out and told US TO Quit
and go to work or we would AIN
go down., as the steering gear had
broken we could not get away
Towards morning the storm got lighter
and by daylight We felt easier. We got
the pump to working again and then
got UP steam and slowly sailed about
Ito get our bearings. We crossed tllel
charleston bar at 4:15 D. m. Tuesday,
and by 5 o'clock we were up to the city.
The revenue cutter Algonquin and thsf
Cincinnati were getting ready
to 60 out to search for us. and as wei
the harbor. the forts saluted usi
and the ALGONQUIN and the CINCINNATI
fired sa1utes and other vessels dipped