Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-28
GOT HIS STAR AT SEA

81 suppose" remarked a young naval OFF,
Ger now on departmental duty. that If I
were to tell you that once picked copy
of The Washington Evening Star out Of the
Pacific ocean. about hundred miles from
any land, you would be disposed to regard
me as the Munchausen of the sea service,
or else powerfully imaginative spinner of
focsle yarns, eh?"
The Star man was compelled to admit
that there We're a few more probable places
| in which to find copy of The Washington
! Evening Star than a spot in the Pacific
ocean a hundred miles from any land.
Nevertheless, went on the naval officer,
| 81 got hold Of copy of The Star that was
afoat the Pacific just I've told you.
know that sounds just a bit fantastic, but
1 it won't seem so when l tell you how 1t
| happened
| six years ago I was attached to a gun
| boat on the Pacific station that made
| cruise down and up the Central and South
American coasts. We made a somewhat
| long stay a Acapulco, Mexico, on the up
cruise. When we received orders from the
| department to leave Acapulco and proceed
| direct to San Francisco for further orders,
we got up anchor and pulled out of AGA
| pulco harber before the Pacific mail liner,
bound down, had got in with our mail. We
knew that the next steamer due from San
Francisco on its way to the isthmus was
| the Colima, and We concluded that we'd
| meet up with her on the UP trip to San
| Francisco and signal her to slow up long
| enough to let us have our bag OF ship
mail.
but when we were a couple of days out
| on the up trip to San Francisco and failed
| to run across the AFOREMENTIONED Colima
| we began to think it was rather queer
When, on the following day, we began to
| plough through a lot Of steamship wreck
! age the vague suspicion that something
| had happened to the Colfma became GER
| tainty. There was one Of those heavy, dis
| n
! Pacific storms, and it was plain from the
! vast amount of wreckage that was floating
! all around us as we proceeded under half
! Steam-So as to be able to pick up cast
| Always. should We run into any-that the
| Colima had either been washed a good
many times from stem to STERN or had gone
| down altogether.
None of the wreckage was worth pick
| ing up but we kept going along under a
half-head of steam when the idea that hui
man beings clinging to wreckage and so
exhausted by exposure as to be unable to
| cry out might be run into. Nothing of that
sort happened. But along toward evening
of the third day. when We were about a
hundred miles off Cape st. Lucas, the prem
| tice boy lookout yelled out Buoy ahead!
| The officer of the deck was about to send
up some sharp words to the lad aloft over
his calling out such crazy lmpossibity
as that of a buoy being found down in
those waters, when sure enough, an old
QuartermaSter standing by the for ard star
board rail confirmed the youngsters
nouncement by calling off himself. Buoy
two points off the starboard bow"
THAT queerly-placed buoy was worth in
veStigating, of course, and the ship was
brought to a standstill BY this time the
buoy was a good distance aft, but the ship
was backed to where it was still seen float
ing. When the ship bore right down upon
the small floating buoy it was seen from
| its position in the water that something
tied to it. and the dinghy was lowered
to see what this thing tied to the floating
| buO- could be.
Well it was unlashed from the floating
buoy and tossed into the dinghy and
brought aboard, and it proved to be the
sack of mail for our ship that the Colima
was bringing down to US at Acapulco. Then
We knew that the Coiima had been lost,
and that the few mail bags had been thus
dashed to floating buoys before she went
down on the chance that they would be
picked up. That, as we afterward ascer-
tanned from the few survivors in San Fran
cisco. was exactly what had happened. The
Colima run into a typhoon, and owing to
the fact that she had taken on a huge deck
load she was topheavy in the big blow and
careened. and finally went down with nearly
all hands. some 200. including passengers
and crew. There were only few surviv-
ors. and we found these in San Francisco
when we reached there, they having been
picked up by upward bound Pacific
mail liner. They told us that the mail
bags had been tied to buoys and chucked
over the side, just we had supposed
"Hth 1t was seen lhdt Inc snip must lneYl-
tably go down.
We'll the mail In that bag was pretty
damp. as you can well believe. but it was
sorted out all right, and it was all legibie
enough for all practicable purposes. There
was a lot of mail for the ships company
| besides the official mail. and among the
| things addressed to me a copy of The
Saturday Evening Star, which my people,
then living in Washington. sent to me reg
ularly every week. | dried the paper and
then looked it ovey. and in the naval not s
on the first page l saw the two lines an
nouncinS my own promotion, which I was
expecting, but hadn't then heard Of from
ensign to Junior lieutenant
That's how I happened to get a copy of
your paper out of the Pacific ocean a hun
dred miles from any land, and if that wasn't
an odd way of hearing about ones promo
ton in the service / respectfully invite YOU
to narrate me an odd instance or two. I've
got the caStaway copy of The Star vet
among my relics, and III hang on to the
yeliowed and salt-water-faded old thing as
long as l live"