Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1902-12-12

GOING TO. THE PHILIPPINES.

GOING TO.THE PHILIPPINES.
Charley Harlow Writes of His Perilous
Trip Across the Sea.
Nuera Caceres, South Camarines, Lu-
zon, P. l., September 26, 1902.
Dear Father: I suppose it will be
about six weeks before you get this
and as much longer before hear from
you.
We sailed from Frisco on the 10th
of August at noon-four troops of cav
airy, E. F. G. and H., about 100 hospit-
al men and oasuals and a crew of per-
hsps another 100, counting cabin pass
engers, in all about 500. We were bad
ly crowded. Three hundred men slept
in space one. half the size of the Sol
diers' Home dining room and 400 ate
in third of that much room
Rations were good, but scanty, and
frequently when the ship was rolling
we would spill what we did. get. One
man fell down stairs and lit in a pan
of prunes he was carrying. During a
heavy sea men would often be knocked
half senseless against the posts. had
no such accidents myself. -Four or five
days out saw whale spout and near
Nagaski saw another. We saw sev-
eral sharks, q couple of schools of dol
phins, sea turtle and millions of
flying fish; but we saw one thing none
of us want to see again. September
9th at 10 p. M. we passed the Nagaski
light house, the first we saw of land
although we met two vessels-a sailing
vessel Is miles off and tramp steamer
10 miles off. Saturday the 9Th we were
$50 miles from Nsgaski and the sea
was rolling mountain high. l don't
mind looking down on waves but when
you have to look way up in the air to
see the tops Of them l don't like it.
There was no wind but there had been
a typhoon some where and the rollers
from it we're coming to us. The
Sumner has IL feet of free board but
the waves came over her decks first on
one side then on the other. She tipped
over so far it seemed impossible for
her to right herself The matches were
both battened down (boarded up) and
we we're ordered below. l thought it
was bad storm. But the worst was
to come. About 10 o'clock gale COM
menced to blow and at IL it was what
sailors call hurricane. The sea was
rough before. You cannot imagine
what it was then. Our life boat was
washed away but was recovered. The
second engineer was thrown against
the rail so hard that he knocked a
section of it loose. He grabbed a
chain and saved himself. Lieut.. Chap
man tried to come down stairs and was
knocked from one end of the passage
to the other and was picked up sense
less but not badly hurt. The first
mate tried to go up the rigging but
changed his mind half way up and
came down again. They put the oil
bags out to smooth the water and the
old captain took the wheel and stood
by it for 1S hours. Thewind was blow
ing towards shore and he turned her
nose to the wind and stood out sea.
The boat can make II miles per hour
but that wind and the waves drove us
towards the rocks in spite of all the
engineer could do, at the rate of
miles per hour. "a hours more of it
and we would have been aground and
probably baoken to pieces. However
it calmed down little Sunday night
and Monday it was possible to look
down on the waves again. Private
Hall has served years in the U. S
navy and Sergt. Hunt put in few
years in the British navy. Both say il
was the worst storm they ever saw
An old sailor with q years experience
} said he had been in more dangerous
places but never in a rougher sea
The captain is reported to have said il
was the worst he had seen in 30 years
So l think 1 am justified in saying i
was bad storm. The oil bags are us
ually a last resort. It was a typhoon and
we were near the center of it. The ali
was horrible in the hold and Sunda,
noon they let us up on deck for a breatl
of fresh air. A cable was stretched
across the deck and we hung on to it
We we're wet to the skin but that wa
nothing to breathing the air in tn,
hold. The waves seemed 100 feet higl
and from their crests sheet of waite
would be blown on to the decks
When the ship rolled to one side tn
cable would sway in that direction an.
then back again. 1t was impossible t,
keep our footing, but you don't knov
how good fresh air is even if the win,
blows your mouth full of salt waite
every time you take a breath of il
until you are where you absolutel,
can't get it as we were from 6 p. m