The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1902-06-13
CHARGES THE
FIRST MATE
Shipwrecked Men
Arrive From
Kauai.
oFrom Wednesdays daIly)

British coal ship Fannie Kerr ar
rived yesterday morning on the
Mikahala ana are quartered at the
Sailors Home awaiting aid from Brit
ish Consul Hoare. which has been
promised Tor tomorrow morning While
Captain Gibbons and the members OF
his crew tell Of no particular hard
ship suffered by them. Yet the voy-
age from the place where the burning
ship was abandoned to a safe port on
Kauai was far from being "A pleasant
one.
The four men who made their escape
in the ships gig suffered the most and
they make grave accusations against
the first mate, David Longwill whom
they accuse OF deserving them. This
story, however, the mate and the men
who were in the big boat deny, and
they say they did everything possible
for the men i'm the gig, even to risking
their own lives.
The plans OF Captain Gibbons for the
future are not known, but the members
Of the crew can all get berths aboard
various vessels if they wish II. They
will be shipped either to Vancouver or
to San Francisco, though nothing def
mite win be done until after tomorrow
morning, at which time a hearing will
be had before Consul Hoare. Mr.. Hoare
said last evening he had heard nothing
officially concerning charges TO be
brought against the first mate, though
his inquiry on Thursday morning will
take I'm the rumors and reports that
have been drifting about the water
front since the twenty-nine shipwreek-
ed men of the Fannie Kerr arrived in
Honolulu yesterday morning. short
investigation was held by Mr. Hoare
yesterday but nothing was said at that
time about any grievances the men
had against the first mate. In the af
ternoon Captain Gibbons made a for
NAL report to the Vice Consul, F. NJ.
Swanzy, who is also the local agent for
Lloyds, merely outlining the accident
and its causes. The story of the cap
tain of the voyage and subsequent mis-
haps is in substance as follows. all the
officers and men agreeing to his state
ment of facts:
The Fannie Kerr left Newcastle
April with $3.50 tons of Greta coal,
bound for San Francisco. All went
well until early on the morning OF May
2S, when smoke was noticed by Cap
tain Gibbons coming from the ventila
tor, but an investigation disclosed no
trace of fire. The captain then ordered
the matches battened down in the hope
OF smotherlng the fire. and II was de-
cided to make for Honolulu, the ship
being at that time northwest of the
Islands. The full extent of the hre
was not known until the following day
when about two o'clock in the morning,
without any previous warning. the
after hatch, No 4, was suddenly blown
into the air, while the ventilators were
sent high oyer the ship. A sheet of
ilameJ50 feet high followed. Fire came
out of hatch No. 3. and the mzzen rig
ging caught fire from the flames. All
efforts to batten down the two matches
were unsuccessful, and gas began to
issue from the remaining two matches.
The center of the fire appeared to
be under the bridge deck aft, and the
steel decks soon became so hot that
in some places it was impossible to
stand upon them. The smoke and gas
es also added to the danger, and the
men were in constant danger of. sufo-
cation. Finally, after fighting the Are
all day, and seeing that 1t was hope
less, it was decided to abandon her.
The four boats We're fully provisioned
and the water, which was getting
warm. was placed aboard First Mate
Longwill was put in charge of the large
life boat with eleven men, the second
mate took the dingey with three men.
and the boatswain the gig. with three
men. The captain, with the third mate,
took the second life boat with ten Of
the crew. Shortly after leaving the
CHI in, 1n u 20 4,
water and the captain put back and
took the four men aboard. He also had
his st. Bernard dog and a cat with him
and it became necessary to throw over
board all surplus baggage In order to
tighten the boat. The captains boat
got separated from the first mates
boat and the gig the first night. For
the first few days they had hard
time of it, On June 5th Bird Island
was sighted, but no attempt was made
to land. The same afternoon the Gaze
lie was sighted but she did not see the
signals displayed by Captain Gibbons.
On the following day the shipwrecked
men landed at Makaweli.
Captain Gibbons does not believe that
the hulk of the Fannie Kerr is of any
value and says she should be sunk as
1t might become a menace to naviga-
ton.
THE BOS'UN'S SAD STORY.
The bos'un, who was one of the four
men in the gig, is the man who most
strongly charges the first mate with
deserving them. His story is corrobo-
rated by both Murphy and Coleman,
who were in the boat with him. MUIR
ply, however, says that the boatswain