The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-02-14

SWEEP ISLES
Paumotus in the
Track of
Winds.
AtoIIS Which Are Washed
by Western Tidal
Waves.
Capt. Chapman Tells of Troubles
OF Pearl Fishers Of Little
Archipelago.

About once in twenty years the low
by the hurricanes, as were the Tuamo-
tus or Paumotu islands, as told in the
cables from San Francisco to the Ad-
vertiser," said Capt. B. F. Chapman
yesterday. The captain has knowledge
of the ways of the winds in the South
Seas, for he spent something like fifty
years in trading among the islands
which have so recently suffered and
those in the vicinity, and he knows
| them as well as the ordinary citizen
knows the ways about his own town.
He continued:
Gwen before 1 read of the news
brought to San Francisco by the Mari
posa had been expecting information
Of some such disaster, as facts leading
up to it had reached me from two
sources. A San Francisco man who
spent some time in Tahiti, stopping at
the residence of my daughter, and who
returned through here in the Ventura,
gave me the first facts. He left Tahiti
Auckland, to make the connection with
the mail ship. The vessel had proceeded
west to ITO degrees when it entered the
area of a hurricane which was so
strong that there was a great fear,
even on the part of the captain, that
he would not be able to bring the YES
sci through it.
capt. Piltz of the schooner Hall was
here to dinner soon after his arrival
from the South, and he told me that he
was trying to get into Tahiti for the
purpose of getting some fresh vege-
tables, about that time, when a strong
wind came up from the west. He was
to run for it, with double |
reefs, to clear the western island of |
the Paumotu group. AS he was get |
ting past, on January 10Th, the storm |
was at it's height, and he said the hur-
ricane was one of the worst that he |
had ever known. The winds were ter
rible and there was a high sea from
the northeast. the wind holding from
the west. He was then in 148 degrees
west longitude, which would show that
the hurricane had moved through %
degrees in the day, for it is certain that
the Overflow was the same which caus-
ed such loss of life.
THE paumotu group consists of some
eighty islands, there being not one Of
the entire group which rises more than
4 few feet above the level of the sea.
They are all atolls, consisting of a ring
Of coral enclosing a lagoon. The en-
frances are always to the west and
here is absolutely nothing to break
he force of the winds. Thus there are
he presence Of high mountains on ISL
tnds still further west, which break the
orce of the storms and divert the
Winds and send them to the north.
1.-THE last hurricane which swept the
'aumotus was some twenty years ago.
was told of it by one of the captains {
f my fleet trading there, who had I
zen at anchor in one of the lagoons.
lie was ashore and the natives who
7ere his friends came to him and told 2
i'm that the storm was coming on. He =
7as urged to follow their example and r
y so doing saved his life. The island $
n which he was is some sixty-five /
liles long, but at its highest point is q
My twelve feet above water. With I
he natives he ran to some cocoanut =
rees, which grow very high and slend- /;
r there, and dashed himself to one of ?
ne trunks. D
Sure enough the hurricane came and 9
he tidal wave swept over the island. I
-othing could stand before it but the I,
exible trees, which bent away over n
nd the leaves We're blown out like V
before a storm, but very few, t
2 them were blown down and so few g
YES were lost. The cocoanuts were I
own from the trees and undoubtedly c
amy of the deaths were caused by the Il
ying cocoanuts. Everything was f
vept from the island. the houses. the
arehouses, the stores of goods and f
and when all was over moth s
e remained but the trees. \
This experience has just been re- al
eated, but the reports that 1000 lives n
ere lost indicate that the storm was al
lduly severe, and that there must o'
ave been many expeditions out which N
eres lost. The total population is T;