The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1904-08-26
''DEOE" DOW HAS
EXCITING TIME
PICKED UP by SEA on SHIP I. f.
CHAPMAN, DASHED AGAINST
THE CAPSTAN.

The ship I. +. Chapman which re-
Gently arrived at Delaware Breakwater
from Honolulu with a cargo of sugar.
had quite an exciting experience during
a portion of her trip. "Dede" Dow son
of H. NJ. Dow, clerk to the high sheriff,
shipped on the vessel at Honolulu as
an able seaman. Young Dow has writ
ten to his father and mother regarding
his experience on the recent voyage.
The vessel went to Philadelphia after
being reported off the Breakwater, so
young Dow writes from that place In
speaking Of his trip, h says in part, in
a letter to his father.
Philadelphia, August 4, 1904.
Dear Father: / now arrived after my
tedious deep water trip Of 1856 weary
days Well we got the tug boat at 49,
80 p. m. on Tuesday August 2, twenty
five miles from the Breakwater. 1t
was raining great guns then, and you
can imagine what a hard job we had
making them heavy wet sails fast.
brought the ship in, that is, l was at
the wheel from 4 to g. We past the
Breakwater at about o'clock that
same afternoon and towed up the Della
ware as far as Lukes Island where we
anchored to wait for the tide to run in,
that was Z:30 o'clock Wednesday morn
ing that we anchored. We layed there
until ii a. m. then towed to Philadel-
phia and locked at the sugar wharf
A little about the voyage. We were
Is days to the equator and during that
time We had nothing but Gains, and
light breezes. On Saturday April 16
We sighted the Mauki Islands at $3.50 p.
m bearing w. NV 30 miles Lat. 90 q
S. Long. 1869 So w. On May we got
our first gale and Cape Horn weather.
We were making 10 knots under foresail
and topsails, good weather next day.
On May IA, at 4 o'clock in the morn
ing all hands on deck made everything
fast but fore and main lower topsails
which we hove too under. We were
hove to until May IS, then we got a
strong blow from the r. Well, take 1t
as a whole we had real good weather
no icebergs. We had one hail squat
that's all we saw of ice. l tell you it
was cold off the Horn. l never lost
a wheel the whole trip and never had
to lay up, put l suffered terrible from
the dashing seas hitting me. In bad
weather We had to pump ship the whole
watch night and day. The seas would
come over the ship like a shot and |
tell you, you had to hang on l was
| only washed once by a sea, that was
at Is minutes to II one night when we
were pumping ship. The sea pulled me
right off the life line which is stretched
around the deck. The pump handle hit
me on the head and the sea threw me
head first against the capstan, which
| knocked me senseless. 1 washed across
the deck a couple of times then got up
on the life line. l was glad to get up
into warm weather | tell you
l have kept my diary all the time. l
have done some terrible hard work this
trip tell you, and l consider myself as
good a sailor as any of them,
The officers and crew have treated
men grand, first straight
With much love and kisses to all the
dear folks at home, l remain your
tacred down, sailed up, and washed
about sailor son,
HERBERT NJ. DOW.
When "Dede" says he thinks he is as
good a sailor as the rest of them, he
is not indulging in any idle boast, for
lie certainty is a Iellltll name SOuAlbS'NA
for a boy turned II years of age. He
has been going to sea ever since he was
IA years of age He has sailed on the
banks Albert, r. p. Rithet, Olympic and
George Curtis and S. S. ArizOnan be-
tween the islands and San Francisco
and has also been on the bark Nuuanu
and the Inflated ship Helen Brewer
between the islands. Shipped on all of
those vessels during his vacations, so
the Chapman is the first long voyage
that he has made. He intends to re-
ship on her and go to Hong Kong. The
vessel will return to Honolulu to load
sugar next season. She will either go
from Hongkong to Newcastle to get
coal for some Hawaiian port, or else
come to Honolulu in ballast directly for
Hong Kong. The vessel IS to load at
New Z k for Hong Kong