The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-08-11
WHERE IS
WOODBURY.
Weisbarth Thinks the
Schooner Went
Down.

Battered and storm-tossed, her port
rail gone and her sails in tatters the
diminutiye schooner Lavinia limped in
to port last night and tied up to the
Railway wharf No g The Lavinia has
furnished more stories for island jour-
nalists than any other craft af1oat in
these waters, even though she is the
tiniest of all the vessels that venture
out of Honolulu harbor in the broad
Pacific. This trip of the viking schoon-
er to Laysan Island was no exception
to the rule and indeed it was the worst
of the many disastrous voyages that
the intrepid Captain Weisbarth has
made.
The Lavinia also brings tidings of the
island schooner Charles Levi Wood
bury, also many days&out from Laysan
Island with guano, but Captain Weis-
barth is certain that the well known
craft has foundered in a terrible hur-
ricane encountered by the two vessels
on the way here. This is the storm
that wrought such havoc at Midway.
Captain Weisbarth had an experience
in this storm that he never wished to
repeat. For three days. the schooner
was hove to and her crew expected
death at any moment The captain
was dashed to the deck by a mountain
Gus wave that came aboard and threw
him under the wheel, injuring him so
that he was unable to move for three
days.
STORY OF THE STORM.
In the stuffy little cabin of the
schooner. with a smoky pinnacle light
casting weird radiance over the
scene, Captain Weisbarth graphically
told the story last night:
I'VE left Laysan Island on July 49,
at the same hour with the Woodbury..
Captain Schlemmer and seven japanese
sailed with Captain Harris on the
Woodbury.. Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Schlem-
mer and the rest of the Schlemmer
family and some workmen stayed on
the island. We had fine weather the
first two days and every prospect of a
fine passage. The wind held well to
the northward. The third day out it
began to blow. Gradually the wind in
creased, the glass dropping like lead
all the time. At noon we reefed the
mainsaiI and foresail and made the
flying jib fast. At four that afternoon
I ordered the main and foresails made
fast. The wind was then blowing a |
gale. That night at 10 o'clock we hove
to. The sea was running mountain
high and it seemed as if we must go
down every time a wave struck us. The
flying jib, brand new piece of canvas, !
was furled on the jib boom and Sc
curely made fast yet the wind tore it
away and blew it into ribbons bit by
bit. This little piece about two feet
square is all that is left. /
PART WITH WOODBURY..
at was a revolving gale it blew
from every point of the compass, haul
ing around in no time. 1 stood off to
the southwark and managed to get out
Of the storm at last. For three days,
though We were hove to. we were at
the mercy of the great rollers. one
of these days in the afternoon treIn-
endOus sea came aboard and swept the +
decks. / was at the wheel but I didn't ,
see it coming. 1t was just a crash +
and the next thing I knew I was 6
doubled up under the wheel with an /
awful pain in my side. 1 tried to cry I
put but | could not make a sound fe
Later the men came and picked me up. j
For three days. however, I could neith- ]
er stand up nor lie down, my side hurt [
20. 1t is better now although l can !,
lot work as well as before. We part 4
ID from the Woodbury. in the great ;
storm. Captain Harris stood to the 8
lorth and as the storm. shifted around T
hat way later he must have been right :,
n the center of it. I am afraid the :
is lost though she may have =
idden the storm out safely. 1 don't =
xpect to see her again, though. 1t :,
vas tremendous storm and we were ;,
rarely saved, though we got out of the
worst of it,
SCHOONER IS DAMAGED. k
The little schooner was considerably =
though it is wonderful that .
he escaped worse injury. Her port u
all was swept away and her bulwarks u
rushed During the height of the gale a
he scuttle on the hatchway leading -
own into the cabin was held in place II
" ropes which passed over it and were 81
JAILED down to the deck on either side. =
f this had not been done the water 81
would soon have flooded the cabin and 81
wamped the schooner.
In the hold of the Lavania are fifty p'
ons of guano. It is thought that this q
5 undamaged Captain Weisbarth m
rought up a curiosity in the shape of 81
lump of guano which is as hard as III
rock. In this is embedded a birds o.
gg which has become petrified and is w
s hard as stone. 1t probably has been tf
n the lump for many years. Captain tf
Veisbarth excerpts to exhibit this curio
n some uptown store window. fiji