The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-11-14
tFrom Sundays Advertiser)

"where did that cable come from?"
Is the question everyone along the
waterfront is asking, referring to the
piece of wire rope which the starboard
propeller of the Siberia picked up Fri
day night right in the harbor. That
seems to be the crux of the matter.
Many interests may be affected, di-
rectly and indirectly, before the full
facts come out.
+. r. Stackable. the collector of the
port and the Treasury Department of
the Federal Government, which he
represents, has a certain control over
the harbor and distractions to COM
merce. Lieutenant Slattery, U. S. A,
has control of the work now being
done In the harbor and channel for
the War Department. Capt. Niblack,
U. S. N, has charge of channels and
buoys belonging to the Lighthouse es-
tablishment of the Department of
Commerce and Labor. Capt. Lyons,
U. S. N. as Commandant of the local
Naval Station, is here to look out for
any interests the Navy Department
may have in harbor distractions. The
Postmaster General at Washington
doubtless will want at least some re-
port as to anything which may have
delayed the United States or Postal
Union mail. Should it develop that
some one had maliciously or even
thoughtlessly attached n cable to the
buoy and left the fag end of 1t lying
on the bottom of the harbor right in
the very place where propellers of
heavy draught steamships would pick
IL up, IL might be an offense against
the federal law which would involve
also the Department of Justice in an
investigation and possibly necessitate
the prosecution of somebody. In ad-
dition, the interests of the Pacific Mail
S. S. Co, the owners of the Siberia,
will be most vigorously attended to by
II. Hackfeld & Co., their agents, and
the Territorial Department of Public
Works, which furnishes the pilots, and
the Harbor Master of Honolulu, have
the reputation of the port and its
pilots to maintain.
1t seems now certain that there was
a cable attached to a territorial buoy
without authority and that the rapid
ly revolving propeller of the Siberia
either parted 1t or picked up its fag
end. If it parted 1t, where was the
other end? If it was flag end, who
put II there?
Capt. Flint, one of the local pilots,
says that just before five o'clock Fri
day he was on board the Mary T..
Foster, being moved over TO naval
row for cleaning up, and he noticed
that the buoy in question was about
] fa n hnr nj to1p " n
Capt. OLSON of the tug Fearless says
that when up to the Siberia a few
moments after this to pass his hawsei
aboard the Siberia, he noticed that the
buoy was not any further out in chan,
mel than it always had been. He says
he saw it plainly Capt. Lorenzen
the pilot in charge OF the Siberia, Is
reported to have said that he coult
not see the buoy; that 1t must hav,
become submerged.
Capt. Fuller, the harbor master, say
that the buoy was placed there b!
himself some ten years ago for tn
purpose of assisting the little old gov
ernment tug Eleu to haul around bi
ships, especially the China. The har
Dor is so narrow that with a southerl
wind, 1t was not possible for the Ele
unaided to pull the nose or stern G
the ship around from the old Pacifi
Mail or Canadian-Australian dock $
as TO head her out the channel. The
I used to have buoy there with an an
I chor on the coral "a feet below, but
7 was always pulling out. so the buo
I was finally anchored by heavy chai
e to an old boiler lying on the reef s
e as to keep it from being pulled towar
e shore. II was also anchored by ar
n other anchor and chain to the cor'
: below TO keep II in place.