The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-11-14
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 20

Captain Fuller says that it was an
chored in twenty-four feet of water and
as the Siberia was drawing twenty
eight feet the ship could not pos
sibly have fouled the anchor chain of
the buoy If it were in place. The ques-
tion remains, how was it moved nearer
to the old Mokolii than before, ito
about amidships," Capt. Flint says, and
who or what moved it?
On the authority of the keeper of the
harbor lighthouse, Mr.. Williams, it is
said that the dredger Pacific made fast
one of its guy lines to a somewhat SINH
| lar buoy near lighthouse point and that
| objection was made to the superintend-
ent of the big dredging operations now
in progress in the harbor. Mr.. Will
liams was afraid that the whole light
house would tumble down in case of
strain, as 1t is now a disgrace to the
Federal government and has been de-
clared unsafe by the local lighthouse
authorities The Pacific this time had
a wire cable on the lighthouse buoy.
Capt. Fuller said further that 1t was
perfectly plain to him that the cable
had pulled the buoy out OF place and
under the stern of the Siberia and that
the strain on the buoy chain had parted
it. He had the buoy brought back
from off port, where the Siberia left
it last night. and there was no anchor
| attached to 1t, so both the anchor and
chain to the old boiler on the reef and
the chain to the anchor on the coral
below the buoy had been parted some
time. Only an investigation will show
whether both were parted by the ST.
beria's strain on the buoy, or whether
the change of position in the buoy re-
ported by Captain Flint had been due
to the previous breaking of the chain
to the anchor below, which was there
to keep the buoy in position.
Capt. w. A. II. Conner states that it
is almost an impossibility that the
cable could have come from his
dredger, the Pacific. He finished work
in the neighborhood of Bishops wharf
some days ago and was working to-
ward the channel when the Siberia left
more than a thousand feet away. The
| Harbor Master went up, first thing
yesterday morning, to see the Super
! intendent of Public Works and he went
at once to Lieut.. Slattery's office.
After talking the matter over, Lieut..
aboard the dredger and the captain
there, in the presence of the lieuten-
ant in charge of this division of War
Department work, made thorough in
vestigation of the matter. 1t appeared
that the Pacific has lost no wire rope.
They are short of wire rope and have
had to purchase $50 feet since coming
here and have ordered 1000 feet more
from the Coast. Their cable has
parted but once and at that
time the flag ends We're both
picked up and spliced together.
Furthermore, the wire used by the
dredger is an inch rope, while It is
, reported that the wiro on the Siberia
propeller sleeve was three and halt
: rope.
: Both Lieut. Slattery and Capt. Con
: ner say that the dredger has picked
= up old, rotten, rusty cables from the
y bottom of the harbor, some OF which
: must have been there for many years
one piece was about three hundred
i feet long and 1t took an hour and {
I half TO get it loose lom the cutter,
c OF the dredger, Captain Lorenzel
o states that he never heard of an,
y cables being lost in the harbor and wa
= much surprised to hear of these hav
t ing been picked up. Capt Conner
however, says that such derelict cable
n are not uncommon and that they ar
o not usually considered a menace (
navigation, in which latter statemen,
: Lieut.. Slattery concurs. How man
Il more coils there may be lying arounI
no one seems to have any idea, but