Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-16
paired. The captain also escaped the flying
wreckage entirely uninjured.
Only One Passenger.


]. Roys, the only passenger, a retired
naval officer and graduate of Annapolis,
was standing with supercargo Peterson,
who had charge of the fruit on the after
part of the deck pit. When the explosion
came the two men were thrown violently
on their backs and as they lay there the
body of Chief Officer knickman flew
through the air and landed near them. They
picked him up unconscious and carried him
into the cabin, where they found that he
had sustained only slight decorations and
abrasions of the scalp.
Immediately after the explosion Capt.
Kruger called the crew to quarters, and a
systematic effort was made to ascertain
the extent of the injuries The sight the
captain saw was dismal one. The smoke
stack of the vessel, which was just forward
of the donkey engine, had been blown off
at its very base and had fallen aft into the
pile of wreckage which the donkey engine
had made of itself.
All over the deck were scattered large
chunks of boiler plate, great pieces of bulk
head and parts of the wooden structure of
the purser's cabin, and half covered by
them, strewn around the deck, were the
bodies of seven men. Three of the bodies
were disfigured by the explosion that
the rescuers could not identify them.
When the wreckage was cleared away
finally it was discovered that four of the
victims were already dead, and three so
badly scalded by the steam, which escaped
from the broken boiler, that they died
few moments later.
The Valdivia carried no ships surgeon
and the burden of nursing the injured fell
upon Purser Telser and Steward Peterson.
They did what they could to relieve the
scalded men, and patched up the wounds
of those who had been injured by flying
wood and pieces of the wrecked engine.
The saloon was turned into temporary
hospital, and the injured were taken there
TO be treated, while the dead were laid out
on the aft part of the deck.
Repairing the Damage.
Luckily, the weather was better than
usual off Cape Hatteras, and the ship
had only to contend with heavy fog and
slightly choppy sea while it wallowed
helpless waiting for repairs to be made.
AS soon as he had seen that everything
possible was being done for the injured, the
captain went to work to repair the injuries
to his ship.
The smokestack was down, and the en-
CINE consequently did not get any draught,
but the iron deck and bulkheads aft had
kept the main engines of the boat from
great injury.
Capt. Kruger Immediately called those Of
his crew of thirty-nine who were not busy
caring for the injured to aid him in repairs
to the boat Tarpaulins were placed in a
circle over the base of the broken smoke
stack. The smokestack itself was held up
by a rope suspended from the hosting der
rick above. In this manner the engine could
get draught enough to push the ship ahead
at the rate of eight or nine knots an hour,
and she was able to proceed slowly through
the fog and heavy seas.
At first Capt. Kruger intended to make
for the cape in order to get medical help
for Karl Gruner. the badly scalded fireman.
He headed that way, but was met by an in
creasing fog. and as Gruner's condition
grew better he decided not to dock until he
reached New York On Wednesday night
the bodies of the seven killed were sewed up
in tarpaulins, weighted with lead and buried
at sea, after a short service read by Capt.
Kruger.