The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-11-07
s. s. ASIA BARELY
SURVIVES TYPHOON
Continued from Page onel

| W do a ltllolOll llldI was ltl AllCs II
seemed that the Asia was lifted to be
dropped into abysses of nothingness.
A fireman was so violently hurled
about in the fireroom as to be knock
,ed silly and for time it was thought
he had been killed.
Most cabin passengers, during the
full force of the blow were hugging
their hunks and trying to forget.
The master wanted to get word to
the engineer, personal word, for he
could not telegraph what he wanted
to say. He wanted to give instruc-
lions in regard to what should be
done in a very possible emergency.
The steering gear might go at any
moment. But with everything closed,
as near as possible, against the ingress
of water 1t was difficult matter to get
to the engine room.
Finally a man was put through a
skylight over a bathroom and worm
ed his way, with ship plunging, to the
engineer 1t was getting back that
was most difficult, although in being
passed down through the skylight he
had his fingers mashed BY the falling
frame.
The chain of the steering gear ac-
tually stretched five and enc half in
ches. If that had gone 1t would have
been all over with the Asia while the
fury prevailed. If anything had gone
wrong with the engines or the steer
ing gear the Asia would not be in
port today.
A curious thing connected with the
blown water over and down into the
smokestack was the fact that later
when the smoke box was opened to
steam the tubes there were found six
teen fish which had been sent down
the funnel with the water that had
been blown over and into the stack.
A deck officer addressed the captain
during the typhoon.
zone of the life-boats is going, SIR
! he said
"see what you can do" said Gauk-
roger.
The life-boat has gone" came the
immediate intelligence
b And another has followed" came
, the word from another officer, coming
to the bridge
, Just then a green monster, all soapy
at the crest, hurled itself on the for
ward deck and crackle-cTackle, went
the starboard forward life-boat, al
though she was not carried away.
Three life-boats gone and the ship in
; peril of being swamped! What would
be done if it came to taking to the
boats? Such was the question in the
minds of those of the passengers who
heard that three-lifeboats had gone.
But it made no difference in the minds
of the ships officers, for no life-boat
! could have lived ten seconds in the
= sea running To have tried to launch
boat would probably have meant to
: have it thrown smashing back against
I the ship, if not on deck, or over the
s vessel, so high were the waves
/ The Chinese boys in the stewards
D department were missed by one of the
8 officers and, fearing they might have
gone mad and got out into the wea-
Their and been washed overheard, he
: ordered a search. They were found
v crouching and whining under tables
r in the main dining saloon. They were
e hauled out and put to work bailing
e out cabins and other parts Of the YES
t sci which had taken in water Water
got into the engine loom and drenched
4 the men there. Fortunately it was
kept from the firerucm.
That the Asia behaved splen1idiy
is the fact and it Is due to her splen-
did construction and splendid han
. ding. She may be old-fashioned but
Il she knows how to behave.
The typhoon meant nearly forty
hours of steady duty, and stiff duty
too for the vessels crew. Gaukroger
: is proud of his officers and men and
= they are proud of him, while, need
u less, to say, the passengers now know
S if never before, how to appreciate a
S man of the sea when his duty calls
him to fight death for the salvation
r of their lives and the ship.
To look at the Asia as she now lies
alongside the Hackfeld wharf, one
would not imagine that she had been
in danger of her life; that she had
= lost a great deal of gear from hel
decks. But such is the case, Much
of the damage has already ben re
paired. Still it may be seen that many
of the shutters of her forward deck
house ports are gone; life-buoys are
missing and there is not the com
plement of life-boats. Stanchions are
bent in places and ventilators anC
stacks from her forward houses are
demolished, The wreckage, of course
has been removed, and what is no
ticeable now to the experienced eye Is
the absence of things that should be
Their rather than the wreckage o.
rings demolished.
Probably there never was a bunch
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