The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-10-21

Bucknam Pasha, is vice admiral Of the
Imperial Ottoman navy, and naval ad-
wiser to the Sultan Bucknam's aide
and friend is another American, w.
H. Ledbetter, who has the rank of
commander. 1t was about eight
years ago that buchanan went 10
Turkey as commander of the new
cruiser Medpidia, built for the Sultan
by the Cramps.
Bucknam's adventures began early.
He was born in Nova Scotia, and his
father died at sea. When his grand
father gave him the choice between
farming and seafaring he chose the
sea. He had an instructive love for
the sea, a love that helped him to
pick up the knowledge of ship with
harly any effort His first venture
was made on the Great Lakes. At
the uge of fourteen he became a
cabin boy on a schooner of which the
captain was also the owner The
captains wife took a fancy to the
youngster, and ultimately they adopt
Ell him. Today the schooner's cap
tain is a wealthy ship owner in one
of the lake towns and the lonely cabin
boy is z Turkish noble of the highest
rank. Buchanan has never forgotten
the couple who befriended him, and
whenever he has an opportunity in
tse midst of his rowing career ne
visits them.
Captain at Seventeen.
When he was sixteen years old
Bucknam sailed from New York as
quartermaster of a schooner bound
for the Pacific. At Manila the cap
tain and mates died of cholera, and
Bucknam went before a special board
to be examined for a masters certii-
cate, he being the only man aboard
the vessel who had studied naviga-
ton. He passed the test without
any difficulty and was made cap
tain at seventeen. To prove his eff
cheney, ne brought his ship home.
Early in the COS he was in COM
mand of a steamship that sailed from
Tampico for New York laden with
hemp and silver. Twenty-four hours
out of Tampico, he struck a sunken
wreck and smashed his propeller
Buchanan called for volunteers to re-
turn to the Mexican port in the long
boat and cable to New York for
tug The mate and three men start
ed on the errand and performed it
without incident. But in the mean
time the unamangeable steamship
had been drifting abou- at the will
of the winds and waves, and it re-
quired search of twenty days on the
part of the rescuing tug to find her.
In tow of the tug, the steamship
made Key West. 1t was assumed, of
course, that she would be drydocked
before she would be fit for sea again.
But Buchanan baked at the idea of
paying out money for what he
though wasn't necessary. So he
shifted all his cargo into the forward
compartments, which had the effect
of settling her by the head and ele-
waiting the stern. Finding that the
stern was not sufficiently high in the
air to enable him to get at the pro
pellsr shaft, he bought a small
schooner, loaded with some ballast,
and hitched her to the stem of his
ship.
This had the desired effect, and
buchanan calmly went ahead, attach
ing the new propeller he had ordered
to the end of the shaft. An admiral
Of the United States navy, who hap
pened to be at Key West at the time,
witnessed the operation, and charac-
terized it as one of the cleverest OF
it's kind he had ever heard OF. In
deed, it is said that Bucknam was
the first man to put propeller on
ship without docking her. After he
had finished the fitting of the pro-
peller and reshifted his cargo, he
started for New York.
By an irony of circumstance,
though, the shaft had been twisted
at some point in the middle of the
shaft-pit, and it pounded so that most
of the bolts in the hull were loose
when the vessel arrived here, AS
result, she had to be locked after all.
The insurance agents and others
were indignant at Bucknam because
he had not locked her in the first
place, and extended litigation be-
tween the owners and the disgruntled
parties followed. But the feat, on the
whole, was regarded as a feather in
Bucknam's cap.
Shortly before the Worlds Fair at
Chicago, in 1898, Bucknam went to
that city and built the whaleback