The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-02-07

uIuulS containing distillate crumpled
up, the Santa Maria slipped into port
this morning from Fort Hartford after
having battied for twelve days with
the worst storms ever known to her
officers.
The Santa Maria surely paid toll to
the elements, but fortunately there
was no loss of life or any injury to
the crew For many years have the
officers on the Santa Maria been fol-
lowing their calling. but the gales that
the Santa Maria encountered on her
run across here were the worst ever
known to them.
She was an object of interest as
she made fast at the railroad wharf
this morning. The outward signs of
the buffeting that she got were the
starboard lifeboat lying crumpled up
on the chocks, Chief officer Lawson's
little power boat plugged full of holes
where it had been lifted time after
time and crashed back to the blocks
on which it set, the windows of the
! wireless office missing, one of the
midship ventilators gone, and another
from the stern to keep it company,
! distillate drums that once looked trim
lying on the deck with their sides
denied and the hoops twisted, the
railing bent where the lifeboat had
crashed on it and ten ton water
tank thrown out of position-these
We're the outward signs But they
gave no idea of the magnitude of the
storm.
The lifeboat was of metal A great
heavy sea came aboard and filled it
with water. Another sea came aboard
a few seconds afterward and, lifting
the lifeboat clear of the checks, hurl-
ed it with full force back almost into
its original position. The boat landed
with thud. The shock was too
great for it. The metal work was
torn away from the woodwork and
the whole thing was spread almost
| fiat. 1t was held in position only by
the bow ropes, and one end of the
woodwork dangled in the air where
it had been ripped out of the stern of
the boat The mates power boat
was lifted with each sea and dumped
on the checks again Soon the sides
were punctured so full of holes that
the boat is useless, and the cost of
the repairs would be greater than the !
price of a new boat
The force Of the waves humping the |
ship, which was deadened by her inn
mense cargo of oil, was too much for /
the wireless aerials, and five days ago
they came down with a rush They !
had to be secured on the deck as best !
they could, and it was not until Mon
day afternoon that they were in po- !
sition again.
One of the seas lifted the top of
the ventilator as though it had been |
a piece of deal board, and away it !
went over the side in company with
another from the stern of the ship.
The skylights, which are of steel with
plate glass ports, were lifted by the
wind and fell with loud report into
their places, only to be lifted again
and again. The windows of the wire
less house we're smashed in by the
seas that swept the deck; a great big
ten-ton tank was shifted several inch
es out of its position, a fact that is
shown by the bands that held it orr
ginally. About two or three inches
streaks OF rust run parallel, showing
that the tank has been wrenched out
of its place.
What a scene there must have been
aboard that ship no one but those
who were there can conceive. For
nine days the men were never out of
their rooms, except when they had 10
venture out TO carry on their duties
and the whole of that time the after Il
part of the ship could not be seen for
the swirlng white waters that boiled
dNlOoS the Hltel utChS as IIt FtoSSl
wallowed and staggered along, Just
able to keep going in the fearful sea
that was raging.
But she rode out the storm all right
She was hove to for twenty-siX hours,
and instead Of making the usual nine
to nine and half day passage, She
took twelve days, The cargo of forty
three thousand barrels Of oil that hll
the ship make her as dead as a log.
The seas come up and hit her and she
just staggers under them. There is ;
not buoyancy about the oil cargo like !
there is about general freights, and /
the fifty distillate drums just strained
under the awful tossing, seeming at
any moment about to break away I
from the ropes that held them That !
they did work loose was shown by |
the denied appearance of the drums. S
They look as though they had been /