Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-05-09


uuckened the memories of ma
val officers of sea disasters of the past
From the records in the keeping or the
navy it would seem that American ana
British discipline has been well main
famed in the times of stress at sea.
The bandsmen of the Titanic went
down to death playing. when tue
TEMPEST of 1883 struck the Samoan
coast. and the wreck of the American
mun-ofwar Trenton, Captain Fnruuliar
commanding. was imminent. the mem
bers of the ships band took to the rig
ging of the old wooden ship and were
dashed there by the sailors. The bands
men played 1.-The Star Spangled Ban
ner." and the music was heard above
the Storm heartening the sailors who
were battling with death. There We're
forty-seven American officers and sea
men lost in that storm. The records
of the officers of the three American
ships told in full the tale of the hero
ism of the enlisted men. but said moth
ing of their own. The story of the
American officers deeds came from the
pens of admring aliens.
The story Of the sinking of the Brit
fish troopship with the soldiers drawn
ND in lines upon the deck and going to
death untlinchingly and in parade for
nation is known to every schoolboy of
whatever land. How many are there
who know that this act of heroism has
a parallel in the deeds Of the officers
and crew of an American man-of-war?
In January of the year 1870 the United
States steam soop Of war Oneida
went to the bottom Of the sea of YeddO,
carving with her twenty-four officers
and 152 men.
Running Down Of the Oneida.
1t was dark, foggy night. Sudden
ly out of the gloom doomed the Prov
of great steamer. Before even the
discipline of a man-of-war could do
anything to avert disaster the stem of
the approaching steamer crashed into
the stern of the Oneida and carried
away its whole quarter For a reason
unexplained to this day the vessel
afterward was found to be the British
steamship Bombay did not stand by
to learn the results of the collision or
to offer aid.
A large number of the Oneida's boats
were smashed in Che collision and made
useless. In the boats that were left
there was room for only thirty men
t.
Captain E. p. Williams ordered the
sick brought up from below. These
men were placed in the uniniured
boats, completely filling them. Captain
Williams then ordered the surgeon to
60 with the invalidS. He demurred
saying that he preferred staying by the
ship.
"Your place is there. DOCTOR" said
CaptHiI Williams. Mine Is here.
order you to CO.
The surgeon took his place in one Of
the boats and cast off, the GONZALES
cents acting as oarsmen. Captain Will
liams and his officers went to the
bridge. Below them stood the men in
groups. calm and motionless The sick
stood by in their boats and saw the
last scene Of that tragedy nj saa The
ships lamps threw a faint light upon
the bridge and over the forward deck
The Oneida slowly settled. Soon her
decks were awash There was one
last throb of the engines. a trembling
Of the whole ships structure and the
sea claimed 176 gallant American souls
Loss of the Huron.
In November. 1877, the new iron
American man-of-war Huron was
bound south from New York. When
off Nag's head on the coast Of North
Carolina, the Huron struck the rocks
and in less than an hour the disaster
was complete. There was a tremen.
dous sea running. There appeared to
be only one chance to save any part of
the crew. The boats were useless in
that pounding, grinding sea. A volun-
teer was asked to attempt to carry
life line to the shore. Ensign Lucien
Young, now a rear admiral, volunteer.
ed to make the attempt. although he
was told by his captain that the chance
Of life was not one in thousand.
A seaman named Williams voun
teered to accompany the young officer
The two took what Is known as a bal
sa, attached rope and, making their
way out upon spar, dropped into the
water A wave beat them back against
the spar, and Young was severely
bruised by the contact. He stuck to
his task. however, and, with Williams,
succeeded in escaping death among the
storm beaten rocks and In gaining a
foothold upon the sands beyond. The
result of their heroism was the saving
Of a part of the Huron's crew, though
the vessel went to pieces so quickly
that the rescue of all was impossible.
An uncharted reef is to the sailor like
1.-THE pestilence that walketh in dark
ness" There Is no knowing it and no
lodging it, To the nautical mind there
is more reason for ordering court of
inquiry when a ship has been sunk by
n simeon than there is when it goes
down as result of humping into some
thing of which thousands of years Of
navigation and map drawing have fall