The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1914-03-10
EOUIPMENTON
LOGAN SAID .
TO Be POOR
Manila Accident Starts Rpmor
That Life PrsseFvers Are made
auate, That Vessel Is Not Car
rying Sufficient Boats and Rats
and That Army Officers viii
Welcome Advent Of New Trans
ports.

a Rumors were rife In Honolulu on
Sunday during the time the transport
Logan was in port, that'the life saving
equipment Of the troopship was not all
that il should be, and that in case Of 4
disaster ut sea, many persons would
have to get Off and walk, in the parlance
Of, one Of the passengers. G.
Much comment was made on the fact
that while the federal government re.
qnifes all merchant vessels to carry life
Rreseryers filed with cork, that inspec.
tion at Manila prior to the sailing of
the Logan, disclosed the fact that many
Of these preservers were alled with
tnles. While the Logan was at the
dock In Manila, gangplank gave way
and precipitated fifteen or sixteen per
sons into the water. A life buoy was
promptly thrown in among the strug
Cling people IN the water, and il broke
into pieces when IL hit the water One
woman, who grasped at piece of the
broken buoy went under and was in
imminent danger Of drowning. She was
rescued by Quartermaster Andy o Con
nell who dived from the bridge and
dragged her MP by the hair to avoid
her frantic struggles -Four Of these
persons are said to have been in the
ships hospital all the way across to
Honolulu suffering from various injuries
received in this incident.
The fact of the breaking up Of the
life buoy upon striking the water prob
ably gave rise to the various stories
that were passed around upon arrival in
Honolulu. Attention was called to the
fact that the Logan is provided with
twenty.pne lifeboats with maximum
capacity Of thirty-four persons each
which would accommodate seven hun,
bred and fourteen persons In case Of
emergency, provided all the boats were
launched In, q seaworthy condition.
These, with the life.rafts, would pos
sibly accommodate abont thousand
persons all told, whereas on the trip
from San Francisco to Manila the Lo.
gan carried twenty-ohe hundred persons.
According to the INFORMATION available,
only about one-half Of this number
could have been provided for in an
emergency, and a repetition of the til.
tanic disaster would have been inevi-
table in the event Of accident.
Sprung Leak During Typhoon.
One of the Logan s petty officers was
authority for the story that during a
typhoon few days out of Nagasaki,
Japan, the ship sprung leak at the
stern, and that the pumps were taxed
TO capacity for a time,
Army people who have occasion to
travel on the transports, have often
commented publicly upon the good for
tune which has followed the transport
service ever since it has been inau-
gprated and upon the fact that no lives
have been lost in marine disasters. At
the same time they are prone to re!
mark that If this good fortune ever
fails, tho nation will be left to mourn
the loss of a greater or less number Of
lives, according to the circumstances. Z
While the transports on the Pacific
ran are, under ordinary cireumstances
regarded as stauneh, seaworthy ships,
81 must be remembered that they were
built originally as freight or catt.ss
boats, sand were not equipped with the
many safety devices found on modern
passenger steamers. ai
Structural Design Unchanged.
Z While they were refttsd to some OK.
tent to utilize the space for passenger
carrying, the structural design remains
unchanged, and all I the Safety de-.
Siees of modern passengers boats
stalled. Several years ago, the
bh Toptc to Manila as q coHsqrt ship
70 the transport Fitzpatrick. The Me,
Clellap was nnseayerthy at the time by
teas9A. Of haNhg defective boilers,
which began to cause trouble soon after
passing Sandy Hook, and sixteen and
gne-hah days we're required TO make
the ruq TO Gibtaltar, aud the voyage
was Continued in, this crippled epndi.
tipn. At that time the transports were
tipt equipped with wireless. Eighty.
fopf days we're required To make the
voyage, Including the stops made IN
foreign ports, where advantage was to
Ken Of every, opportunity to patch up
the worthless boilers as far as possible.
The last three thousand miles Of the
Journey, the Mcclellan was actually
tpEed BY the coAsort ship, aud although
st was able to- crawl in and out of two
foreign ports under It's own steam, the
hllpatrlek tpwed ~ INTO Manila bay.
AS tho weather conditions for this on,
tire Voyage were almost ideal, what
might have proved a. terrible disaster
With the ship helpless iH storm, was
aSefted. The MeClellan was afterwards
ahpht six months in Singapore being
refitted with new, boilers
Shortly after the Titanic disaster had
been investigated by the senate com.
mittee, the duartermaster general y Of
nee was sailed upon for q ststeaept As
tfahsbort service and the figures we're
quoted showing the pumberY6f voyages
hiRde without serious accident at SEA-
Then tie transport Morgan City sank
in the Inland Sea in Japan, but no
lives were lost. @
Army Opposes Old Ships.
A n Ill Al n