The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-12-04
OF
THOR'SCREW
in HONOLULU.
Fourteen Days In Open
Boat Which Travel
ed Eight Hundred
and Fifty Miles =.

ing feet, were the fearful sights which
Japanese sampan fishermen aboard the
Tiniin Maru saw when they ran down
upon and picked up an open sailboat
fifteen men of the Nor
wegian steamer Thor, Of the Kahuku
coast yesterday morning. The suffer.
ers had been fourteen days in the boat,
sailing $50 miles in that time. ~
Incredible hardships were encoun-
tered by the officers and men aboard
the Norwegian vessel in the terrific
gales which buffeted her while she was
TO China. Day and night great seas
pounded the decks of the steamer,
crushed in deck houses, tore off the
hatch combings and filled the holds
with water. The gale increased to
hurricane strength until the vessel be.
came a mere cockleshell Rails were
twisted and wrenched and the engine
room flooded, but the Sturdy men Of
Norway and many of other nationali.
ties, for she was just the ordinary
cargo tramp steamer which picks its
crew from the Sea-W World of the earth y
ports, Norwegians, Danes, Russian
Finns, Australians and Americans, stood
at their posts even when they knew
their ship was doomed.
Buckles Under Strain ,.,' d. i
Steel and iron at last succumbed to
the mighty trip-hammer blows of the
seas until the plates amidship buekled
and a rending Of steel apprised them
that the death-knen was sounding.
The split grew and tore down the side
of the hull. Vast, chaotic waves surg.
ed and eddied around and over the
vessel. Maelstroms of water and fierce
winds rolled and pushed the vessel
over until it seemed she would turn
turtle, but she righted only to heave
to the other side while tons and tons
of water. were engulfed in the holds.
Grew Takes to Boats T..
The captain ordered the boats stow
ed with provisions and bealters of
water. Greater rendings were the sig
ual for taking to the boats, the captain
and fourteen men in one, and Mate
Rolf Anderson and fourteen men and
boys in the other. >' -.
The seas began to subside and it was
then that the crew quit the vessel TAX
ing as much provender and clothing
End effects as possible. In a twenty
two foot boat the captain and his men
launched out upon the waste of water,
and in boat of the same dimensions
Mate Anderson and his men cast off
from the sodden, stricken hulk As
they left they saw the vessel splitting
in two. Darkness came and they
never knew the fate of their vessel.
But in their imagination they saw the
craft part in twain to be sucked in two
parts to the deep abyss of the ocean
far to the north and west of Honolulu.
First News of Others p
In the darkness the boats became
separated and only yesterday did Mate
Anderson crow learn that the cap.
tain and his men were safe in Japan,
picked up by Il japanese steamer
Fifteen men in a boat laden with
boxes and tins of provisions, overcOats
and bags, with n single mast and u
single sail, adrift upon the vast Ocea.r
was an almost infnitesimaI thing ami
to the men it grew to seem even m0Ic
intinitesma, for soon they became
cramped and muscle bound. Deep laden
she was, with her gunwales only few
free inches above the choppy seas. The
gale, which had subsidized, came M
again. The mate hal compass ami
only a pilot chart showing the entire
Pacific region on a small square of
paper, ON which the islands appeared
as mere pin dots. 1t was not a naviga
tors chart with wide spaces to show
the degrees. ..,
True Course Steered
The Norwegian is a born son of the
sea. The Viking clarity of vision and
direction seemed as Unborn in this lit
tie party ny in the bold navigators OF
centuries ago. They set their course
and steered true for the Hawaiian Isl
ands. Men in that boat had been in
Honolulu. They knewrfhat safe har
bors awaited them in these isles, and
that only barren, unfruitful shores were
in the islets to south and west. 49,.
Packed In Tightly I. %.a.ss.-- -.
CluttPred AS the boat was with it.
dunnage and extra clothing, the boxe,
and tins, the oars and the required
space for shifting the rudder tillel
back and forth made the quarters seen
smaller day by day. Sleep could only
be obtained when exhausted natur,
dulled their senses and even then tn,
movement of bodies of the sleeplesi
failed to arouse them. The boat hllef
with water from seas stopping over the
gunwales, men were constantly on dutJ
battling Their feet were seeped in Sc,
water made foul from its sloshng
amid dunnage and refuse. Their clothC
became soggy and never seemed to dry
even with clear sky. The boat leak
ed and the seams widened.
Food Carefully Conserved
Hard tack and lighter sea biscuit
and little salt meat was their dali,
portion, but the mate knew that tn
greatest of all tragedies would come i
the water beakers failed, and short ra
tions of it were ordered. As daylight
daily met them face to face the mat
dealt out a quarter of a glass, or it wa
usually IA tin can, of water, and a
,darkucss was about TO overspread tn
ocean, another quarter tin was served
Suffering Grows Intense ,n.
Drrnchcd in sea water, their clothin
damp at all times, their skins blistore