Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1917-03-15
TELLS OF WRECK
OF MILWAUKEE,
Nlip Goes Ashore on Far-A, :
Samoa Island, in January

La Sale street, Chicago, sends the
following interesting letter, written by
a friend to his mother. 1t is a fine
description of the late wrecking of
che Milwaukee. In the letter to the
daughter Of Mr. Jones, enclosing this
enc from the wife Of the writer of the
description of the wreck, is added:
ffThe little H3 is going deeper in the
sand all the time, although they ere
at work trying to raise her. They
have placed a railroad track across
che peninsula and will build a tunnel
out to the craft and salvage the guns,
machines and what they can. It is
not likely they can ever raise her.
The Letter
Samoa, January 10, 1917.
Dear Mother:
/ suppose you have learned from
Che papers something of the new i'm
pOrtance of Samoa as naval station;
but you could hardly appreciate the
change unless you lived here.
When it was announced some weeks
ago that a submarine fleet was 60
ing to pass by and that possibly one
or two of the boats would stop in and
pay us a visit, it seemed an event;
now submarines are commonplace,
like whales and devilfisn, which are
sometimes cast up by the sea on our
beach.
From a sandhill near our house we
can see the monitor Cheyenne lying
at anchor in the bay; the San Diego,
flagship of the Pacific feet, cruising
in the offing-nOte ease and f1uency
with which I use naughtickle lang
wige-the cruiser Milwaukee lying on
her side Ito be more precise but not
TOO precise with heavy list to star
board") in the surf within a stones
throw Of the shore at low tide; and
the little old H-3, hOodo ship that
caused it ALL more than half buried
in the sand at the foot of the board
around her and all over her at low
Gide-if they would only take off the
padlocks and let us look into her, it
would be more interesting. Every
where on the streets you meet sailor
boys in blue (overalls mostly, for they
the busily at work., and their rigging
and paraphernalia are scattered from
Samoa to the sea and back agin. Ma
val officers are common, in and out of
our offices daily, and three times the
chief admiral Of the Pacific has passed
our doors. However, it is all getting
commonplace, and we hardly stop work
now to look at anyone lower than an
admiral
An Exciting Day
The day the big cruiser went
aground was exciting. The day be-
fore they had got a five-inch steel
hawser, as the sailors call it, a two
inch wire rope, we loggers would say,
two of them in fact, from the subma-
Tine out to the cruiser, and were all
ready to try to pull the HIS off the
beach, awaiting only for the highest
possible tides. To protect herself the
cruiser had lines out to the Cheyenne
and naval tug, which boats stood out
10 sea to prevent any possibility Of
the Milwaukee going aground. But
with night a dense fog came on and
treacherOus currents drove the Mil
waukee dangerously toward the shore,
the lines to the other boats slipped
or for some reason had to be cast of,
her anchors failed to hold and the
pull Of the great steel rope and the
sweep of the tidal currents dragged
her through the first line of breakers
and into the second and grounded her.
AS this occurred at high tide there
was practically no hope of getting her
off, and the next tide drove her fur
ther inshore; and there she lies today
a beautiful great ship in the edge Of
the sea, helpless and beyond help.
VIII DismantIe Her
One thinks of wreck as a bat
tered and beaten thing, masts and rig
ging gone, rent and torn by wind and
waves; and when you go over the
sand hill back of the town to take a
look at the wreck" and see before
you this big gray ship, looking per-
feet in every way, with nothing appar.
emily wrong except that she is lean
ing over toward one side, you can
scarce believe your eyes, but expect
that the incoming tide will right her
and she will steam out to sea. But
she cannot, and they are preparing
now, as understand, to dismantle heI
and leave only her hull, or so much oi