Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-02-05
GUNBOAT GEIER
TAKEN TO PEARL
HARbOR BY NAVY
Vessel Shoulders at Dock All
Day Sunday: Officers and
Crew Taken to Camp?


erS which were being burned out ind
ruined by order of her Officers, The
fire on tue Inferred German gunboat
Gcier SUNDAY was Dmcthins which
the vessels commander and GREY had
not anticipated when they started 70
destroy the GuI, JCil+ra.
This important 1aCt developed to-
day Il shows Ihe ';eier "I'iSodr to
have been init III the con :arted
action taken l,v the commanders ~
the German merchant ard naval YES
sells in port, to disable thaln complete
ly in case they should fall into the
hands OF the United States
Boilers Filled .Ii+h Fuel
Sunday morning the Geier's four
boilers were crammed full Of fuel and
lighted The fire grew hotter and hot
ter so that in time half the boilers
were so superheated tina: the heat ra-
diation began scorChing the asbestos
paint coating covering them. The
scOrching asbestos sent out the smoke
fumes which resulted in the calling of
the fire department by Capt. William
r. Foster. The intense boiler heat
lilcn IGnIlSu lnS "OOueH CONSIlHS VI
the steel deck
Thurston Goes Aboard
Fire Chief Charles II. Thurston and
his assistant, W. W. Blaisdell, board
ed the Geier early Sunday afternoon
with a crew from the Central station
and extinguished smouldering flames
on deck with chemicals. No water
was used.
Although the ship was fired in no
other place than the engine room
where the boilers were burned out
and absolutely ruined the intense heat
generated by the redhot metal spread
to the steel deck over the enginc-room
which in turn set fire to a three-inch
wooden deck which covered the steel.
The firemen stayed on the ship I'M
til s o'clock in the evening applying
chemicals. tearing up the planking
and throwing 1t overheard or piling it
along the sides.
Blaisdell says the engine-room
looked as if cyclone had struck it.
Not content with the damage done to
the boilers the wreckers had attacked
the engines with sledge-hammers, do
ing irreparable damage and leaving
what had shortly before been a hand
some array of shining machinery a
shattered mass of debris.
The German gunboat Geier, which
was totally ruined so far as immediate
service is CONCERNED when her boilers
were burned ont Sunday morning, was
transferred this morning from her
berth near Pier Z to the government
navy yards at Pearl Harbor by the
U. S. tug Navajo. There she will be
kept indefinitely.
In a succession of exciting events,
from the time smoke was first seen
issuing from the Geier'. stack early
Sunday morning until she was towed
from her mornings today those who
gathered along the waterfront by hun
dreds on Allen street from Fort to
Alakea witnessed some stirring
events.
Smoke Noticed Early
Capt. James Gregory of the IL
Kinau is the first known to
have seen smoke issuing from the
Geier's deck about o'clock in the
but thought nothing of it at
the time. Later, shortly after o'clock,
two government officials saw the
smoke and noticed a smell as if of
burning metal and they notified the
navy department.
1t was nearly 10 o'clock when from
he harbormaster' office a call was
sent to the fire department; the police
rushed to the scene in
answer to the fire whistle and in a
,ery few minutes tine vicinity of the |
ieier was a jumbled mass of rushing |
crowd 10 Forced Back
The police held the crowd back as
much as possible and the fire depart |
nent stood by to go aboard the Geier
It the proper order. The U. S. tug |
Navajo hurried back to the Geier and |
,ffered to tow her out into the harbor |
tut was refused a tow line from the |
ieier's crew.
Navy, army and customs officials,
Lfter a joint conference. ordered
roops to the scene and the crowds
we're given additional thrills when the
thaki boys came on the double quick
rom all sides; received orders to
DAD and hurried to commanding posi-.
ions with guns lAveled. Orders were