The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1922-06-17

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Turns Back to Manila After
Months of Fighting Against Heavy
Weather-Otten Changes Hands.
Swinging idly at her mudhook
which has rested in the ooze of Manila
bay for more han ole year; her lofty
spars towering smartly in the all
above the b~edraggled outcasts of the
seven seas that surround her, lies the
most unlucky windjammer of modern
times-the American four-masted bari
Monongahela. Near by a squatts
: wooden tramp no longer than a harboi
tug, with rust streaked tunnels, sneersl
derisively at her from every pitch
stained gaping seam, for all the worlc
like some blowsy reprobate of the
Sums accosting u decent girl who has
wandered by mistake into her baili
wick.
AsterE of her and all along the fou
miles of beach between the Luneta
and the Polo club lie the bleaching
rusting ribs of stripped and gutte6
vessels which will never sail the seas
again. Week in and week out, the
trim liners slip by, plying between
the homeland and Eastern ports
month in and month out the white
sided transports churn their sturdy
bulks past her to and from San Fran
cisco; destroyer divisions come ano
destroyer divisions go; the lifting
wakes of cruisers lap along her sides
as they steam proudly past her in
studied disdain, and still the poor Mo
nongahela lies, frettiAg at her anchor
chain.
A Tale of Bad Luck.
The story of the Monongahela Is ont
Of romance and ill luck, a story OF
months of fighting against head sea
and winds in the stormy China sea, OF
litigation and changes of ownership, OF
misfortune that has logged not only
the ship herself but also her officers
and crew, and that has succeeded in
binding endless chains of circum
stances about her until the fate of the
vessel is so much in doubt that she
may hang in Manila bay until at last
she Is towed to rest her weary bones
along the shores of Cdvite. II the
cruel part of it is that, given a chance
the M~onongahela is good for many
more years of cruising on the high
seas. That is the part that makes the
lonely vessel the most pathetic sight
in this port of derelicts.
More than two years ago-in Janu.
airy, 1920-the Monongahela cleared
.fromasaxAeranctsco with r. full crew
OF forty-nine officers and men, bound
for Wellington, New Zealand. Thence
she sailed for Sydney anp Newcastle
New South Wales, and ffom the last
named port to Manila. While on this
leg of the voyage a seaman, reefing on
one of her lofty spars, lost his footing
in a heavy squat and fell to the deck
to die a week later. From that time
her i'll luck seemed to date. She made
Manila after a fairly long voyage and
finally cleared from that port with
1000 tons of copra cake and meal, in
the middle of October, 1920, bound fol-
San Francisco. For some unexplained
reason, apparently due to orders from
her owners, Captain Elwell, who
wanted to take the southern route
home, was forced to go via a northern
route.
Fought for Months.
Hardly had the Monongahela
dropped Corregidor below the horizon
than she ran into heavy weather.
After that she had never a day of rest.
Gale after gale buffeted her, squat
ufter squall forced her from the course
as she struggled to make her way.
Days heightened into weeks, weeks
into months, and still the Monongahela
doggedly fought her way. From the
Gulf Of Tongking to the Formosa
Straits the big four-master fought II
out. And day by day her crew sick
ened of their eternal task of alter
nately making and reducing sail, and
day by day the water and food grew
scantier. Captain Elwell gave up try
ing to shake his way clear for the
long trip to the States and tried to
make some Chinese port. Even this
seemed impossible, for he was blown
back to Luzon again. AT last, heart
sick, with provisions and water almost
gone and officers n men at the limit
of their endurance, the vessels head
was swung about and q course laid
back to Manila.
Then, as if to prove its contrariness
the weather shifted, and when the YES
sci and her crew could not possibly
make the trip, the wind blew favorably
for China. 1t was only after almost
s~uper-human struggles that once again
the 'Monongahela made a landfall and
fought her way literally inch by inch
up to Corregidor and into the bay.
There human endurance failed, and
1t was only when a coast guard cutter
passed her a friendly hawser and
towed her within the breakwater, Just
107 days from the time she had
cleared the port, that the big bark was
al rest. When the anchor dropped and
the big chain cable roared through the
hawse hole skipper and crew had their
first period of relaxation in three and
Il half months.
Changes Hands Many Times.
In the meantime the Monongahels
had DaSSpd from tha hands 90 ~ III.