Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1889 — SAMOA’S GREAT STORM. [ARTICLE]

SAMOA’S GREAT STORM.

THE HURRICANE THAT WRECKED THE GUNBOATS AT APIA. Fearful Scenes Witnessed from the Shore as Ship After Ship Succumbed to the Tempest—Sufferings of the Men Borne Heroically. [Apia (Samoa) special.] The hurricane which passed over the Samoan Islands March 16th and 17th was the most violent and destructive storm ever known in the South Pacific. The loss to life and property was very great. The United and Germany alone lost 142 lives and $3,000,000 worth of property. Six warships and ten other vessels were dislodged or driven ashore. Of the American gunboats the Trenton lies near the United States consulate and is fast going to pieces. The Vandalia is buried out of sight between the Trenton and the shore. Her shattered foremast and smokestack rise from the to mark the spot where the gallant vessel struck and lay for twelve hours before the awful torrent of water swept our offioers and thirty-nine men from her decks and rigging/ The Nipsic lay for several days alongside the Vandalia, with her bow high on the beach and within five feet of the water’s edge. The vessel, though badly damaged, was hauled off a few days after she storm and is the only warship afloat in the harbor. She lost five men by the swamping of a boat, and two others who jumped overboard were drowned. It was on the little German gunboat Eber that the greatest loss of life occurred. She had a complement of six officers and seventy-six men. Five men were ashore during the stoym. When the vessel struck the reef she sank completely out of 6ight, and a minute later there was not a vestige of her to be seen. Every man on board was lost except one officer and four sailors. The German corvette Olga suffered less than any of the other vessels. The British ship Calliope was the only one that escaped. She having very powerful machinery, put to sea. All the other vessels had a full head of steam on and three or four anchors out, but before that awful storm they were like toys in the hands of a giant.

Many of the sailors became drunk soon after they got ashore. But the officers rallied them and the injured were cared for. The natives rendered every assistance, Americans and Germans being treated alike. The damage on shore was also very great. Houses were unroofed and blown down and trees and fences were thrown across the streets so that passage was almost blocked. All the vessels weathered the storm through Friday night, but all had dragged their anchors. A little after 5 o'clock the first rays of dawn broke upon the scene and to those on shore revealed a spectacle not often witnessed. The position of the vessels was entirely changed. The wind, which was blowing from the northeast, had swept them from their former moorings, and they were all bearing down in the direction of the reef. Black smoke was pouring from their funnels, showing that desperate efforts were being made to keep them up against the wind. Their decks were swarming with men clinging to the masts or any other objects. The hulls of the war-ships were tossing about like corks. One moment the vessels seemed to stand almost upon their beams’ end and the next instant their sterns would rise out of the water and expose to view the rudders and rapidly revolving propellers. Then the huge prows would be lifted high in the air, only to plunge into the next wave and deluge the ships with a torrent of water. It was then seen that the vessels were doomed and they soon succumbed to the fury of the tempest. Boon the Adler came ashore and she was followed by the Nipsic. Most of the men on the latter were got ashore on a hawser which the natives made fast. The British ship Calliope was still in the harbor. She was lying near the Vandalia and a collision between the two seemed certain. The Calliope was nearer shore and her bow was close to the stem of the Vandalia. Great waves were tossing the two vessels about and tfiey were coming closer together every minute. Suddenly the great iron prow of the Englishman rose high in the air on the crest of an enormous wave and came down with full force upon the port quarter of the Vandalia. The crash was awful. The jib-boom of the Calliope was carried away and the heavy timbers of the Vandalia were shivered. Every man who stood upon the poop-deck of the Vandalia was thrown from his feet by the shock. A hole had been torn below the rail and the water rushed into the cabin. It seemed that the Vandalia had received her death blow and the men rushed up the hatches in the belief that the steamer was sinking, and it was only after great effort that the officers persuaded them to return to their posts. Just after this collision Capt. Kane of the Calliope determined to make an effort to steam out of the harbor, as he saw that to remain in his present position would lead to another collision with the Vandalia or throw his vessel on the reef. He accordingly gave order to let go all anchors. The Calliope’s head was swung around to the wind, and her powerful engines were worked to their utmost capacity. It was an anxious moment on board the corvette, as with her anchors gone, she had nothing but her engines to depend upon to keep her off the reef. The steamer seemed to stand still 'for a moment, and then the rapidly revolving propeller had its effect, for the vessel moved up slowly against the great waves, which broke over her bows and flooded her decks from stem to stern. Clouds of black smoke poured from her funnels and fresh coal was thrown into the furnaces. All her great power was used in the desperate struggle against the storm. She seemed to make her headway at first inch by inch, but her speed gradually increased until it became evident she could clear the harbor. As she passed abreast of the Trenton a great shout went up from over 400 men aboard the flagship and three hearty cheers were given for the Calliope. “Three cheers for the Trenton and the American flag” was the answer that came back across the angry waters. The Calliope passed safely out of the harbor and steamed far

out to sea, returning after the storm abated. An attempt was then made to beach the Vandalia, and she was run alongside the reef and within 100 yards of shore, when she grounded. Several attempts were made by the natives to take a line to her, but they were in vain. The vessel swung around with her broadside to the waves, and one by one her officers and crew were swept off by the torrents of water, but few being saved through the heroic efforts of the natives. The Trenton had thus far weathered the stolm through the skill of her navigating officer, Lieut. Brown. Her rudder was, however, carried away and her fires put out by the rush of water through the hawes-holes. She then fouled the Olga when the latter let go her anchors and was run ashore. The Trenton drifted on toward the Vandalia. A new danger now arose. The Trenton was sure to strike the Vandalia, and to those on shore it seemed that the huge hull of the flagship would crush the Vandalia to pieces and throw the hundred men still clinging to her rigging into the water. It was now after 5 o’clock, and the light was beginning to fade away, and in half an hour the Trenton had drifted on to within a few yards of the Vandalia’s bow, and the men in the rigging of the latter vessel trembled with fear as they saw the Trenton approach. The poor creatures who had been clinging for hours to the rigging of the Vandalia were bruised and bleeding, but they held on with the desperation of men who hang by a thread of life. Their final hour seemed to be upon them. The great black hull of the Trenton could be seen through the darkness almost ready to crush into the stranded Vandalia and grind her to atoms. Suddenly a shout was heard across the waters. The Trenton was cheering the Vandalia. The sound of 450 voices broke upon the air. “Three cheers for the Vandalia” was the cry that warmed the hearts of the dying men in the rigging. The shout died away upon the storm and there arose from the quivering masts of the sunken ship a response so feeble that it was scarcely heard lipon shore. The sound of nmsic next came across the water, the Trenton’s band was playing “The*Star Spangled Banner." The thousands of men on the sea and shore had never before lieaj'd, strains of music at such a time as this. An indescribable* feeling came over the hundreds of Americans on the beach who listened to the notes of the national anthem, mingled with the howl of the storm. For a moment only they were silent and then they broke forth with a cry that rent the air and reached each of the struggling men on the rigging of the Vandalia. The men who had exhausted every means during the whole of that awful day of rendering some assistance to their comrades now seemed inspired to greater efforts. The collision of the Trenton and Vandalia, which every one thought would crush* the latter vessel to pieces, proved to be the salvation of the men in the rigging. Notwithstanding the tremendous force of the waves the Trenton dragged back slowly, and when her stem finally struck the side of the Vandalia there was no shock and she gradually swung around broadside to tho sunken ship. As soon as the vessels touched the men in the mizzen rigging crawled out on the yards and jumped to the deck of the Trenton. The men escaped just in time, for as the last left the yards the mizzenmast of the Vandalia fell with a crash on the side next to the shore. The other men escaped in the same way. After the storm abated somewhat, the men on the Trenton were taken off in boats. King Mataafa came down from his camp early in the morning for the first time in several months. He went down on the shore and directed the natives in their work. He then went to the American Consulate and offered the services of all his men to Vice Consul Blacklook. By noon there were nearly 800 American sailors on the streets of Apia. The saloons were crowded with them, and it was not long before many were disorderly. Vice Consul Blacklock, recognizing the gravity of the situation, issued a peremptory notice to all saloonkeepers in town of whatever nationality forbidding them to sell or in any way furnish liquor to American Bailors, and notifying them that if they did not obey this order a guard of marines would be sent to their places and all liquor emptied into the street. Most of the Trenton’s crew remained aboard of her after the storm subsided, and work was begun to lighten her and pump her out, but it is feared she was badly broken below. All the inhabitants united in rendering aid to the shipwrecked sailors, many of whom are sheltered in tents in Apia. Admiral Kimberly xemained with the Trenton.