THE SAMOAN DISASTER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5439, 1 April 1889, Page 3

THE SAMOAN DISASTER

♦ [PROM OUR OWN CORRE.SrONDUVT.] Auckland, to-day. Tho Star's Samoan correspondent sends tin following items : — FORCE OF THK GALE. Some idea of the force may be gathered from the fact that the Vandalia at ordinary timc3 with four boilers ;<nd -'Olbs pros-sure could, steam 9 knots. Oa the day of tin stor.n she had seven boilei i go : -ig at 70lbs pressure, but could not face it. A FAMINE DREADED. The fact of many more mouths to feed, fot the shipwrecked sailors must of necessity remain here for at least two or three months, added to the total destruction of all native food, threatens to create a famine shortly. It is to be hoped a pestilence will not break out. Many of the sailors arc hurt by accidents during the wreck, and are down with tropical complaints. LOSS ON F.BEIi AND ADLER. The German ship Kber wag the first to go ashore. Captain Wallis and .all but one officer were drowned, also about 80 men. The Adler followed. The captain, his officers, and some men were saved, but twenty or twenty-five lives were lost. ESCAPE OF A DOCTOR. On the day following the wreck, when the boat went off to the wreck, a doctor was found imprisoned in his bunk still alive and comparatively unhurt. A COLLISION. The German warship Olga collided with the American warship Nipsic, and stove in the smoke stack of the latter in such a manner as to render her steam power usel s. UNFORTUNATE ATTEMPT TO LAND. As the Nipsic began to drag, Capt. Mnllcr decided to run her ashore opposite the American Consulate. Here she was safe, and had not an unfortunate attempt been made to land none would have been lost. But one of the officers had a boat lowered, and this capsized and six or seven of the crew were drowned. The Nipsic appears comparatively uninjured, but there are little hopes of getting her off. THE UNFORTUNATE VANDALIA. It is asserted the Olga collided with the Vandalia, another of the American warships. Captain Schnmaker had been knocked against a gatling gun early in the morning, ond he lay helpless on the poop, alternately insensible and delirious. The vessel struck bottom and commenced to fill when about 50 yards from the Nipsic. The sea washed her fore and aft. Some of the officers on the poop were washed overboard and drowned. A number of men reached the shore ; others perished in the attempt. Captain Schumaker was swept into the sea and drowned. The shore, distant 70 yards, was lined with Samoana and Europeans, who were helpless to render assistance. Later on the flagship dragged on to the Vandalia, and the survivors of the latter got on board. The loss from the Vandalia was 4 officers and 40 men. THE OLGA LUCKY. The largest of UieGei.nn ships, the Olga, became unmanageable ci'ly on Saturday mou' fj, chl was safely beached. No casualties r-e reported from her. As the Calliope steamed to sea, the crew cf the Trenton gave a hcaifcy cheer. DESOLATION. The Apia shore appeared a great scene of desolation on the Sunday. The whole of the foreshore was strewn with wreckage as far as the eye could reach. GALLANT NATIVES. The nativoi were gallant h saving both Americans and Geimans. A SCHOONER CVj I DOWN. The schooner Lily w; i cut down at her anchor by the Ninsic. Capta r \ Douglas, America i and English pilot, w.' ? onboard at the time, also Mr Ormsby, a trader. The schooner's cook, Dough's swam to the Olga and got on board. Mr Ormsby and the captain were drowned. NOT A HURRICANE OF THE SEVEREST TYPE! Very little damage was done to the houses in town, which shows it was not a hurricane of the severest type. A number of trees were blown down, and people of experience say the cocoanut crop is rendered useless for the next six months. The Herald correspondent says the Calliope returned on the 19th inst., and says the 9torm was not heavier than storms which frequently visit the New Zealand coasts. He asserts that any one of the Union Comp nys large steamers would have steamed out the Bame as the Calliope did. The officers and crew of the Trenton were saved. Sydxky, Mar. 31. The information of the severe hurricane at Samoa, tended with sad loss of life and dentruction of property, has caused a great f enaation throughout the Australian colonies. There is no sign of H.M.S. Calliope, which left Apia shortly after the storm for this port.

Wetj.ington, to day. The various Consuls lowered their Hags half-mast as a mark of rrspect for the men lost in the Samoan hurricane.