The Caldwell Tribune

The complete description of the terrible hurricane which wrecked three American and three German war vessels in the harbor at Apia, Samoa, last month, fills four columns of the Salt Lake Tribune. The probability is that a more thrilling maritime disaster has not occurred within the present century.

The hurricane was of such violence that notwithstanding the fact that they had out from two to five anchors the six vessels dragged from one part of the harbor to the other, collided with each other with great loss of life, and finally stranded on the beach or were tossed upon the treacherous coral reef.

The American officers appear to have put forth every effort at their command to save their ships. Capt. Mullan, of the Nipsic, having run his vessel aground in a good position, aided his entire crew in reaching the shore before seeking safety for himself. Capt. Schoonmaker of the Vandalia, though suffering from severe injuries, labored at the side of Lieut. Carlin, his brave executive officer, for many hours, until he was finally swept into the sea and drowned. All the men on the Vandalia suffered much and many lost their lives.

The crew of the great flagship, Trenton, bore themselves gallantly through the long struggle with the hurricane. Oil was poured on the water but it failed to calm the waves. When the flagship was in great danger of running on a reef her crew (over 300) were ordered to the rigging in a compact mass, and there the men formed a living sail in which the wind was caught. By this means the vessel and the lives of the crew were saved.

When finally the Trenton bore down upon the wrecked Vandalia, as if to crush her and destroy the lives of the men swarming in the rigging, the band on board the flagship struck up "The Star Spangled Banner" and the two crews that were in such imminent peril exchanged cheers. The feelings of the worn-out seamen as the familiar strains of the patriotic music rose above the howling of the hurricane and the crash of the waves have to be imagined.

The natives of the island proved themselves heroes in every respect, and by their daring and bravery saved many a poor sailor from a watery grave. The loss of life was 146 and five vessels total wrecks.