November 17, 1900.]
THE TYPHOON.
FULL DETAILS OF THE DAMAGE.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
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PIPER."
AN ARMOURER DROWNED.
Among the vessels which have come to grief in the harbour was H.M.S. Sandpiper, which was lying out in the man-of-war anchorage on the Kowloon side. She made signals of distress at about eight o'clock in the morning, and the torpedo-boat destroyer Otter went to her assistance. She was, however, unable to pre- vent her from foundering, but by masterly seamanship succeeded in taking off the crew, damaging her bows with the floating wreckage in so doing. Lieut. Wilkin, who commanded the Otter, is to be complimented on the manner in which he handled the vessel. All hands were saved with the exception of a man of the name of Bedford, one of the armourer's crew, whose body was subsequently recovered and buried with the usual honours on Monday afternoon.
penter, Mr. McIlroy; and the majority of the | THE FOUNDERING OF H.M.S. “ SAND.
From the statements of some of them it would appear that all on board were appre- hensive of danger as the elements heightened in their fury towards the morning. It must have In the special edition of the Hongkong been very shortly after the dredger had fallen Daily Press on Saturday afternoon last we a prey to the elements, and turned turtle, gave some particulars of the disastrous that the look-out man on the Taimar observed effects of the typhoon by which the some of the Canton River's crew clinging to city was visited early in the morning the bottom of the vessel, which then resembled of that day. Further enquiries go to show a cigar-shaped craft. H.M.S. Astræa's look that the loss of life and the damage to pro- out also reported the sight of the strug perty is even more serious than was at first gling seamen, and boats from both vessels with anticipated. No part of the city has escaped. volunteer crews put off to the rescue. It was Much of the debris has in the meantime been at the greatest risk, that the Tamar's whaler, with cleared away from the streets, but on Saturday her crew of five under Queen's Harbour Master evidence of the visitation was seen on every hand. Butler, sooming at every moment to meet with Wreckage was strewn on the lower thorough- a similar fate to those they were about to save, fares, broken branches, trees, and small landslips forged their way through the breakers. How. on the higher roads, and general debris on the ever, both boats reached the upturned vessel Praya. Of matsheds there are many in the in time, and together saved twelve, while a colony, large and small, but all had experienced number of others were lustily swimming for disaster. Strong iron telephone posts in Des the shore, carried forward with the swiftly flow- Voeux Road were bent by the force of the winding current eastwards towards Murray Pier. to an angle of 35 degrees, and iron lamp-posts had everywhere assumed the most grotesque shapes. The roofs of the houses along the Praya, especially, had suffered most severely. In the harbour much damage was done, the native craft especially suffering, many boats being sunk, and presumably many lives lost. The water early on Saturday morning contained a large quantity of floating wreckage, and westward. Two steam-launches were sunk inside the Cause-contractors, Messrs. Punchard, Lowther & Co., way Bay breakwater. A great number of native | £40,000, and as already stated in the Daily Press, craft of all sizes were wrecked and sunk at her apparatus is of the most recent design and Yaumati. The Canton day steamer Hankow constructed upon the latest known scientific was unable to leave for Canton on Saturday principles of dredging either in sea or river water. morning, and there was no steamer for Macao When it is considered that in 15 or 20 minutes until 5 p.m. Residents who remember the dis- 150 tons could be put into her hoppers, which astrous typhoon of 1874 say that the wind on had a capacity of 750 tons, it may be well taken for granted that she was an important Saturday was equally as strong, the only differ. ence being that it did not last so long.
accession to the deep-dredging resources of the Far East. The work of raising her has already
The first intimation of rough weather was given at a quarter to twelve on the morning of Thursday, the 8th inst., when the red cone was hoisted, pointing downwards, indicating a typhoon to the south of the colony. At 11.40 a.m. on Friday, the 9th inst., the red cone was taken down and the black one hoisted, pointing downwards, a sign that the typhoon was within 300 miles. At a quarter past six the same even- ing orders were received from the Observatory that the community should be warned of what was coming by the firing of a gun. The gun, however. refused to go off, and an intimation was sent round to all the Police Stations, with the result that all were on the alert. Another warning signal was hoisted at half past seven, viz, two white lights in a vertical line. This indicated bad weather and that the wind was expected to veer. At ten past seven on Saturday morning the typhoon was signalled to be east of the colony, and a signal hoisted at 8.40 a.m. showed that it was to the north of the colony. Shortly afterwards things began to quieten down, and at half-past four the black cone was taken down. Sunday was
The a beautifully fine day. amateur photographer taking snap-shots of the wreckage, etc., was much in evidence.
LOSS OF THE DREDGER “CANTON RIVER."
CARPENTER M'ILROY DROWNED.
As daylight on Saturday approached, those in the neighbourhood of the Dock Extension Works heard cries proceeding from the harbour, and it soon became apparent that something had befallen the powerful dredger Canton River, which recently arrived here from Paisley, where she was built by Messrs. Fleming and Ferguson of that city. During one of the fitful gusts of wind the ponderous craft with her massive derrick encumbrances and overhead gear had failed to maintain her equilibrium and had, almost with- out any warning, listed to port and capsized As to the precise number of crew, workmen and others who were on board at the time it was im- possible on Saturday last to give any accurate figure. It was known that Captain Scott, who was in command of her, was aboard; as also were the chief engineer, Mr. White; the second engineer, Mr. Thomson; the car-
Second engineer Thomson was one among the first to reach the foreshore, and two others touched ground at Pedder's Wharf. It was well on towards noon before it was known that the carpenter was missing. Up to the time of going to press no further discovery had been made, although the foreshore is being searched for some distance to the eastward |
The Canton River cost the
been commenced.
pose.
Our representative interviewed Captain Scott, master of the ill-fated dredger, on Saturday morning, and gleaned the following few facts. All hands were kept busy from twelve o'clock on Friday night in the effort to save the vessel, Seas washed over her continuously, and the en- gineers toiled to keep the water down. The car go, in addition, was let go, but all to no pur
The vessel listed heavily to port, and finally overturned completely. As she heeled over, the men kept crawling round her, and finally perched on the vessel's bottom, where they clung from three o'clock until half-past six, when a boat from the Astra'a rescued them from their perilous position. The second engineer was swept away when the dredger capsized, but managed to swim ashore. were accounted for but the carpenter, about whom nothing was known. Captain Scott had nothing but praise for the Chinamon on board. who behaved splendidly throughout and obeyed every order implicitly.
All the crew
Another version of the catastrophe to the dredger says:-At about 2.15 on Saturday morn ing the dredger Canton River, of Waterford, capsized. She gave a list to port first, and went over by degrees. This enabled the crew to pre- pare for what was coming. A Chinese cabin boy sprang into the water, and seizing a log. floated ashore. He at once made his way to the Central Police Station, and Sergeants Gar. rod and Kent and a P.C. accompanied him back to the harbour with the object of render- ing what assistance they could to the distressed vessel. The carpenter, Mellroy, also jumped into the water, but the life-buoy which he had put round him getting away he went down, and his body was washed ashore near Pedder's Wharf on Monday and buried the following day. The crew was composed of six Europeans and seventeen Chinese, and on the dredger capsising they clung to the keel.
They remained in this perilous position for about three hours. At about half- past six a gig from the Tamar, in command of Lieut. Butler, went to their assistance. bost also went off from the Astrea, Lieut. Welsh commanding, and together they took off the dredger's crew and landed them alongside Government Wharf. The Tamar's whaler also picked up a couple of Chinamen, who were thrown into the water by the capsizing of their bost.
As our readers are aware, the Sandpiper was the first twin-screw shallow draught steamers placed on the West River for the suppression of piracy, being commissioned in Hongkong on the 6th of January, 1899. She was a boat of 85 tons, and her indicated horse power was 240. Lieut. H. C. Carr was in She was to have left the harbour command. on the 19th instant.
COLLAPSE OF BUILDING IN QUEEN'S ROAD AND THE PRAYA.
ELEVEN PERSONS KILLED.
on
The typhoon was the cause of the collapse of several buildings, the most serious affair of this kiud taking place in Queen's Road Central. For some time past a considerable number of work. men have been engaged at Nos. 166, 168, and had been razed almost to the ground, but the 170, which are being rebuilt. Nos. 166 and 168 second and top floors of No. 170 were still stand- ing, being shored up by poles, the brickwork un- derneath having been taken away. The floors in question were used as sleeping places by the Chinese workmen, of whom there were said to be 14. At about six o'clock on Saturday morning the supports gave way, and the building came down with a loud crash. A Chinese constable who was duty near by blow his whistle and No. 5 Police Station being close at hand Sergeant Robertson and the other Europeans there were soon on the spot. together with a gang of coolies in charge of Inspectors McNab and Gould. The first man recovered was dead, but the next two were alive, and four others were also living when they were extricated, and all six were sent to the Hospital. The last one found alive had s most miraculous escape. It was about a quarter- eleven when he was freed. His legs had past been seen protruding from the debris for some time, and the police little thought that there was any life left in him. It was found, how. ever, on the removal of the bricks and mortar which surrounded him that his face was pressed against a cross-wall and that he had room to breathe. He was taken out just in time. Al together 14 bodies were recovered-eight dead and six alive-and this being the number to account for the police stopped work as soon as the 14th man was brought to light.
At seven o'clock a second crash was heard, this proceeding from the Praya. Inspector MacNab went down to see what was the mafter, and he found that portions of a godown in course of erection had fallen. A mat-shed in which there was known to be an Indian watch- man was buried in the rains. The man was formerly in the Police Force, his number being 748. His body was recovered without loss of time, but life was found to be extinct. The dead bodies of a Chinaman and a Chinese boy
were also come across.
THE PEAK DISTRICT.
In the Peak District a good deal of damage was done, most of the houses suffering more or Aless from the storm and many windows being blown in or out, while the roofs of nearly every house lost a portion of the tiles. The Peak Hospital is badly damaged. The rain came through in torrents, flooding several rooms and two or three windows were blown out, and the porch carried completely away. Des Vœux and Cameron Villas suffered considerably,
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