No. 98.] No. 246. Mr. Peirce to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Honolulu, January 18, 1871. (Received February 15.) SIR: I have the honor and the pleasure to inform you of the return to this port, on the 14th instant, of Hawaiian steamer Kilauea, bringing Commander Sicard, officers and crew of the late United States steamer Saginaw, wrecked at that island, as reported in my dispatch No. 93. The number thus rescued is eighty-eight, including eleven men of the contractors' party, previously at work at Midway Island. All have arrived in excellent health. No casualties have occurred, except the four persons drowned by the upsetting of the boat at the island of Kawai. Inclosed herewith is a newspaper slip, Captain Long's account of the Kilauea's voyage to Ocean and Midway Islands. Also copy of a letter addressed by this legation to the Hawaiian minister of foreign affairs, expressing thanks for the prompt and valuable aid rendered by the government steamer, as aforementioned, and requesting an account of the expenditures incurred for that object, with a view to their reimbursement by the United States Government. No reply to it has been received by the legation. But Captain Sicard, at an interview with the minister of the interior, held at request of the latter, was furnished with the account of disbursements, amounting to about $2,900; twenty-nine hundred dollars for nineteen days' services of the steamer, and which will be paid immediately. No charge whatever would have been made by the Hawaiian government for the Kilauea but for its straitened pecuniary re sources. Commander Sicard, with the officers and men of his command, has concluded to take passage to San Francisco in the mail steamer of the 28th instant, and not in the United States vessel Nyack, as mentioned in a previous dispatch as being his intention. The body of John Andrews, naked, drifted ashore at Kaliki Kai, Kawai, on the afternoon of December 20, and was buried in a suita ble manner at Hanalei, the following day, in a grave beside that of Lieutenant Talbot and William Muir. They repose, in a beautiful, picturesque spot, on the rising slope of a hill which overlooks the charming valley of Hanalei, with a view of the ocean beyond. I am, &c., HENRY A. PEIRCE. No. 1, (with dispatch No. 98.) [From the Hawaiian Gazette of January 18, 1871.] THE TRIP OF THE KILAUEA. MR. EDITOR: At your request, I take pleasure in giving a brief account of the trip of the Kilauea to Ocean Island, for the relief of the crew of the United States steamer Saginaw, wrecked on that Island. By direction of the minister of the interior I assumed charge of the expedition on Monday, the 26th of December, and, as you aware, sailed on the afternoon of that day. During the first four days we experienced very light winds, so light in fact that the speed of the vessel was considerably retarded for the want of a proper draught in the furnaces. On the night of 31st December we took strong trades, which freshened by Sunday, January 1, into a severe northeast gale, with thick weather and rain. On the night of January 2 the vessel was hove-to for twelve hours, with a view of sighting Midway Island. I had been unable, on account of the thick weather, to obtain meridian observations for the two days previous, and therefore, although aware by my reckoning that we could not be a great distance from the island, was unable to define its exact position. On the morning of the 3d, the weather being favorable, I found by observation that I was to the leeward of Midway Island, and, being anxious to reach Ocean Island that day, the vessel was immediately headed for the latter island. We were, on this day, so unfortunate as to be unable to obtain a meridian altitude, and at 2 o'clock p. m., by double altitudes, found ourselves twelve miles to the northward of the island. The course was at once changed for the island. At 3.45 p. m. sighted the breakers on the reef which surrounds the island. The next object sighted was the flag-staff which had been erected by the crew of the Saginaw, the island being so low that it was not visible from the masthead until long after the surf and flagstaff were seen. At half-past four we had reached sufficiently near the island, and, as the anchorage was some five miles along the reef from where the vessel approached, I thought it prudent to lay off until morning, having, in the mean time, communicated with those on the island by dipping the flag and firing rockets, to assure them that we had come to their relief. On the morning of the next day, 4th of January, we anchored at the mouth of the lagoon, (a boat from the island having previously come off to the vessel.) After sounding for some distance around the vessel, from a boat, to assure myself of the safety of the anchorage, I went on shore, finding every one there, fortunately, well, and rejoiced is hardly the expression for the state of their feelings for the timely relief. I found them on rations of one ounce of flour or beans, and seal-meat, or sea-fowl, (albatross,) besides the few fish they were able to catch in the lagoon. During the 4th and 5th we were engaged in taking the crew and their baggage, stores, &c., on board. The articles saved from the wreck of the vessel were not considered by Captain Sicard or myself as of sufficient value to warrant the detention which would be necessary in shipping them. On the 5th, as the last boats were coming off from the Island, the schooner Kona Packet arrived. None of the stores were transferred from her, as there was amply sufficient on board of the steamer. Captain Sicard directed the captain to return to Honolulu. On the evening of the 5th we got under way from Ocean Island, and being uncertain of the quantity of coal necessary for the return trip, thought it expedient to take a quantity on board at Midway Island, where we arrived on the morning of the 6th. During that day and the following, with the assistance of the Saginaw's crew, we were enabled to get forty tons of coal on board. Fortunately we were able to leave on the evening of the 7th, as I was assured by those who had lived on the island that the strong westerly wind which we experienced the next morning would have kept us there for at least a week. Our passage from Midway Island was extremely pleasant, having had favorable winds and good weather. We sighted Kauai at 11 a. m. on the 13th, and reached Honolulu at 4.30 p. m. on the 14th, having made the passage from Midway Island in seven days, and the whole voyage in nineteen, passing over a distance of two thousand three hundred and fifty miles, and being detained at Ocean and Midway Islands four days. The average speed on the voyage was six and a half knots. The best day's run was two hundred and thirty miles. Yours, truly, THOS. LONG. On the arrival of the Kilauea, on Saturday afternoon, the esplanade presented a scene seldom witnessed. An immense crowd of people, anxious to learn the result of her mission, congregated on the wharf even before the steamer entered the harbor. As she neared her dock, the crowd, unable to control their feelings at the sight of the weatherbeaten faces on board, gave vent to hearty cheers, which were returned lustily from the steamer. The inquiries as to whether "all were saved" being answered in the affirmative, cheers were again renewed. The crowd did not disperse until after the rescued crew had safely landed on terra firma. The whole party, including the men who had been stationed at Midway Island, numbered eighty-eight persons. No. 2, (with dispatch No. 98.) LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Honolulu, January 17, 1871. SIR: The Hawaiian government steamer Kilauea, having returned from Ocean Island, bringing Captain Sicard and the officers and crew of the late United States steamer Saginaw, unfortunately wrecked on that island, I have the honor and pleasure, in behalf of my Government and those individually who have been so timely, humanely, and nobly rescued from further peril, to present their grateful thanks for the use of the Kilauea, and the successful result of her voyage. As Captain Sicard is desirous of settling his accounts, anticipating an early departure, I have to request that you will please furnish to me an account of the items of expenditure incurred for the voyage of the Kilauea, together with the proper vouchers for the same. To avoid unnecessary expense, may I ask you to cause such articles to be returned as were not used and that were purchased on that condition? Other articles may perhaps be taken back by consent of sellers, after allowing them a small discount or a commission. It is desirable to receive the several bills of parcels, showing net amount due thereon, and the expenditure or purchase authenticated in the usual manner. Renewing assurances of high consideration and great regard, I am your excellency's obedient servant, His Excellency C. C. HARRIS, His Hawaiian Majesty's Minister of Foreign Affairs. HENRY A. PEIRCE. No. 3, (with dispatch No. 98.) DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SIR: In answer to your letter of the 17th instant, and in accordance with your request therein made, I am directed to inclose herewith an account of the items of expenditure ($2,965) incurred for the voyage of the Kilauea, approved by the minister of the interior. Hoping that the same will be satisfactory, I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, sir, your most obedient servant, His Excellency HENRY A. PEIRCE, Minister Resident of the United States. WM. JARRETT, Secretary. No. 99.] No. 247. Mr. Peirce to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Honolulu, January 23, 1871. (Received Feb. 18.) SIR: In the belief that no law has as yet been enacted by Congress for the establishment of a monthly line of steamships for transporting the United States mails between San Francisco and the Australian colonies, and in view of the beneficial importance of that measure to the interests of the United States in this hemisphere, and particularly so in our commercial and political relations with this archipelago, and that much depends upon the designation by law and proper selection of the terminal and way ports of the proposed mail service; and thinking the information herewith transmitted may bave some weight in determining the several questions above alluded to, I have the honor to inclose Copy of an unofficial letter addressed to myself by his excellency J. M. Smith, Hawaiian minister of finance, of date January 16, 1871, containing much that is interesting and suggestive in regard to the subject-matter, worthy of consideration by the United States Postmaster General and others. Printed slips from Taranaki Herald of November, 1870, containing terms of a recent contract between Mr. Vogel, postmaster general of New Zealand, and Mr. A. Neilson, for mail service from and to New Zealand and San Francisco. Slips of Hawaiian Gazette of January 4, 1871, containing correspondence between the Hawaiian government, Mr. Neilson, and Mr. Vogelsame subject. Slips of Hawaiian Gazette of January 11, 1871. Remarks on the Australian steamship line to Honolulu; and on the correspondence above named. Also a statement of comparative distances from San Francisco to Honolulu, Feejee, and New Zealand, and San Francisco to Sydney, via Honolulu and Feejee; and articles entitled "Across the Pacific," "Hall on the rampage." From my stand-point, and with full knowledge of the subject, I am strongly of opinion that the mail route of the steamers should be fixed by law to run on the great circle or shortest line from San Francisco to Honolulu, thence to Feejee Islands and Sydney, New South Wales, and return the same way; New Zealand to be rejected as a terminal port, on account of small population, and Sydney selected as having ten times more population and commerce, and proposing to grant large subsidy for the service. Besides, the region about New Zealand and thence to Australia is tempestuous in the general character of its weather, while the route from Feejee to Sydney is comparatively free from severe storms. New Zealand would, no doubt, ultiinately have a connecting line to Feejee if the main line is established by the United States in the manner proposed. Two other things I beg leave to suggest: The agent of the contractors' steamers at Honolulu should be a citizen of the United States, for the reasons named in my dispatch No. 57. The existing contract for mail service between San Francisco and Honolulu should, if possible, be annulled, and the work and subsidy of $75,000 per annum be arranged so as to transfer both to the new line from San Francisco to Honolulu and Australia. I have, &c., HENRY A. PEIRCE. (Inclosures.) No. 1.-Letter from J. M. Smith, minister of finance, to H. A. Peirce' January 16, 1871. No. 2.-Slips from Herald at Auckland, New Zealand. Nos. 3 and 4.-Slips from Hawaiian Gazette of January 4 and 11, 1871. No. 1.-Unofficial. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE, MR. MINISTER: The establishing of a proper steam service between San Francisco and Sydney is a matter of so much importance that I gladly give you such information as may be in my power to communicate. It is assumed by steamer-owners and those interested that to run steamers on the route large subsidies will be required, and that the countries whose ports are connected or visited by the boats should join their subsidies on the same line. The Eastern Australian and New Zealand colonies, whose interests in this Pacific route are identical, as compared with the route occupied by the Peninsular and Oriental Company, have so far joined together as to subsidize the line of English steamers at present running from Sidney, via Auckland, to Honolulu, and connecting here with the American line of Messrs. Holladay & Brenham. Their subsidies (New South Wales £10,000 and New Zealand £15,000) are granted for five years to H. H. Hall, esq., (United States consul at Sydney,) for a monthly service. His steamers commenced running in April last, and have made their trips regularly up to this time, transferring their passengers and mails at this port to the San Francisco steamer. The steamers employed are the Wonga-Wonga and City of Melbourne; both are iron screw propellers, 700 tons English measurement, able to steam on the round voyage ten knots per hour, and of accommodating one hundred first-class and one hundred steerage passengers. The two first trips of these steamers, their passengers having been about one hundred and fifty persons, paid a very handsome profit on the cost of the voyage, but at present the passengers having fallen to fifty or sixty persons; they are not paying their way. Mr. Hall is now backed by the Australian Steam Navigation Company, whose boats he chartered for the first six months, but they now (as they have idle boats) are desirous of joining him to maintain the service. They propose, if New Zealand breaks off from the present contract, to secure sufficient subsidies from the Australian colonies to keep their steamers upon the route. These steamers on their voyage from Honolulu to Auckland follow the shortest line, but in returning keep well eastward of the Friendly Islands, in order to avail themselves of the southeast and northeast trade-winds on the northerly passage, sighting always Fanning's Island. Mr. Hall has a contract with Messrs. Holladay & Brenham to transport his mails, passengers, &c., between San Francisco and Honolulu. The distances are as follows: The route followed by Hall's steamers fully accommodates the New Zealand colonies, and for their connection with San Francisco cannot be bettered; but not so the Australian colonies, inasmuch as the direct line between Honolulu (which lies in the shortest line between San Francisco and Sydney) and Sydney is seven hundred and sixty-six miles, or three days' steaming, shorter than through Auckland. In order to obtain for both colonies, therefore, the shortest time, the line must branch at or near the Feejee Islands. But though the colonies combined upon subsidizing the Hall line as the most immediate realization of their wishes to have steam connection with San Francisco, yet the necessity of a subsidy from Congress to help them develop the route with first-class steamers, and the ambition of New Zealanders to have their islands the terminus of the main line, has prevented a mutual agreement with the same company to run their ships. New Zealand has recently entered into an agreement with Mr. Neilson, an agent of Messrs. Holladay & Brenham, to pay £40,000 per annum for a first-class line of steamers which shall make Port Chalmers, the most southern of their ports, the terminal point of their voyages. It enforces the vessels, after reaching Auckland, the most northern port, to make a coasting voyage of one hundred hours, touching at Wellington and Lyttelton, to Port Chalmers. The largest commercial city of the islands, and the nearest port to Sydney, is Auckland. This agreement has been entered into by Mr. Vogle, their postmaster general, under the general provisions of their postal laws of 1858, and it must be submitted to their parliament, now in session, for approval and adoption. The expectation of its adoption is based upon the compromises of the contract regarding the wants and interests of the parliamentary district, by making the steamers touch at the several ports on the coast. Though this agreement, in its first promulgation, has been cheered by their press, it seems impossible that it will be accepted for its full term of years, since it throws upon their revenue a burden unnecessarily large, to secure a benefit that can be obtained at a cheaper price; because of their large public debt and small population of 250,000. Their parliament will remember that they already have a steam service which gives them in the main the benefits claimed to arise out of the new scheme, and that the proposals for the same service have been made by a strong London company at £24,000 per annum. Their scheme also will not meet with any favor or co-operation from the Australians, although the contract mentions branch lines from New Zealand ports as one of the contingencies of the agreement. Their population of two and a half millions and large trade with San Francisco cannot be made subordinate to the strait-jacket of a terminal line to New Zealand. The projected route of the steamers (at choice of the contractors) from San Francisco to Auckland, via Tahiti, will also in greater degree be incompatible with the interest |
