94 



RECREATION. 



the perpendicular front of the mountain 

 our navigator discovered the marks of the 

 tidal wave, and by measurement found it 

 to have been 47 feet high, not including the 

 comb. 



There we lay, on as even a keel as if still 

 afloat, with our bow toward the sea, our 

 flag still flying, and our starboard anchor 

 and 100 fathoms of chain led out as care- 

 fully as we could have placed them there! 

 Was it possible this heavy anchor and 

 chain should have drifted with us 

 throughout all the mazes of our voy- 

 aging of the afternoon? And why was not 

 the chain parted at least by the last shock, 

 as were the other 4? Vain questions, im- 

 possible of solution. 



We found near us 

 the wreck of a large 

 English bark, the 

 Chanacilla, which 

 had one of her 

 chains wound 

 around her as many 

 times as it would 

 go, thus showing 

 she had been rolled 

 over and over. A 

 little nearer the sea 

 lay the America, on 

 her bilges, and the 

 sand was strewn 

 with the most hete- 

 rogeneous mass of 

 plunder that ever 

 gladdened the heart 

 of a wrecker. Grand A 



pianos, bales of silk, 

 casks of brandy, 



cases of wine, furniture, clothing, hard- 

 ware, anything imaginable, was there. A 

 rough estimate placed this emptying of the 

 Custom House at $1,000,000. 



Our first work was to establish a cordon 

 of sentries, while a strong working party 

 stove in the brandy casks and shattered the 

 wine cases, for we did not purpose having 

 drunkenness added to the other horrors 

 surrounding us. 



One of the incidents of the morning was 

 the return of the boat's crew- from the 

 wrecked America, not a man missing, and 

 the laconic report of the youngster in com- 

 mand : 



"Returned on board, sir. I have to re- 

 port the loss of the second cutter, I2< oars, 

 and 2 boat hooks, but we saved the flag, 

 sir." 



The surviving Peruvians promptly de- 

 serted the ship when it was discovered she 

 was on dry land, and were drowned by the 

 next incoming wave, which, though not a 

 breaker, was high enough to sweep them 

 away, while Taussig, our officer, held his 

 men until daylight. 



What of Arica? We found but desola- 



tion and death there. Where once had 

 stood that pretty little city, a flat, sandy 

 plain stretched before us. Except on 

 the outskirts, higher on the mountain, not 

 a house marked the spot. Built to with- 

 stand earthquake shocks, the houses were 

 low, few boasting a second story, with 

 light roofs and thick walls of adobe brick. 

 The shock first leveled them, and then 

 the waves dissolved and washed them 

 away. 



On the higher slopes, a few houses, part 

 of a church, and a hideous mass of debris 

 composed of everything, including corpses, 

 was piled 20 or 30 feet high. This was all 

 that remained of Arica. 



fiOi **" " " 



■Jh 



VALLEV BEYOND ARICA 

 View Showing the Debris. 



The loss of life was proportionate to the 

 destruction of property. We could not as- 

 certain exactly how great it was, but as all 

 provisions, clothing, and even fresh water, 

 were destroyed, the pitiful remnant of peo- 

 ple who gathered about the Wateree, living 

 on our stores, in tents made of our sails, 

 told the tale as could no words. 



It was 3 weeks before relief came, and it 

 was a proud day for us when the first ship 

 to arrive was our staunch old frigate, Pow- 

 hatan, loaded with stores, which were dis- 

 tributed among the destitute survivors. 



A careful survey of the Wateree proved 

 that, while she was practically uninjured, it 

 would be impossible to launch her; so after 

 removing the most valuable part of her 

 equipment, she was sold at auction to a ho- 

 tel company. An epidemic of yellow fever 

 broke up that enterprise, and the old ship 

 was used successively as a hospital, a store- 

 house, and lastly a target for great guns 

 during, the Chilian-Peruvian wars; but 

 her gaunt iron ribs still rise above the 

 shifting sands, a fitting memento of the 

 greatest of modern earthquakes. 



