U.S. Army Transport Sumner, destined to end its career on the Barnegat Shoals, arrived in Manila in the Philippine Islands, on May 23, 1900, carrying almost 1,000 troops. It had left Sandy Hook, N.J., 53 days earlier and traveled by way of the Suez Canal. Once in the Pacific, the ship began ferrying troops around the islands, along with trips to Japan and China, as the United States was trying to put down the Philippine insurrection and what became known as the Boxer Rebellion, in China.