The San Francisco call., 1898-12-09
F0RTY-FIVE SEAMEN SAVED
BUT REMAINDER OF A CREW OF LIGHTWEIGHT PERISH.
Officers of the British Steamer Veda- more Struggle in a Fierce Gale to Aid Unfortunates on
 the Londonian.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

from Liverpool November g for Bal1 more, passed inside Cape Henry last night and reported she had on board forty-five of the crew of eighty eight men of the steamer Londonian. The Londonian sailed from Boston Novem- Der 15 for London, and on November 23, in a violent gale, her cargo shifted and she almost capsiZed, finally resting on her beam ends with big seas break ing over her, and for two days she drifted about at the mercy of the winds and waves. Assistance came at o'clock on the morning of Noyeplber 25. The Vedamore hove in sight five miles dis tant, and as it was still quite dark the Londonian burned signal fires and fired distress rockets.
 The signals were seen by the officers on the Vedamore bridge and reported to Captain Bartlett, who gave imme- diate orders that the Vedamore's course be changed. The Londonian was then to the southward of the Johnston liner It did not take the Vedamore long to cover the five miles that la between them, and as soon as she arrived alongside she was signaled to stand by.
 Do you wish to abandon the ship?" was signaled from the Vedamore as
  nalS being seen. Captain Lee of the Londonian sgnaled back that he wanted the Vedamore to tow his ship.
 Captain Bartlett saw at a glance that this was an impossibility and refused to attempt it as it would have endan- gered his own ship. Captain Lee then signaled, asking that the Vedamore stand by to render assistance. Soon afterward he signaled, Will abandon ship" and at noon, in the teeth of stiff gale Second Officer Hobbs and a volunteer crew gallantly launched one of the NedamoreS boats and attempted 10 reach the sinking Londonian. For three hours the sturdy Britons battled with wind and wave in a vain attempt to reach her, but were finally forced to return to their own ship. Captain Bartlett then steamed to windward of the doomed steamer and other attempts to rescue the Londonian's crew were made fruitlessly.
 = AS it grew too dark to do anything more Captain Bartlett signaled, Will stand by you until morning."
 The piteous signal, For Gods sake don't leave us" came back in reply. During the night the wind increased and by morning it was blowing very hard. Then another means of rescue was decided upon. For hours life buoys with lines attached were floated to the
 
 ceeded in getting one aboard. One of the Vedamores lifeboats, inn provised as a life car, made trip suc- cessfully and twenty-two half frozen, exhausted men were hauled up over the side of the Vedamore and given every comfort the ship afforded. As the boat was going back to the Londonian wreck big sea demolished it. The lines were carried away and the communication was broken.
 Chief Officer Doran of the Vedamore volunteered to launch another lifeboat to attempt the rescue. The seas were by this time terrific, and it was only owing to the splendid manner in which the boat was handled that she lived 1t out. For two hours the boats crew struggled at the oars, but could not get closer than sixty yards of the wreck. They were at last forced to give up and return to their ship, and in doing so the boat was smashed against the ships side and lost. All came near drowning, but were hauled aboard with lines.
 Another fearful night of peril and fear passed. The next morning twenty three Of the men of the Londonian sue ceeded in launching one of their own boats and reached the Vedamore in safety. Their boat was also lost, and all that day was spent in trying to dRdl0 the wreck. The gale was constantly increasing, and all efforts to save the others were in vain. Even after night had fallen the Vedamore was kept cruising about in the vicinity, but when day broke next morning the LOndonian had vanished.
 The saved members of the London ian's crew were Second Officer Gittings of London; Second Engineer Granham nf oyi A Of Scotland; c. Tagan of Hamburg, don key man; Charles Johnston of Dunedin, N. c., first cook; R. Cross of London, storekeeper; o. Fiske of Germany and J. Mason, London, oilers; A. E. Tongue of Dunedin, N. c., and Frank Leimke of Waldast, Germany, seamen; Nal colm McGowan, E. s. Suddell, T. Liss, J. Wild, E. Watts, William Terry, James Clarke, Thomas Bright and H. Bartlett of London, John FoXne of Liv- erpool, Gilbert Elliott of Dumbarton, Scotland; F. Cupid (colored) of St. Vim cent, w. l., firemen and coal trimmers.
 These twenty-three men were about one-half of the ships complement. All the others are regarded as having per- ished. In addition there were twenty one cattlemen. Patrick Ward of Bos- ton, foreman for Swift & Co.,, had 263 head Of cattle on the vessel, and Daniel Callahan of Somerville, Mass, foreman TOT Nelson, Morris & Co.,, had 392 cat tie. The cattlemen in the gangs were A. Mungel and John J. Neville of Waterbury, Conn; Michael Malone of Fall River; John F. Kennedy John Sloan, Frederick Wallace, Thomas Hig- gins, Henry Welsh. Andrew Smith, John Matlin, John Bibby, George Bell and John Ward, all of Boston; John Potts of Maiden, Henry Boucher and Peter Lamont of Lawrence, John J. Jones of London. H. Panpipian of Armenia, - Meiklejohn of Russia and William Langley Jr. of Hallowell. Daniel Co., veny of Boston and Thomas Mccoy of Worcester, Mass, also cattlemen, are among the missing.
 The supposed lost are: Captain Will liam Lee, Chief Officer, Murray, Chief Engineer Stafford, Third Engineer Slater and twenty-one other seamen, flremen and cattlemen.
 The Londonian was fine steel vessel, built at Glasgow in 1896, and registered b532 tons gross. She belonged to the Wilson -Furness-Leyland line. Her orig inal name was Idaho, which was changed to the present name about year ago. Captain Lee was formerly captain of the Leyland steamer Vic- toriaii His home was in Brixham. England, where he had a family. The 4ondonian carried no passengers.