The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-12-09
BY THE men OF THE vEDAMORE
An Improvlssd Life CarWas Quickly Battered
70 Pieces By the Waves.
HEROIC WORK BY BRITISH SAILORS.
Chief Officer ooran Volunteered 10 Take Boat 10
londonlan, and After Battling With Waves
Mas Compelled TO Return.

Baltimore, Md. Dec. S.--The Johns
ton Line steamer vedamore, of Liver
pool, Capt. Bartlett. for whose safety
fears We're beginning 10 be felt as she
was several days overdue. arrived here
yesterday with as shipwrecked mari
ners from the steamer Londonian whom
she had picked up at sea. Twenty-Five
others went down with their ship.
The saved members of the London
ian's crew were:
Second Officer r. Gittns of London.
Second Engineer j.. W. Granham of
London, Third Engineer +. G.. G.. Ayres
OF Scotland, G. Tagan of Hamburg.
donkeyman, chas. Johnstone of Dune
din, n. H., first cook; R. Cross OF Lon
don, storekeeper; q. f. Fiske OF Klein
inheinmersdorf. Germany. and J. Ma
son of London, oilers a. Il. Tonge OF
Dunedin, y. H., and Frank Leimke of
Waldast. Germany. seamen Malcolm
MCGOWAN. r. Suddell, +. Suddell. L
Liss. Il. Watts, William Terry, James
Clarke, Thos. Bright. H. Bartlett of
London. John Foyne OF Liverpool. Gilt
bert Elliott of Dumbarton, Scotland f.
cupid tcolored) of st. Vincent. w. l..
firemen and coal trimmers. These 23
men We're about one-half of the ship's
company. All the others, IL is believed,
perished.
In addition % cattemen were saved.
They are: Patrick Ward of Boston.
foreman for Swift a. Co. who had 263
head OF cattle on board Daniel Calnan
OF Somerville, Mass. foreman for Mel
son Norris n Co, who had 90 cattle:
A. Mungel, John j. Neville of Water
bury, Conn, Michael Malone of Fall
River, John +. Kenny, John Sloan
Frederick Wallace. Thomas Higgins.
Henry Welsh Andrew Smith John
Martin. John Bibby. George Bell. John
Ward, all Of Boston; John Bolts OF NAL
den, Henry Boucher and Peter Lamont
OF Lawrence, John Jones of London,
IL. Panpfpian of Armenia. - Meikle-
J~hn OF Russia and VIM. Langley. Jr.
OF Hallowell. Daniel Coveny of Boston
and Thoe. Mccoy of Worcester. Mass.
also cattlemen, are among the missing.
The supposed lost are: Cant. VIII
liam Lee, Chief officer Murray. Chief
Engineer Stafford. Third Engineer
Slater. and Fl other seamen, firemen |
and cattlemen.
The men landed are the survivors of |
the British steamship Londonlan OF |
London. bound from Boston for Lon |
don with large general cargo and $50 |
cattle on deck. She left Boston Nov |
10. and on Nov. 80, in a violent gale her |
cargo shifted and she almost capsized,
nnally resting on her beam ends with /
Dig seas breaking over her
Her luckless crew were helpless to |
right her, and for two days she drifted
about at the mercy of the wind and
waves. Assistance came at 3 o'clock on
the morning of Nov. 25. The Vedamore
hove in sight about ive miles distant.
and as II was still quite dark the Lon
DOMAIN burned signal fires and fired dis
tress rockets. The signals were seen by
the officer on the Vedamores bridge
ana reported TO Capt. Bartlett. who
gave Immediate orders that the Veda-
more's course be changed The Lon
donian was then to the southwark OF
the Johnston Liner. II did not take
the Vedamore long To cover the five
miles that lay between them, and as
soon as she arrived alongside she was
signaled to stand by.
do you wish TO abandon the shipp,
was signaled from the Vedamore as
soon as daylight would permit her sig
nails being seen, and Capt. Lee of the
Londonian signaled back that he want
ed the Vedamore TO tow his ship. Capt.
Bartlett saw at glance that this was
an impossibility, and refused To at
tempt IL as IL would have endangered
his own ship. Capt. Lee then signaled
asking that the Vedamore stand by TO
render assistance. Soon afterward he |
"Will abandon ship" and at
noon I'm the teeth OF a stiff gale Second
Ohicer Hobbs and a volunteer crew gal
lantly launched one of the Vedamore's |
boats and attempted to reach the sink
ing Londonian.
For three hours the sturdy Britons
battled with wind and waves i'm a vain
attempt 10 reach her but were finally |
forced Ia return to their ship. Capt
Bartlett then steamed to windward of
the doomed steamer and tried to fire
rockets with lines attached TO the
wreck. hoping by that means TO estab-
ish a connection with her. by which
he seamen In peril could be saved Az
ier number OF vain attempts this idea
vas abandoned. and as night came on
several other attempts TO rescue the
Londonian's crew were made fruitless-
As II grew too dark to do anything
more Capt. 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 py morning IL was blowing very | Z
hard. Then II was that another means
Of rescue was decided upon. For hours
lie buoys with lines attached were |
noated 10 the Londcnian, and at last
her crew succeeded i'm getting one I
aboard. A heavier line was stretched | ,
between the two vessels and ona of |
The vedamcre's lifeboats was impro-
viscd az life car. In which part Of the
rev cf the Londonian were hauled nm | ,
,ver the high side OF the Vedamorc and
riven every comfort the ship afforded.
As the boat was going back 90 the
>ondonIan o big sea broke over A. and
eDs'zed ~. Another broke over A and :
er'o''sheS 10. The lines were also car
ied away and the communication ,
roben. ,
Chief officer Doran Of the vedamore .
1en stepped up 90 Capt. Bartlett and q
olunteered To launch another lifeboat | q
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