Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-17

that no water came from the nozzle Of the
hose
Efforts were then made to attach rubber
hose to the stand-pipe: but they failed, the
report saying: z-.--.
Upon the failure to couple the rubber
hose to the forward stand-pipe the crew
! gave up all further attempts to fight the
fire and went aft. some of them overheard.
There is some evidence that one or two of
the crew took down a few life preservers
for the passengers, but very little assist
ance of this nature was rendered
A tribute is paid to Assistant Engineer
BRANDON and also Chief Engineer Conk-
lin who remained at their posts, in which
1t says:
Evidently Brandow did his full duty eff
GENTLY and courageously. He was at his
post until the vessel was beached. for the
engines were kept in motion until a few
seconds before striking North Brother
Island"
The evidence of the pilots was that Capt.
Van Schaick received the first notice of the
fire when the vessel was about four lengths
to the eastward of Sunken Meadows. He
ordered full speed ahead and directed that
the vessel be kept on her course. Subse-
quently he directed the pilot, Van Wart, to
beach the vessel on North Brother Island.
The report continues:
Neglect of the Master.
1.-THE evidence before the commission es-
tablishes the fact that the master made no
attempt whatsoever to fight the fire. to ex-
anime Its condition or to control, assure, d.
rect or aid the passengers in any way what
ever 1t is alleged that he was unable to
reach the place where the passengers were
by reason of the fire, but this Is contradict
ed by the evidence of many witnesses and
Is obviously not true.
"An essential fact Of negligence Is the
utter failure of the master to fight the fire
or aid the passengers. In a less degree the
pilots, in the same manner. after Bleaching
| he nd yxyhi ctfn
passengers on board, failed in their duty to
assist and rescue the said passengers. Very
little assistance was given or control exer-
cised by any of the officers or crew on be-
hall of the passengers.
after a careful consideration of the en-
tire testimony as to the time of the dis
covery of the fire, the commission is of the
opinion that the men in the pilot house had
knowledge of the fire before the steamer
passed the eastern end of Wards Island.
The commission therefore believes that the
master knew of the fire in time to have
beached the vessel either in Little He'll
Gate to the westward of the Sunken Mead
ows or in the Bronx Kills to the eastward
of the Sunken Meadows, and to have there
by gained the great and essential advantage
of placing the vessel with her stern to the
wind, SO that the flames would be driven
forward and away from the passengers, in
stead of taking a course that inevitably
drove the flames rapidly aft, toward the
passengers, and delayed the Bleaching of
the vessel for several minutes longer than
was necessary"
Pilot Van Wart Criticised.
Pilot Van Wart is declared to have shown
bad judgment and lack of skill In Bleaching
the vessel at a considerable angle with the
shore line. thus leaving in deep water all
but the bow of the ship, which in flames
and affording the passengers who could not
swim little opportunity to save their lives.
The commission believes that the vessel
might have been beached SO as to enable
passengers to leap overheard and wade
ashore.
Severe criticism is made of the fire hose
the statement being made by the commits
sion that there Is a strong probability that
the fire would have been controlled had the
fire hose been of the required statutory
strength. The life preservers also come In
for share of the general denunciatfon, the
declaration being made that only small
percentage of these were serviceable. The
life boats and RATS were found to be in q
fairly good condition, but the fact that the
captain did little or nothing toward assist
ing the panic-stricken passengers to escape
from the flames made these practically I'M
availble In addition to this is the fact that
no fire drills or boat drills had been held on
the vessel during this year. Regarding the
defective life preseryers, the commission is
OF opinion that some of them might have
supported persons in the water, but the fact
that passengers saw some of the torn ones
made them suspicious of all, and they there
fore refused to attempt to save their lives
In that way. In closing its opinion of the
personnel of the crew the commission says:
1.-THE mate, Flanagan. in distinct zsola-
ton of the law and contrary to the require
ments OF the vessels certificate. was not a
licensed officer. The inefficiency and poor
quality of the deck crew of this vessel,
doubtless typical Of the majority of the
crews of excursion steamers, is one of the
essential facts that caused the loss of so
many lives"
The total loss of life by the slocum disas-