The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-03-16
SIGNALS MISTAKEN
BRITISH KING FAILED TO UNDER
 STAND FLAGS.
Steamer Mannheim Could Have Res- cued Crew of the Ill-Fated Ves- seI, but Message Was Not
 Understood.

New York, March 15.--An account of how the steamer British King was fol- lowed the day before she sank by the steamer Mannheim, vainly futtering signals which if they had not been mistaken by the British King would have saved the lives which were lost last Sunday 150 miles south of Sable Island, was given today by Captain Andrew schau of the Mannheim. This steamer arrived here today with all survivors of the lost ship. Saturday afternoon Captain Schau said, twenty-four hours before the disaster. he sighted the laundering steamer and signaled it's captain to stop his en- zines in order that boats from the Mannheim might be able to overtake the steamer and rescue the crew. ut the tempest which later sent the snip to the bottom seemed to have conspir- ed against the British King.
 Through the masses of spray and the great waves the signal which was sent, stop" was read, Stop on board The latter signal means do not leave inc shin. Had the British Kings en- zines been stopped then Captain Sehaa said his boats could have saved the ill., fated crew, because the storm was not as bad as 1t became later. He said that before the steamer took its plunge he saw seamen leaping overheard to avoid being drawn down in the suction.
 "A short time after noon on March 1e.' he said, we sighted a vessel fly ing distress signals. She proved to be the British King. We stood by, eX- changing signals all the afternoon. To- ward night the British King signaled that they would have to abandon the ship.
 Had the British King not mistaken our signal to stop, am confident that we should have been able to save every one on the ship. We began to make these signals about 5 p. m. During the night the gale increased and the seas became more dangerous. At 2;SO o'clock Saturday afternoon we were sig naled that the British King was going down and that we would have to send boats. Our first boat was smashed to spIinters against the hull We lowered another boat and the crew managed to get away in It..
 .They took off eleven men and brought them back to the Mannheim. After the last man stepped from the Iifeboat it was smashed like the first. The next boat was smashed before we made our minds that it was useless to try to get small boat to the British King again.
 ''Meantime the Bostonian. which had been lying near since early in the. day had also sent boat, but we were un- able to see it. Darkness settled down and later the moon came up. It was light as day. We could see the Brit ish King, low in the water. wallowing in the seas and knew there were men on board because we could see moving lights The cries of the cattle sounded above the raging of the storm.
 Tt was a frightful thing to have to be there utterly helpless and walt for that ship to go down with those brave men on board. Somebody on the bridge kept firing q revolver at intervals Of about a minute. We could see the flash and occasionally hear the report. I moved the Mannheim to windward of the stricken steamer and the Bostonian did the same, but the danger of col Iision forced us to keep away from each other.
 When daylight broke the surface of the sea was strewn with wreckage and many cattle were still afloat. Many swan after us for a mile before we lost sight of them. From our after deck we could see sharks swim to the poor beasts and kill them. The last I saw of the wreck was blue oil bar rel floating on the crest of a wave close by COW that was coming after us swimming desperately"