The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-16
INTO 4 SEA FULL Or SHARKS.
NO HOPE FOR ANF MAN LEFT ON
THE british KING.


Tells or the Rescue OF Eleven Men.
Capt. Andrew Schau of the German tank
Mannheim got here yesterday with eleven
of the crew Of the Phunix liner British King,
which foundered in mid-ocean last Sunday.
II now appears that eighteen lives were lost,
not twenty-seven. There should have been
.lfty-four men on board, but nine deserted
here; seventeen went down with the ship,
Capt. O'Hagan died OF his injuries and six
| teen men were saved by the Bostonian.
For nearly thirty-five hours Capt. Sohau
and his men had stood by the steamer in the
effort to save life, only TO see her sink with
| some men still on board. II was such a fight
that when the eleven men rescued were
taken off the Mannheim in a tug yesterday
, they gathered in a little group in the stern.
barred their heads and gave a mighty shout
for the men who had saved them. II 1t
hadn't been for a mistake in signals Capt.
Schau believes he could have saved all the
British Kings crew the day before she sank,
but it was bad weather for getting ship talk
right in that particular spot in the Atlantic
last Saturday and Sunday.
Of the eighteen men who went down with
the ship one was an officer. Chief Officer
Paterson, who assumed command after
Capt. O'Hagan was disabled. He had been
with the line almost as long az had Capt.
O'Hagan. The men rescued had nothing
but praise for him yesterday. None Of
them believes that there is any chance that
any of the men left behind escaped. for what
| the sea didn't do the sharks must have done,
they said. The water around the ship was
full of sharks, for her $50 cattle had gone
! overheard like her men.
The men say that one OF the cargo ports
on the port side of the vessel was stove in
by a wave early on Saturday morning,
Two of the cargo holds were full of water
before it was noticed, and then ensued a
fight with the cargo in which Capt. O'Hagan
got the injury that caused his death.
Third Officer Sayer said that it was 3
O'Clock Saturday morning when they dis
covered the water in the holds.
The second and third cargo holds were
full, he said. They carried grain and oil
barrels and the water caused a heavy list
to port. The gale was getting fiercer every
minute. All hands that could he spared
were summoned by the captain to try to
remedy the trouble. The barrels were
jammed over against the broken port and
it was rs much as your life WAS worth 10 go
into tho hold. We tried TO ~iettison the bar
reia in order to reach theport and patch it up;
but the ship waS pitching so that we could
do nothing. Capt. O'Hagan worked as no
nan ever worked before, until some ba rrels
struck him and crushed his leg, He lost
much blood and was helpless. While we
were still at ii the bulkhead between No. ?
hold and the stoke hold was smashed in,
letting in the water, which eventually put
out the fires. The men stayed below until
the water was up to their waists. Then it
was al hands on deck. The boats were all
smashed and we could do nothing but wait
for rescuers."
Sitting in his cabin under the German
motto, In Sturm und Wetter list Gott Dein
Retter." Capt. Schau told how the Mann
helm had tried from | o'clock Saturday
afternoon until the British King sank at
midnight on Sunday TO save her people.
we would have rescued them all at S
o'clock on saturday, " he said, If they had
only read our signal right, but the signal
got twisted in translating it from German
to English and they didn't stop when we
asked them to-
When the Mannheim, fighting t,multuous
seas herself, picked up the British King on
Saturday. the latter vessel was flying the
signal: Il am in need of assistance. Please
stand by" Il will not leave you" went
back the Mannheim's answer, and Thank
YOU. came from the other. Later on the
British King flew "a signal which the Mann
helm read to be: Damage la he repaired
in six hours, and this rather puzzled Capt.
Schau.
I'VE asked Capt. O'Hagan il We should
wait, said the captain of the Mannheim;
and he answered back: Yes We could not
discover what was the matter with the
British King, except that she was having a
hard time in the storm, just as We were.
Then at 5 o'clock in the afternoon We made
out the signal; I must abandon vessel.
We asked them if they could send boats TO
us and we understood them to answer that
they could. But their boats were smashed,
it appears, and then came the request for
our boats.
came later IN. We made our boats ready
and steamed To windward of the British
King, thinking that she would stop. But
she was still making Roadway. We sent
up a signal asking her 10 stop, hut to our
surprise the British King still kept on going
ahead. There We were with a Grew already
in our boats and the men we were going to
rescue steaming away from Us. It was
II w VIM WV NV h''iAIN '
this the British King aid -WiIl you stay
with me until tomorrow We SAID that
we would and supposed that she was doing
better. Fairly in The evening the gale de-
creased q hit but after midnight there
came a heavy suuall and then n gallo worse
than that of the day before"
The Mannheim, the captain said, could
see the lights OF the British King now and
then in the storm, and at 9 o'clock the nest
morning along came the Bostoninn. The
gale WA such that the signal flags
when hoisted were blown to ribbons the
next minute. Nevertheless they got "A
signal in the morning which meant that
the British King was waterlogged. She was
buried in the wa YES most Of the time then.
The Mannheim and ECstonian steamed TO
windward and got within a quarter of a
mile of her. Then AT 2:3O on Sunday after
noon came the signal from the British
King. Am sinking. Send boat to take of
crew"
They called for volunteers on board the
Mannheim then. William Jaeger, the third
officer, and Senmen RaCragen. kargen,
Griher and Christ Jansen were picked out
II took an hour to launch the boat, as every
time the waves swept her back on board
the Mannheim. Finally Capt. Schau, by
sending his ship backward, made a current
on which the lireboat was swept forward
and away. The lifeboat rod the sea we'll,
hut for a time it was impossible to keep
the oars going on the windward side. One