Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-03-15
TWENTY-SEVEN PERISH
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(Continued from Page One.)
started badly but not until Saturday
did the crew realize that the water had
filled the ship to such an extent that 1t
seemed inevitable that she would SINK
The seamen suffered constantly from
exposure, f! ON the attacks of the waves
which Hooded the ship, from lac Of
sleep. froin hunger, and from bruises
and injuries received by being tossed
forward and backward upon the ves-
sells Geek.
BY Saturday the British King had
settled noticeably in the water. Real
izing the necessity Of quick action,
Capt. O'Hagan himself went into the
hold ard strove to repair the most
damaged section. 1t was while doing
this that a barrel of oil fractured his
leg in two places. The injury was so
severe that a piece of the bone pro-
trudcd through the flesh. In spite of
this terrible injury and in spite Of in
tcrnal hurts caused by his fall Capt.
O'Hagan refused to be carried TO his
cabin He ordered that his leg he
bound up and when this had been done
he again resumed command and active
ly directed the efforts which We're be-
ing made to plug up the hole in the
ships side.
But the captains effort to repair his
ship was fruitless. The water gained
continually and by Saturday night all
hands were forced to take refuge on the
main deck. The cattle We're swept
overheard constantly by the seas and
drowned.
At O'Clock Sunday morning Capt.
O'Hagan sighted the Mannheim and
shortly afterward the Bostonian.
While preparing to lower the boats
away TO the helpless steamer. the Mann
: helm signalled to the Bostonian that
! the British King was in distress. Capt
! Perry of the Bostonian Immediately
! altered his course and ran down as
! close as safety would permit. The
| British King signalled that she was
! water-logged and would have to be
abandoned. At 3 O'Clock she sent an
other signal which read Do not aban-
don me-
Previous to this every small boat of
the British King had been demolished
and there was no way in which the
crew could desert their ship. The half
hundred or more men of the wrecked
steamer We're in plain view of those on
board the Bostonian and Mannheim
who could. however, do nothing at that
time in the way of rescue. since it
would have been suicide to launch a
boat in the agitated sea.
At 40 P. NJ. the British King sgnalled
Help US; we are sinking" slight mod
Grafton of the weather permitted the
Mannheim to lower boat in charge of
volunteer crew and after a perilous and
most difficult row to the British King II
Of the latter's crew We're taken off. som"
of them jumping into the water and be-
ing rescued therefron, and others leapinv
into tho boat itself. Men were orderly
on board the British King and self-sacri-
fcng. for they pushed one another for
ward to have the first chance of being
saved. Tho almost overloaded small
boat. after a dangerous passage. reached
the Mannheim in safety. Whether the
Mannheim had lowered other boats which
We're stove in was not known, although
survivors of the steamer say that this
happened.
Sailors of the Bostonian We'd with each
boat. and were not deferred from this
when the first boat having been lowered
it was soon dashed to pieces against the
steamers stern. First Officer William
Brown and the six seamen with him were
left struggling in the water. but event
ually every ore of them were preserved
by means of lines thrown from the Bos-
tonian. They were wounded and bruised.
A great cheer went up from the Bos-
tonian when, at o'clock, the starboard
lifeboat was successfully put out in
charge of Second Officer Cromwell, the
steward and four sailors, and the encour-
aging cheers were kept up as the little
crew made terrific struggle to reach the
sinking steamer. This they did and took
off 13 men. including Capt O'Hagan, who
was tenderly but hastily lowered by his
men by means of line from the stern
Of his command.
, The Bostonian was reached and the res.
cued seamen placed on board. But before
, the life-savers could climb to the deck !
quick-formirg sea smashed the frail craft
against the side of the steamer and wher
= the water receded carried the volunteers
some hundred feet distant from their shin
s Cheering cries reached them to cling tc
: the wreckage while the engines of the
e Bostonian started and the ship mancr.
Vered to n point near the struggling seq.
men, Again were lines used with skill
ana success. for ell the volunteers weri
hoisted to the ship. though Second Off
Ger Cromwell was perlously near tc
drowning. Weakened from exposure II
: the cold and icy water. he lost his hol,
: upon the lifeline and for a second tim,
ne was plunged into the sea. He> rean
peared on the surface again. however. ant
: with suddenly renewed strength he prasn
t ed the second line which he wound twic.
S around his body and on which he wa
# drawn up to his ship
Il Capt. Parry deemed it imprudent :,
- send another boat to the wreck as aorl,
: ness was setting in. and decided 70 va;
e until the moon arose before conti,uir,
the work of rescue. About II o'ctocl,
when the gale was running with ann,r
e emily reinforced velocity. the British Kin.
u was seen to stagger in the trough of IN
-. sea, half start from the water as il force,