The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-03-16
Mannheim Could MOI Lend Aid
TO British King
CATTLE SWIM AFTER SHIP
Sailors Plunged From Deck to Keep
From Being Swallowed Up In the
Vortex Caused BY the
Sinking Vessel.

New York. March San account OF how
the steamer British King was followed
the day before she sank by the steamer
Mannheim, vainly auttering signals which
L they had not been mistaken by the
British King, would have saved the lives
which were lost last Sunday. lao miles
south of Sable Island. was given today
By Captain Andrew Sehau of the Mann
helm
This steamer arrived here today with
eleven survivors of the lost ship. Satur-
day afternoon Capt. Schau said twenty
four hours before The disaster. he sighted
the laundering steamer and slgnalled its
boats from the Mannheim might be able
To overtake the steamer and rescue the
crew But the tempest which later sent
the ship to the bottom seemed to have
eonspired 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 the ship.
Had the British Kings engines been
stopped then. Captain Schau says his
boats could have saved the Inflated crew.
because the storm was not as bad as 1t
became later. lie said that before the
steamer took its plunge he saw seamen
lcapng overheard to avoid being drawn
down in the suction
Was Flying Distress Signal.
"a short time after noon on March 10
he said, we sighted a vessel flying dis
tress signals She proved to be the Brit
ish King. We stood by exchanging sig
nails all the afternoon. Towards night the
British Kings officers signalled that
they would have to abandon the ship
Had The British King not mistaken our
signal 10 stop l am confident that we
shonld have been able to save every one
on the ship. We began to make these sig
nails about p. m.
During the night the gale increased and
the seas became more dangerous. AT
2:3O o'clock Saturday afternoon we we're
sienalled that the British King was going
down, and that we would have to send
boats Our first boat was smashed to
splnters against the hull We lowered
another boat and the crew managed to
get away in It.
Took off Eleven Men.
They took off eleven men and brought
them back to the Mannheim. After the
last man stepped from the life boat it
was smashed like the first The next
boat was smashed before we made up
our minds that 1t was useless 10 try to
get a small boat to the British King
again.
Meantime the Bostonian which had
been lying near since early in the day,
had also sent a boat but we We're unable
to see IT, Darkness settled down. and
later the moon came up. II was light
as day. We could see the British King.
low In the water. wallowing In the seas
and knew there we're men on board, be-
cause we could see moving lights. The
cries Of the cattle sounded above the rag
ing of the storm.
at was a frightful thing to have to be
there utterly helpless and wait for that
ship to go down with those brave men
aboard her. Somebody on the bridge kept
firing a revolver at intervals of ebout a
minute We could see the flash and oc-
casionally heard the report ] moved the
Mannheim to windward OF the stricken
steamer to protect her. and the captain
Of the Bostonian did the same. but the
danger of a collision forced us TO keep
away from each other
Cattle Struggle In Sea.
"When daylight broke the surface of
the sen was strewn with wreckage, and
many cattle were still a1oat 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 ! saw of the wreck
was a blue oil barrel floating on the
crest of wave close by COW that was
coming after us swimming desperately