The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1906-03-22
SHIP FOUNDERS
WITH Is SOULS
The British King Gees Down in q
Hurricane.
SHIPS STOOD BY FOR THREE DAYS
Capt J. c. 0'fsgaa Loses His Life 10 At.
tempt to Save Ills Ship-DIsabIed Steam.
er WsllOwed lu Mountainous Seas, While
Oh Barrels Stove In Her SIdes-Two
Steamers Lay By Three Days.

Boston (SpeciaD .-Twenty-eight men,
including Capt. J. c. O'Hagan, went
down with the British steamship British
King, which foundered in a terrific gale
of Sable Island, $50 miles off shore, Sun
day.
a terrible story of suffering and terror
was related by Is survivors, brought to
Boston on the Leland liner Bostonian.
Eleven more were rescued by the Ger
man oil steamship Mannheim. For three
days and nights the two steamships lay
as near as they could to their doomed
SISTER before a single rescue could be
made
The British King sailed from New
York for Antwerp on March 7. She had
a tempeStuous trip, and on Wednesday,
while IN the vicinity of Sable Island, be-
came disabled. The Mannheim, bound
east, and the Leyland liner, bound for
this port, both answered her signals Of
distress, but it was impossible for them
to render any aid
The sea was like a grouped mass of
plunging mountains, and to launch small
boats was out of the question. The sea
ragged tor three days, and it was late
Friday before if subsidized sufficiently for
the crew of the British King to put off
in boats.
Captain O'Hagan lost his life, but
his body was recovered. Boats from the
Bostonian and the Mannheim put off to
the aid of the small boats from the Brit.
ish freighter
The crew of the latter had not slep
during their battle with the wind ano
sea and were weak and almost starved
Many of them only closed their eye:
when they sank: from exhaustion where
they stood. Some were swept overheard
because they were too weak to hold on
The rescuers from the Bostoniar
picked up I8 of the survivors and took
on board the body of Captain O'Hagan
The rescuerS from the German steamship
picked up II of the crew and continued
on Its eastward journey.
Two lifeboats from the Bostonian were
crushed TO fragments, and the volunteer
crews which manned them were thrown
into the high-running seas while engag-
ed IN the work of rescue, buf-SIll were
rescued and taken aboard the Boston1In-
When the first lifeboat was lowered
from the Bostonian the small craft was
swept against the stern of the big ship
and destroyed, and several of the seamen
were bruised and MANNED. Yet, despite
the boisterous condition of the sea, the
volunteers were rescued bl lines thrown
out from their steamer
A second attempt to reach the sinking
ship was successful, and Is men, in
Guiding Captain OHa2an, were taken
from the British King to the Bostonian
Then again a powerful bilow carried the
life boat against the side of the ship
and destroyed it, and the lifesavers were
thrown into the sea, to be rescued only
after an hours effort by their comrades.
.. Volunteers from the Mannheim, after
heroic battle with the waves. had
taken off II from the British King. but
after this neither OF the steamers, in con-
sequence OF the increasing gale, could
make an attempt to reach the founder
ing freighter Moreover, darkness fell
and it was an utter impoSsibility to do
else but wait for the moonlight TO guide
them. In the darkness the British King.
which was then waterlogged and help
less, plunged to the bottom
For three days her captain and crew.
working against unconquerable odds, had
tried to prevent, or at least postpone,
their ships destruction. On Friday, in
the height of the tempest, the deckload of
oil barrels of the British King and all her
fittings were carried overheard.