Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-02-15
CAPTAIN ADMITS
DESERVING ship
MASTER OF lLL-FATED STEAMER
AMONG FIRST TO LEAVE
VESSEL.
PASSENGERS LEFT TO
TAKE CARE OF SELVES
Says His Boat Stood BY and That He
Called to People to Jump-Fifty-
Four Bodies Identified: e5 Still
Missing.

Providencet, r. l., Feb. 15--A new
element was injected into the horror
attending the loss of the steamer
Larchmont in Block Island sound Mon
day night through collision with the
schooner Harry Knowleton, when
Capt. MGVey of the steamer Thursday
admitted that his lfeboat was one of
the first, if not the first, to leave the
sinking ship.
This statement was made in reply
TO charges by Fred Hiergsell, an 1S-
year-old lad of Brooklyn, one of the
survivors, that the passengers were
left to shift for themselves; that the
ships crew crowded the boats without
attempting to provide for the passen-
gers and that Capt. McVey was the
first to desert the ship. The state
ment of young Hiergsell caused a SEN
sation, in view of the fact that ten of
the 10 survivors were employees on
the ship, or in other words, that while
approximately 20 per cent. of the yes
sells crew was saved, only s per cent.
Of the passengers survived.
Gays ne SlOoo Dy steamer.
Capt. McVey explained that while
his boat may have been the first in
the water it was because he had
good crew and that he remained by
his ship until she went down. He said
that he made no move to get into his
boat until he had given orders to his
men to lower all boats and clear away
the RATS. While his boat was in the
water it was fastened to the ship by
a rope in thk running gear that had
become caught and this was cut by
Boatswain Andrew Tobeson, who saw
that with the ship settling rapidly the
boat and its occupants would be
caught in the whirlpool and sucked
beneath the surface.
Capt. McVeys boat was on the
windward side and he said he called
to the passengers to jump into his
boat which would hold about % per-
sons, but the electric lights had been
eXtinguished and in the darkness and
confusion no one needed his summons.
Everybody was on the leeward side
of the ship and he ordered his men to
row around there, he asserts, but the
gale baked his plan and as the boat
was driven away from the steamer his
men had to give up their task and
crouch down in the bottom of the boat
out of the way of the piercing wind
Capt. McVey, who is but &c years
old, and probably the youngest captain
plying the sound, has been ordered by
the United States steamboat inspec-
tors to submit detailed report of the
accident to the board.
Fifty-Four Victims Identified.
Fifty-fOur names at noon Thursday
were on the list of identified dead
among the victims of the disaster.
The figures at that time were: Sur
vivors, 80; bodies identified, 54;
known missing, 95; total known to
have been on board, 1853; bodies re-
covered, 70.
The stream of persons that passed
through the morgue looking for miss
ing relatives or friends did not cease
until after midnight and at that time
SO of the dead had been identified
Many persons were early on hand to
file once more between the long lines
of the dead and every train brought
more people on the mournful quest.
Survivors as Well as Expected.
The survivors at Block Island are
reported "as well as could be expect
ed" The weather has moderated and
this morning was clear and mild. The
sea had gone down and there was
scarcely breeze to ripple the surface
of the water.
Under these conditions there was
little expectation of any more bodies
coming ashore during the day on the
island and the tired patrols were able
to relax from their vigils.
Until the hull of the Larchmont is
blown up it will not be known how
many of the passengers and crew per-
ished below decks.
The schooner Harry Knowleton is
breaking to pieces on Quonochontaug
beach. Her deckhouse and other
pieces of wreckage were washed
ashore Thursday. A strong south
wind was blowing