The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1907-02-15
CAPTAIN FIRST To
DESERT HIS SHIP
SO Declares One of the Surviv-
ore o fthe Ill Fated Steam
er LarChm0nt.
HIS ACCUSER is A BOY
THE COMMANDER DENIES THE
CHARGE AND ASSERTS HE WAS
WITH HIS VESSEL TO THE VERY
LAST.
Publishers Press.I

Providence. ~. l., FEB. IA new
element was injected into the horror
attending the loss of the steamer
Larchmont, when Captain McVey of
the steamer admitted that his lifeboat
was one Of the first, If not the first,
to leave the sinking ship. This state
ment was made in reply to charges by
Free Hiergsell, Is, 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
passengers. and that Captain McVey
was the first TO desert the ship.
Hiergsell's statement createu a sem
sation, in view of the fact that 10
of the 10 survivors were employees on
the ship.
Captain Mcvey explained that while
his boat may have been the first in the
water, it was because he had a good
crew, and that he remained by his
ship until she went down. He said
he made no move to get into his boat
until after he gave orders to his men
to lower all boats and clear away the
crafts. While his boat was in the
water, it was fastened to the ship by
q rope in the running gear, and this
was cut by boatswain, who saw that
with the ship settling rapidly, the
boat and it's occupants would be
caught in the whirlpool and sucked
beneath the surface. The captains
boat was on the windward side and he
said he called to the passengers to
jump into his boat, which would hold
about % people in all, but the electric
lights were extinguished, and in the
darkness and confusion nobody heed.
ed his summons. Everybody was on
the leeward side of the ship, and he
ordered his men to row around there.
he claims, 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. The number OF
known lost in the calamity stands at
1873. At least 157 persons were known
to be on the steamer, and there is
every indication that the number was
nearer 200. The II bodies recovered
were brought to the morgue in this
city for Identification.
Passing ships may pick up bodies,
and at other shore points along the
sound few corpses may be cast up,
but the lifesavers do not anticipate
that the list of recovered bodies will
be much heightened until the hull of
the Larchmont is blown up. for it is
known many passengers and some OF
the crew perished below decks.
Captain McVey is but 26 years old,
and probably the youngest captain
plying the sound. He was ordered by
United States steamboat inspectors
to submit detailed report of the ac-
cident to the board. Captain McVey
was able to prepare a report OF the
in which his ship was sunk.
but owing to the condition of his froz-
en- limbs he was not able to submit it
Dr. John Champlin certified to the
death of all the victims whose bodies
were brought here. In each case he
gave the cause of death as freezing.
Not one Of the persons drowned. the
terrible cold almost instantly freez-
ns to death those who were plunged
INTO the water, while others were
frozen in boats or on RATS or pieces
of wreckage.