Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-02-13


his arrival here the captain said that
he had on board his ship between
$50 and 200 passengers and crew
OF so. Later he said there were be
tween so and IS passengers OH board
when the vessel went down.
Passenger List Lost.
Later figures, however. are far be
low the estimate made by the Off.
Gals of the JOY line at Providence.
who estimated that the number of
passengers were not less than $50.
The exact number of passengers was
given in list which was handed to
the purser just before the larchmont
started on her Hateful journey. but II
is believed IL was lost when the shin
went down.
AT 10 O'Clock tonight the offices of
the Joy line here received tclc.
phone message from Captain Grey,
who was sent to Block Island with \
small vessel late today. Captain Grey
telephoned from Block Island that he
had found and placed on board his
vessel 10 survivors of the Larchmont
wreck. The message said he would
care for and land wherever they wis.,
ed TO go. The number included both
passengers and members of the crew
of the Larchmont. hut their names
we're not available. At 1890 the fol.
lowing statement was prepared:
Saved. 10; bodies recovered, 43:
missing. SIS.
Captain Frank p. Haley. of the
schooner Harry Knowlton, which va:
In collision with the Lachmont. sta.cs
that the accident was entirely due tc
the steamer. He said that his lights
were burning and he held TO MS
course, with the expectation thai tho
steamer. having hailed him, would
pass him with plenty OF sea room,
when he found that the steame.
would not turn out Captain Hale
said it was too late to avoid c;lii
sion
Captains Statement.
For several hours after he was res
cued Captain McVey. of the Larch-
mont, was not able to talk. When he
had partly recovered, he communicate
ed with his home and later dictated
the following statement of tire disas
ter TO a correspondent of the Assoc
cinted Press: I'VE left Providence
at o'clock. A brisk northwest wind
was blowing and we were off Watch
Hill at IL o'clock. had gone below
to look over the passengers and
freight, leaving good pilot and
Quartermaster in the pilot house. |
returned to the pilot house passing
on my way to my room. Both
were in the pilot house and I pre-.
pared for the night. | suddenly heard
the pilot blowing danger and | hur
ried into the pilot house. There was
a schooner on the port side and her
crew seemed to have lost control of
her. Without warning she luffed up
and before we had opportunity to do
a thing and had headed for us. The
pilot put the wheel hard Port, but
the schooner was sailing along under
u heavy breeze and in moment she
had crashed into our port side, di
rectly opposite the SmokeStack. !
tried to signal to the engineer and
mate but the collision had broken the
main steam pipe, filling that part OF
the boat with steam and cutting off
communication with the pilot house
after cutting into our vessel the
schooner fell away and disappeared
to the leeward. | sent the quarter
master below and in Il few minutes
he reported that the ship was filling
rapidly The officers and crew were
summoned to their stations and when
saw that the Larchmont was set
Ting, ordered all hands to prepare
to leave the ship. When l saw that
every one was making ready to es-
cape as fast as possible | went to my
boat, which was hanging on the da
Wits and took into it six firemen am
four passengers. When the steamer
had settled almost to the waters
edge we cleared away after we had
made sure that there were no passen
gers on board who had not been ia
ken care Of After our boat dropped
into the water we remained in tho
vicinity until the steamer
sank and then we headed away. The
boat was heavy one and we found
il impossible to row to the windward
so we turned to the leeward and
started for Block Island. The cold
was terrible. We struggled for hours
and hours. and this pain from our
frost bitten hands and feet was al
most unbearable. One Of our men,
seaman, became craZed and commit
ted suicide by cutting his throat. Nc
one in the boat had strength enough
to prevent him from doing 1t. We
arrived here at $3.50 o'clock in tht
morning very much exhausted ane
frozen
After making this statement Cap
tain McVey changed his original csti
mate OF the number of passengers
but he seemed greatly confused as
the result of his ordeal and uncertain
ms to just how many people were on
board. n answer to n question nc
nlaccd the passengers a. low as from
fifty to seventy-fiye. though he ad
mitted he had at first estimated the
number as from $50 to ZOO
BABY RISES FROM DEAD.