New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-04-08
BIUECHER SAVES CREW.
DIR. CANNON SEES RESCUE.
Burning Ship Furnishes Rare Sight
for CongrcsSmcH.

Shortly after daylight on Friday. when 30
miles east of St. Augustine. nearly all of the
SO passengers on the Hamburg American
steamer Bldcher which arrived yesterday We're
reused from sleep by a report that wrecked
Norwegian bark had been sighted and had asked
Tor assistance. Speaker Cannon. who is reputed
To ne an early riser. was on the hurricane deck
taking constitutional when the chief officer
saw the bark through his binocuar.
The Speaker quietly Went below and aroused
a party of Representatives with whom he was
returning after a cruise through the West In
dies
Look here. boys" said Speaker Cannon, rap
ping loudly ON several stateroom doors. here is
something worth seeing Get up quick! We have
had bully time of IT, and now that we are
nearing home we are To be entertained by
thrilling rescue at sea.
The spectacle was not mentioned in the utera
ture of the neutrality-suspicious. Line part OF
tho programme or the cruise, and the surprise
brought many Sieepyheads to deck
II took al least twenty minutes for the tardes,
passcrge~ 10 dress, and by that time the sink
ing Norwegian hark Gulfport waterlogged anu
stripped nf her canvas. could be seen a halc mile
OF the starboard bow The main promenade
and hurricane decks were soon lined with pas
sengers. and = thrill of excitement crept up in
many breasts when Captain Reessing announced
n ifcpoNt
rev Several timid women went below. declar-
ins tina, they could not bea. TO see the poor.
shipwhecked sailors brought aboard
The slucher bore down on the Gufport and
ziEnacd To hor. DO you want hep?"
Captain Larsen Of the bark replied that he
and his crew of twelve men wanted 10 he taken
Of captain Reessing ordered that a heap Of
cotton waste and several cans of oil be put in
the lifeboat, ana as the Blucher slowed down
chief officer Heyer and four men jumped into
boat and We're soon rowing out tn the Gulf
port. Field glasses We're at premium. and the
passengers watched the rescuers swing along
side and board the sinking craft
Within a quarter OF an hour Captain Larsen
and his crew Of twelve men climbed one by one
into the Bluche.'s ufcboat. When the lifeboat
did not put out rish- away the passengers on
the Bluche- became uneasy. and soon great
clouds of smoke We're seen rising from the
barks cabin. Suddenly two men Of the rescu-
ing party jumped into the boat. and it moved
away quickly from the smoking craft
The sympathy OF the entire passenger COM
piement aroused when the weak. pale faced
half famished seormcn from the Gulfport were
assisted aboard the Blucher. The las; man had
barely been hauled aboard when a subscription
was started FOR the helpless sailors and within
an hour the sum Of $170 was distributed among
the thirteen men.
In broken English while men and women
crowded around him. Captain Larsen told the
story Of his seyenty-rour hour fight 10 save his
vessel. we left Mobile March ! for Bergen
Norway, with cargo of oak staves." he said
"On March - we ran into heavy northeast
gale that lasted for forty-eight hours We were
badly battered, but though: we could reach
New York and make repairs. We labored along
in moderate weather until April 3, when a stin
northcaster caught and blew us before it.
The seams opened up and tons of water broke
over US and poured into the hold We had a
stone and SAND ballast. The sand clogged our
pumps and made them almoss useless our pro-
visions were ruined and had to work at the
pumps for seyenty-four hours to keep afioat
until help arrived We saw neither ship nor
steamer until the Bucher picked us up. We
We're about ready to take To our small boat
when rescued for | don't believe the Gulfport
would have kept afoat three hours longer"
AS the BluCher proceeded her course the
crowd moved sternward and watched the burn
ing bark until she became a speck on the hori-
zon.
The Gulfport was built i'm italy in 1877. and
was Of I4G tons net register.