Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-13
BIG SHIP SINKS SCHOONER
THREE DROWNED BY CUTTING
DOWN OF NATALIE MCPHERSON.
Romantic Plows Through Her OF
-. Nantucket-Fifteen of Crew Saved.
Captains Dog Helps Save Him.


to this port last evening aboard the lofty
sided White Star liner Romantic, in from
the Mediterranean and Azores by way of
Boston They left three Of their ship
mates drowned in twenty-seven fathoms off
the South Shoal lightship Nantucket
The spokesman Of the survivors, Atwell
F. Davis. is a youngster of twenty-five,
fair haired, blue eyed and six feet tall. He
and veteran fisherman, John A. Miller,
were on watch deck of the auxiliary
hshlng schooner Natalie B. Nickerson of
East Boothbay. Me-. at midnight on Thurs
day, when the Romantic, loaflng at quarter
speed through a fog as thick as cheese,
carved of the little fisherman's stern She
sank within a minute after she was
struck.
The Nickerson put out from Newport on
Tuesday, using mostly sail in her trip to
the fishing ground. She was equipped with
two dorieS and seine boat and her game
was mackerel. She had gathered a cargo
valued at about 81 900. and was jogging
under fore and main sails and what the
Yankee sailorman called Jumbo which
he explained was big forestaysail when
the towering PROV of the Romantic appear
ed through the mist
All Hands on Deck.
The first thought Of young Davis was
for the safety of his shpmates. He ran
aft and shouted to the six men sleeping
IN the house and then going forward
aroused the rest of the fishermen in the
forecastle with the cry "All hands on deck!
Steamer"
Fishermen are prepared for emergencies
OF thls sort, and nearly every man was on
geek within half minute after he had
peen aroused. Some of the old fellows ap-
parently purely through instinct grabbed
UP their rubber boots, but they didn't have
time to put them on. Before the last man
was up the companion ladder the sharp
cutwater of the Romantic was nearly half
way through the little schooner
The big liner struck the fishermen on the
starbo lrd side between the house and the
malnmast The seine boat which was
towering astcrn and a dory on the after
deck We're of necessity cut off from the use
OF the men, who had fled forward where
there was one dory bottom up on deck
In emergency a dory has the capacity of
big steamships lfeboat There was prac-
tically no sea. The fishermen had hardly
Time TO turn the boat right side up before
the schooner submerged She actually
launched herself, and some of the mon
We're forced to Chamber into her from the
water over the deck of the Nickerson.
The Nickerson Goes Down.
Eleven of the Nickerson's crew of eight
cen We're IN the dory when the schooner
sank within ships length of them. Before
she went down her topmast scraped the
pant off the port bow of the Romantic and
bent several stanchions on the main deck
The fact that the little ships topmast
reached only to the main deck of the liner
indicates how small a craft the fisherman
was.
Capt: John 8. seavey Of the Nickerson,
Burt Wylie, able seaman and fisherman
who had lost his right arm in wreck
years ago; Everett Greenleaf the father
OF the cook Charles Greenleaf: Elwell
Greenleaf uncle of the cook, and Charles
Z, Bejette. young fellow from Maine and
the smallest and most athletic man aboard
snip, We're among those who dved into
the water Immediately after getting on
deck. They saw the immense impending
Prov and believed that the only safety was
plungng into the sea.
Bejette came up in the neighborhood of
his skipper, and right astern CT him was
the shippers water spaniel making an eff
tort to follow his master. The dog was
entered on the log of the Romantic as Spot
SeaVey. The captain has the impression
that he swan around a long time before
his dog got alongside of him, and with the
help of Bejette kept him af1oat. The cap
tain was not a good swimmer and needed
the neck of his faithful dog to rest his
right arm on. The night was Intensely dark
and 1t was impossible to see from the
steamship even the wreckage of the tiny
fisherman.
Engines Reversed, Boats Launched.
Two lifeboats We're lowered within five
| minutes after the schooner had been cut
medately. The officers in charge of the life
| boats burned blue lights to indicate to the
| castaways where they might find succor
! The crews OF the lifeboats heard the shouts
of the men in the dory and one of the life
| boats was soon alongside. The eleven men
| IN the dory Were quickly transferred to the
| steamship. boarding her by the sea ladder
| and the lifebOat went out again searching
| for other survivors.
The skipper was picked up with his dog
and the gallant Bejette, as was also the
cook. Charles Greenleaf, and Miller.
Capt. Seavey mustered his crew aboard
the Romantic and found that three men
were missing, Burt Wylie and the two elder
Greenleafs. The lifeboats went out again
and searched the sea within radius of
several miles, meanwhile burning blue
lights while the officers in charge shouted
through megaphones. but they found no
| trace of the missing men. Some of the
survivors recalled that they had seen the
! one-armed man clinging to spar and that
| he seemed to be injured. Nothing was seen
of either of the Greenleafs after they went
overheard 1t is not improbable from the
viewpoint of their shipmates that they
| went down in the suction caused by the
| sinking of the schooner.