The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-06-18
ONE BODY FOUND
IN SUNKEN BOAT
Search Goes ON for the
Others.
CAUSE OF DISASTER
The Launch Collidcd With a Steel
Hayyser, Which Passed Under
the Keel and Tore a Hole in
the Bottom-Not Struck
by a Large Vessel.
by a Large Vessel.
CBv the Associated Press,)

the bodies OF the midshipmen and sea-
men who lost their lives in the bat
tleship Minnesota's launch last Mon
day night.
Officers and men OF the Atlantic
fleet were terribly disappointed this
morning when the wrecked launch
was raised by a floating derrick and
only one body of a man, Fireman q.
w. WestphaI, was found beneath the
crushed canvas canopy frame. The
diver had said last night that the
heads and arms OF three corDses were
~prorruding from beneath the canvas,
and everyone was confident that at
least nine and possibly all of the
bodies would be in the boat.
Now the searchers are dragging
around the spot where the launch lay
and over the course supposed to have
been followed by the boat on her
way to the battleship Connecticut. It
is believed that the other ten bodies
must be on the bottom near the spot
The condition Of Fireman West
phars body indicates that he was
burned 70 death by steam when the
water reached his fire o Possibly
some Of the other occupants of the
boat were injured before drowning,
but the fact that ten of the eleven
bodies are missing leads to the belief
that some Of the men must have
reached the surface in a fight for life.
1t was dark and stormy Monday
night and the launch went down near
the middle of the Roads, hundreds of
yards from any Of the Warships at
anchor, and q man already half
drowned would have had little chance
of swimming to safety. Caps and
clothing belonging to the missing men
were found in the boat.
Although the launch was located
before five o'clock yesterday afternoon
and naval tugs n derricks were on
the scene early last night, it was 1920
this morning before the battered little
craft finally was raised and placed
aboard a float. Then the naval board
of inquiry and the board of steamboat
inspectors began their work. The
body of Fireman Westphal was re
moved t. the Minnesota and there
placed in one of the eleven caskets
brought out from Norfolk last night,
1t will be held until the lead mans
relatives can be communicated with.
AS the report of the board of inquiry
shows. it was found that the hull of
the launch had a great hole on the
starboard side, neal the stern. The
diver had reported that the hull ap-
peared unchanged, but the boat was
lying on HcI SIdTDOdTu size with the
damaged part deep in the sand.
Tonight Hampton Roads is again IL
Illuminated by the rays from search
light from every Warship in the har-
Dor. The lights are being played
around the scene of the finding of the
launch, where the search for bodies
will be kept up throughout the night.
The battered launch was taken to the
Norfolk navy yard this afternoon.
How 1t Happened.
Norfolk, Va, June 15.-CoI. John
W. CAST, supervising inspector of
steam vessels of his district. with his
two assistants, Messrs. Wray and
Tapley, arrived at the seen of the
finding of the Minnesota's launch lust
as the shattered craft was being rails
ed from its resting place at the bot
tom of Hampton Roads by the huge
naval derrick.
Col. CAST Immediately boarded the
derrick and with the members of the
naval board of inquiry, who were al
ready on the scene, made an inspec-
ton of the launch. After q careful
inspection, it was found that the
launch, while bound from the Expo
sit1on grounds to the battleship Con-
necticut at anchor off Old Point, had
run into a steel hawser, such as are
used in towing the gigantic car floats
used by the railroads.
1t was found that the brass prov
of the launch showed signs of having
struck the hawser, which then pass
ed under the keel Of the tiny craft.
When the cable struck that part of
the propeller it came in contact with
the condenser pipes, which were torn
away, and the shock threw the launch
over on it's starboard side, which was
crushed in and the tiny craft was
hurled to the bottom of Hampton
tRn - HC IN nnn ~ %IN a.
eleven occupants.
Not Struck by Larger Vessel.
Part of the null of the launch was
crushed in by the impact with the
cable but the steamboat inspectors
and the members of the naval board
OF inquiry expressed the unanimous
opinion that the Inflated vessel was
not struck by a barge or a tug, but
had collided with the cable between
the tug and car float. The supervis-
ing inspector has issued a
for the membe of the crew of the
big New York, Philadelphia and Nor
folk tug Crisfield and a barge which
the tug had in tow to testify at an in
v~estigatfon which will be held by the
steamboat inspection service in this
city at a date to be in 4
day two.
1t was learned that the inspectors
pSAASNC NIidI IL was pIODdDlV the
Cr1sfeld's hawser that the launch col
Hded with and to settle this point the
ev1dence Of the two crews Will be held.
AS a heavy squall vas blowing early
Tuesday morning when the launch
was lost 1t is the opinion of navigators
here that the crew of the launch may
nave seen the tugs lights and not
PAID attention to the towing lights
which she carried and had not looked
for the tow. To prove this theory 1t
Is SHOWN that the launch attempted to
pass directly astern of the tow BOAT
Whether or not the victims Of the dis
aster exchanged signals with the tug
will not be known until the evidence
OF the Crlsield's crew is heard at the
hearing.
whether or not the launch carried
the necessary lights as prescribed by
the laws is also a question
mat may be answered by those who
saw the tiny vessel sail away on its
last voyage from the Exposition pier
on the eventful night.
Inc naval board and inspectors at
ter the investigation this morning
agreed that tht launch was lost by col
hdlng with d steel cable as stated