The San Francisco call., 1907-02-13


cate with his subordinate officers below
deck, the signal apparatus being
wrecked.
The passengers rushed to the decks.
Few of them had tarried to clothe
themselves. The intense cold made
them want to obtain their clothing, but
they found it impossible to go below
and do SO. Their rooms were flooded
soon after they had been deserted, and
the steamer. houndering around in the
higher seas that are feared by all
Sound navigators, was sinking with a
rapidity that sent terror to the hearts
of the officers and crew. y
While some of the seamen held back
the frantic passengers by brute
strength. others were preparing to
lower the lifeboats and RATS. There
was no time to think of the comfort of
any one. Even before the boats were
cut away Captain McVey knew that
the list of victims would be greater
than that of the survivors. 1t was a
physical impossibility for any except
the most hardened to withstand the
cold.
Shrieks of pain drowned the roar of
the inrushing water. Despite the ex-
listing pandemoniunn the women pas
sengers were placed in slifeboats, the
male passengers and the crew select
ing the unprotected RATS as their
places of refuge.
Captain McVey ordered all lifeboats
and RATS cut away, and before stepping
into his own boat he stood on the up
per deck a moment to see that mis-
order was obeyed. Then he directed that
his boat, the largest on board, be
cleared away.
Before the men had an opportunity
to loosen the tackles the bottom of the
hoe fnl
which was raging over the hurricane
deck, and for moment it seemed that
the lifeboat would be dragged down
before 1t could be freed from the
doomed steamer.
Every hand in the boat was too cold
to handle a knife and cut the ropes,
which, however, slipped through
tackles and set the boat adrift just as
the vessel became submerged
The passengers discomfort was in
creased greatly the moment they had
launched their boats. Every wave sent
its dash of spray over them Soon a
thin coating of ice enveloped every one.
Those who were fully clothed suffered
from frozen faces and numbed feet. but
there Were many who had on only their
nightclothes
One man in the captains boat was
driven insane by his intense suffering.
He pulled a big clasp knife from his
pocket and gashed his throat Those
who sat near him were too dazed to in
terfere. The mans body fell to the
bottom of the boat, where it remained
until he died.
Fishers Point, the nearest land, was
not quite five miles to the westward of
the point where the steamer went
| down, and every boat immediately
headed for that place But the boats
were heavy and the men at the oars
were weak. Boats and RATS soon be-
came separated, and the only details of
the disaster which could be learned
were given when Captain McVey's boat
came ashore Not a man on board was
able to walk. Their feet were frozen
so badly that the life savers carried the
survivors bodily to the Iife-saving sta
ton
Captain Mcyey. shortly after his ar
rival, said he had on board his shin
between $50 and 200 passengers and a
crew OF ffty. Later he said there were
between nifty and seventy five pas
sengers on board when the vessel
went down. The latter figure. however
is far below the estimate made by the
officials of the JOY Line at Provi
dence, who place the number of pas
sengers at not less than 150 The exact
number was given in list which was
handed the purser just before the
Larchmont started on her fateful vow
age. but 1t is believed that it was lost
when the ship went down
Captain McVey said that had his
crew been able TO make progress
against the northwest gale they would
have landed at Fishers Island between
IL and 1 o'clock. The wind, however.
was too strong to be overcome and
there was nothing left for the suf-
ferfng seamen but to turn around and
head for Block Island, fifteen miles
away. 1t was shortly after II o'clock
when the captain of the boat cut