New-York tribune., 1908-01-27
GALE WRECKS 3 RARGES
TITO CREWS PICKED UP.
Captain Of Matan@as Reaches Here
and Tells of Battle for Life.

ana PHS OI DNdC 7" 1<J''
The Italian steamship San Giovanni from
Naples brought to port yesterday the half ram
ished captain and crew of the coal barge Ma
tanzas wrecked. with two other barges in tow
Of the tug Concord. in gale off Point judith on
Friday night.
The wind. which blew at the rate of ninety
miles an hour. snapped the hawser. that held the
Matanzas to the Concord. and the other barges,
cutting their lines to save themselves from De-
ing dashed against each other. drifred apart
and blown out to sea. The barge ran
River. which was in tow behind the Matanzas.
was sighted by the outbound Cunarder Maure-
tania which left here on Saturday, and, accord
ing 10 a wireless message received in this city
yesterday from that ship, Captain Taylor and
his crew of two men were picked UP and taken
TO Liverpool.
The Concord and the barge Grafton. which
was in tow behind the Fall River, have not been
heard from The Concord, which is first class
oceangoing tug, is thought to have weathered the
gale.
Captain H Y. Morse Of the Matanzas and his
crew of four men, who picked up at 80 q.
IN. yesterday. had been without sleep since the
storm struck them on Thursday night. Captain
Morse said the Concord left Philadelphia
Tuesday with the three barges in tow. owned by
the Staples Coal Company, of Taunton, Mass,
and bound for Newport and Boston. There
Il 225-fathom hawser between the barges. The
four-master Matanzas which was in tow behind
the Concord. had 1890 tons of coal on board;
she followed by the three-master Fan River
with 1.500 of coal behind which was the
two-master Grafton, which carried 900 tons.
The barges encountered fairly good weather
until about = p. III. Thursday, when they
pitched heavily in stiff gale from the north
west Although the decks awash and the
harges tugged heavily at their hawsers Captain
Morse said he thought they would he able to
weather the storm and get safely into Newport,
where the Grafton and the Fall River were to
be left. The gale shifted suddenly to the north
east about s p. m, and q binding snowstorm
made il impossible TO a ships length ahead.
An hour later. when the tow was about abeam
of Point Judith. the haWser between the Con-
cord and the Matanzas snapped and the three
barges were in danger Of becoming entanged
in their tow lines.
Captain Morse said he threw cut his starboard
anchor. but the chain broke and the Matanzas
drifted before the gale. He then threw out the
port anchor which held He had hardly made
fast when the other barges came pitching on
toward him. and II himself he had to cut
the hawser to the Fan River and let her drift
The Fall River cut loose later from the Graf
ton, and the gale blew the three barges before
it. They were lost in the snowstorm. and no
one on board the Matanzas got glimpse of the
tusfoat or the other two baTges.
The Matanzas took on many heavy seas and
her seams opened from the pounding of the
waves She filled quickly and was in a sinking
condition throughout Saturday and Sunday.
The gale carried her to a point about eighty
eight miles east one-half a mile south of the
Sandy Hook Ligltship, when the San Giovanni
was sighted early yesterday morning Ihe
crew Of the Matanzas saturated several bun
dies of oakun iii kerosene and signalled tho
Italian liner They her for fully twenty
minutes before she changed her course
The men on the Matanzas thought she was
going by without helping them, and had about
given up hope Of being saved when the ship put
about and bore down upon them. She stopped.
and the captain shouted through a megaphone
that he would help them If they were in danger.
The men OH the Matanzas replied that they
wanted to be taken off. and were told to come
alongside in their boat. They cast off from
the Matanzas at 100 a. and rowed to the
leeward Of the liner.
Captain Morse put his big Newfoundland dog
i'm the Hfeboat after the were seated, and
as he was about to get in himself re remem-
hered that a pet CIT was in the cabin. He went
back after il. but il was afraid 10 come out with
him on deck and fought 10 stay in the cabin
After much scratching he put the cat safely in
his shirt bosom, and the lifehoat then put out
for the San Giovanni. The men and the dog
got aboard safely but Captain Morse was
about to step on deck the cat began to claw
for freedom and slipped from his bosom into the
sea.
with Captain Morse were his son William. the
cook Frank ]. Vargas: the engineer. and two
Portuguese deckhands. The men were taken TO
Pier G. Jersey City, where the San Giovanni
docked and left last night for Fall River on the
steamer Plymouth. Of the Fall River Line. Cap
tain Williamson Of the Plymouth said he would
take the shipwrccked crew with him, but de-
cIned to take. free Of charge, the dog. Captain
Morse paid the dogs fare.
The tugboat Concord is 12S feet long and is
of 3.J2 tons She has coal enough board TO
last two or three days, and II is thought she is
looking for the Grafton.
SHIPS COMMANDER DIES FOR DUTY.
The White Star freIghtcr Georgia arrived here