The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-05-08
The Peter Rickmers With
Five Score Men on Board
in Position of Peril.
LIFE SAVERS VAIN WAIT
FOR STORM TO CALM
Revenue Cutter Mohawk Finds
1t Impossible to Reach the
Ill-Fated Ship, and Sandy
Hook Lifc-Savers
Have to Turn
Back.
FEW YORK, May 7.-Buffeted by
seas mhich q hnuIin.. .o,,,annt a..

IN seas which bowling sou'easter
sent surStng over tile shadows
4 of Short Beach, until she was
all broken UP amidships, the
four-masted ship, Peter Rickmers
with a hundred men on board. lay in
position OF extreme peril Tonight
When night closed IN and shut off the
view, the vessel was being swept from
side to side by white seas Only her
1igger remained, and on board were
her crew of forty-odd men and the sixty
wreckers put aboard to jettison the
cargo of case oil and to kedge the big
Dutchman out into deep water.
Once lines were flung across the boat.
but the wind and seas swept them
away. All day life-savers awaited a
calming of the storm which would en-
able them to send their surf boats to
the distressed vessel. The rough seas.
however. continued. and the wreck had
not been reached by night
Too Rough for I.ife-Snvers.
At q. late hour the Sandy Hook life
saving crew. known all along the coast
for feats OF daring. boarded the rev.
enue cutter Mohawk, and taking their
famous power boat Rescue, in tow,
headed for the Rickmers Presently
the cutter was forced to turn back,
and at midnight the llfe-savers re-
turned to the Sandy Hook station. 1t
was then announced that they would
again board the Mohawk at $3.50 o'clock
in the morning and make a new start.
They hope to reach the Rickmers by
daylight.
Although the wind began to die down
after sunset, 1t still hung south of east.
and the vessel is doomed without
doubt, III the opinion of life-savers and
bay men. 1t is impossible to reach her
off shore. and whatever succor the five
score men may expect must come from
seward. Those who know the treach-
erous Long Island shore know that
| there Is no hope of the seas subsfding
for another twenty-four hours. and 1t
lis certain that the Rickmers cannot
l last lans prl less bysas mira g =
/ Driven on Sandbar.
IN command Of Captain Bachman, the
IPeter Tsichmers sailed from New Y ork
tApril 3otfi. bound to Rangoon, Burmah,
with a cargo Of 10000 cases of crude
| petroleum.. She cleared Sandy Hook
during the day and started on her yoy-
lage eastward. During that night how.
| ever, she ran into a storm, which drove
her on the sandbars at seaches Inlet.
she was unable to work herself off the
!sand, and wreckers We're employed to
| float the ship. In order to jettison the
cargo so she could be floGted easier,
1.-THE wreckers yesterday placed sixty
men aboard the Rickmers. The men
were aboard yesterday when the storm
broke and prevented their return to the
lwrecking steamers. The wrecking
Isteamers I. j. Merritt and Rescue are
/ Tonight standing by the stranded ship.
The Rickmers was built at Port Glas-
gov. Scotland in 1889, and Is vessel
OF 2,95S tons gross register She is
designated as four -masted bark
labroad, but Is classed a s ship here.
She is steel vessel. and was under
|charter OF the Standard Oil Company.