The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-28
STIRRING TALE OF THE SEA
From the Louisville courier-Journal.

From the Louisville Courier-Journal. IN those treacherous waters which
 engulfed the Bourgogne on the Fourth A of July ten years ago, the White Star liner Republic, outward bound, was ram med by an unidentified vessel in a dense fog early on Saturday morning and left to her fate. Right away the distress sig nal, "C. o. D." flashed from the Re- publics wireless installation and imme- diately all vessels within a radius of 200 miles possessing the same facilities re- ceived the warning and proceeded on their search for the disabled craft with all possible dispatch. Hour by hour as she slowly settled words of encouragement came to cheer and hearten her devoted crew; bulkhead after bulkhead gave way beneath the terrific strain engine and boiler rooms were flooded, and, when re- duced to no more than a battered hulk, the doomed passengers desperate and de- spairing, out of the fog loomed an Italian immigrant steamer, the Florida, bringing to the work of rescue shipload of ref ugees from the stricken littoral of Mes sina's straits.
 
 of discipline the passengers and crew were gradually transferred to the Florida, while, from all sides came giant liners and tiny revenue craft summoned by the wizardry of the wireless, which, through out the day continued to flash bulletins to the shore for the encouragement and solace of relatives and friends. Only when all were safe did the Marconi waves an- nounce that the rescuer was at the same time the rammer, and that some 30 miles out of her course and grouping her way through the fog she had, earlier in the daly collided with the ship to which she now returned on an errand of mercy. Yet another strange feature of this most mar velous tale of the sea is that the Florida was not herself equipped with a wireless apparatus, and that, consequently, she knew nothing of the appeals for help and actually stumbled across the ship she had run down for the second time. The heroism and devotion of captain and crew unwilling to go over the side until there was no longer a last lingering hope that the ship could be kept afoat, scarcely evoke passing thrill; such qualities
 
 taken for granted, in itself the very high est of compliments. There was time when some feared that, with the almost complete disappearance of sailing vessels, seamanshp would lose that robust and si- lent loyalty which was its most glorious and most distinctive attribute. But the magnificent spirit, the splendid courage, the endurance and self-sacrifice of the old sea-dogs are with us still, as in the days of the wooden walls"
 Just what manner of work the wire less accomplished may be realized by recalling the terrible disaster which be- fell the French liner La Bourgone, the news of which did not reach the shore for two days, until, in fact her sur viving passengers were landed at Halifax by the boat that picked them up. Five hundred and eighty lives were lost on the doomed ship, many of which could doubt less have been saved if it had been pos sible to establish communication with the mainland and with other vessels in the neighborhood.
 Ocean liners follow two well-defned lines of travel, charted, known and dis tinct; one an eastern and the other a western route From these they deviate as little as possible and, as a consequence, they are rarely out of touch with some member of the worlds fleet, provided both are equipped with a wireless mast. A very wide extension of this wonder working invention will doubtless result from the prompt and effectual response to the Republics call for aid; it is true that the first to arrive did not come on that summons, but if the Florida had never appeared on the scene the Baltic, the Lorraine, the Gresham and many oth- CTS would have been able to take her place.
 J. B. Connolly, the well-known writer of sea tales, was passenger on the Re-