Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-05
STEAMER SINKS;
CREW IS SAVED
WIRELESS SIGNALS MEET
QUICK RESPONSE
STEAMER GOES DOWN ON MAIDEN
VOYAGE WEST
Men on Board Escape Death as Result
of Heroic Work of Operator
and Arrival of
tCOntinued from Page One,

deck of the Alamo, Capt. Moore of
the Kentucky looked back at his Ia
boring vessel and said:
'She will go to the bottom before
midnight
And his prophecy came true.
The laundering vessel, when the
Alamo reached her at $3.50 p. m. was
in latitude 32.46 and longitude 76.42, ac-
cording to a wireless message received
from the rescuing steamer as she came
alongside the Kentucky.
Then bit by bit out of the air came
electric flashes to the station of the
United Wireless company at Savannah
telling of the rescue in small boats of
Capt. Moore and his men.
First word of the plight of the Ken
lucky was received here at o'clock
this morning. The sharp call, IS. o.
S." which has taken the place of the
famous &C. Q. D." as the insistent call
of a ship in distress, was received,
and Immediately the Savannah oper-
ator, repeated the call The lombard
ment OF the call reached the Mallory
liner Alamo, New York to Galveston.
The Alamo put on full speed, point
ing her nose in the direction given
by the Kentucky, and as she drew
within range of the latter's supposed
position she began to send thick, black
smoke from her tunnels to give heart
to the crew of the disabled vessel and
warning of the approach of the Alamo.
Stands at Post
In the wireless room of the Kentucky
sat Operator w. d. McGinniS hammer
ing away, on the call for aid and re-
ceiving the assurance that help was
coming as fast as the engines of a
liner and two revenue cutters could
drive them.
1t is an evidence of his heroism that
Captain Moore, when on the Alamo,
public thanked the operator for his
work. and the rescued crew then
cheered him.
The operator sat at his instrument
until water, rushing I'm, drowned out
the dynamo that enabled him TO send
out his signals.
Then the wireless was choked and
the KentuCky's crew could only wait
until the vessel was found. Just as
the electricity failed the first sign of
smoke of the Alamo's fires was seen.
The work of transferring the crew
was attended with little danger, and
no one was injured. Captain Mcintosh
of the Alamo learned the U. S. S. YAM
acraw was rushing toward the Ken
lucky, and left to her the task of seek
ing the end of the sinking steamer.
The Kentucky was originally the Lin
coin and was in service on the Florida
coast. Sailing from New York she
touched at Newport News, leaving
there February 2.
Almost Immediately she found her
self in rough seas, which buffeted her
sides and opened her seams. Heavy
weather was encountered off Cape Hat
teras and grave fears were felt lest the
steamer might add her bones to the
hundreds in the graveyard of the At
lantic.
The Kentucky this morning began
leaking badly and Captain Moore saw
it would be useless to attempt to navi-
gate the ship further. Then the call
for aid began to go out in every di-
rection.
The Kentucky was built in Bath, Me-,
thirteen years ago. She was 203 feet
over all. Strangely enough, she was
equipped with wireless not more than
two weeks ago and was on her first
voyage after being equipped when the
apparatus served to save the lives of
all on board.
There went down with the ship $500
worth of new silverWare that had just
been placed on board