Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-15
WRECK OF THE BRIDGE
Wave of Tidal Proportions Comes
Early in the Morning.
VESSEL IN TOTAL DARKNESS
Damage Quickly Repaired and Yes
sci Proceeds on Her Way.
Officers Statement.

liner Lusitania, which arrived TINS Hioih-
ing over a day late because OF very
heavy weather, was struck by tremen-
dous wave Tuesday evening. The wave
which, according to Capt. Turner. was
Of tidal proportions, swept over the YES
sells bows when she was running at about
sixteen knots. throwing tons of water
against the bridge and completely wreck
ing it for the time being. All lights went
out on the bridge, the wheel was unship-
ped and the big liner lay to in mid
ocean and the damage was repaired as
well as possible. The same wave knocked
four boats out of the checks. completely
carried away a companion ladder lead
ing from the bridge to the boat deck on
the starboard side, and tore loose the
ladder leading down from the bridge on
the port side. There were four men on
the bridge at the time, and it seemed
a miracle that none was hurt.
The big wave came aboard at bout els
clock. just after Capt. Turner had left
the bridge in charge of Chief Officer S. S.
Mcneil. When seen this morning Capt.
Turner said that the first intimation he
had Of the accident was a tremendous
blow overheard. accompanied by the
crunching Of timbers.
Of Tidal Proportions.
This wave must have been of what
they call tidal proportions" said the
commander. II had just left the bridge
and the vessel was going along fairly
well. The engines were turning about
100 revolutions a minute. Following the
crash I went on deck and had hard
time getting up the stairs. because of the
flood Of water that was coming down.
When / reached the bridge everything
was wreck, and 1 turned her to the
southwark in order to clean up the bridge
and take account of the damage. We
had the lights on again in about ten min
utes and started along on our course
within three-quarters Of an hour"
Capt. Turner said he regarded the es-
cape Of Third Officer Story, who was on
the top bridge keeping an eye on the
standard compass, as little less than
miracle.
Chief Officers Statement.
Chief Officer Mcneil this morning said
that the wave was the biggest he had
ever seen, and that it came when the
gale was subsiding. The Lusitania was
in latitude 51O5 north, longitude 23.o4
west, when the big sea struck. A west
erly gale had been blowing at the rate
of fifty-fve or sixty miles an hour for
half a day previously.
1T had just gone four bells in the Sec
ond dogwatch Tuesday evening when that
big hill of water struck u.s. said Mr..
Mcneil. She had been taking the seas
very well up to this time. sort Of rising
to them, with only a spray coming up
on the bridge. which is seventy feet
above the water line. She would pitch
rise up and clear herself. 1t seemed
as If you could lift her as If you were
riding horse over jump.
II was out on the starboard wing of
the bridge at the time After the wind
goes down there is likely to be a big
sea running for an hour or SO. Sud-
denly this great mountain of water loom
ed ahead. 1 felt her rise Il trif1e. but
1t was too big for her. 1t came booming
green water. I dove for the telegraph
in the middle Of the bridge. Smash
it struck with tremendous impact against
the protecting windows and steel bulk
head. The half-inch glass of the win
dows crashed in and the teakwood frame
work splintered. I was up to my neck
i'll water. | saw the body of a man go
sliding past holding out white-gloved
hand. ] made grab for him and found
myself holding onto the quartermaster
was unshipped, with Harding. the other
quartermaster. sitting among the wreck
age holding on to it,
Wreckage of Wood and Glass.
1.-The lights were out and you can hard
~ imagine what u wreck the place was.
Splinters Of wood and chunks of glass lit
tered the floors: the telegraph stands were
bent and twisted about. but 1 quickly es-
tablished communication with the engi-
neer. ] signaled to stop her and then to go
astern a trifle. Then l rushed to the sec
ondary steering gear to look after that.
I'VE got the lights OH in about ten min
utes and cleared up the wreckage Is we'll
as we could. Besides the damage to the
forward part of the bridge the inside bulk
heads were punched through and the wa
ter flooded the officers rooms abaft this
bulkhead. You can imag ne the force of
the water when 1 tell you that splinters
Were driven into the after bulkhead for
about half an indTh.
] don't know. He wrapped his arms
around the stanchions and held on. Gun
escape on the main bridge was also
marvellous. Harding, the quartermaster,
had one Of his legs wrenched. and the
other quartermaster was cut by flying
glass. Tie only hurt I received was q
slight cut OH the upper lip from a splin-
ter
Starboard Ladder Carried Away.
The heavy starboard ladder was car
ried away. said Mr.. Mcneil. and the
No. 1 starboard boat badly smashed. A
ten-inch davit which held this boat was
bent almost double.
The great liner rolled in the seaway
while temporary repairs were made. Tho
wheel was reshipped, and canvas wealth.
er sheets rugged to the outside Of the
bridge. In the saloon quarters very lit
tie was known of the damage that had
been done.
1t was realized that a big wave had
boarded the liner, but when treasured
and the liner had gotten under way all
the passengers who felt like having din
ner went to the saloon as usual. The liner
started along again at about O'clock,
going at a good clip considering the seas
and the succeeding heavy winds that were
encountered.
Progress Was Slow.
The liners average speed was compar-
atively slow. She made 1898 knots for
the passage, but up to noon Tuesday she
logged only 319 nautical miles, which was
a low record for the steamship. Her
time of passage was five days, twenty
hours and thirty-three minutes. Up to
noon Friday she made her best days run,
634 miles, but was then slowed down by
the snowstorm. She anchored in quaran-
tine at about o'clock this morning, Capt
Turner leaving the bridge at that time
after many hours on watch.
The Lusitania brought a good number
- u e.