Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-10
Steamer Worth 100000 Car
ries Captain and Sailors to
Death Near Milwaukee
WIRELESS CALLS FOR AID
Operator Loses Life After Signals
.of Distress Bring Assist
ance to Craft
ASSOCIATED Press)

LUDINGTON, Mich. Sept. 9.-Thirty
lives were lost today when Pere Mar
quette ferry No. Is, bound from Lud-
ington to Milwaukee, went to the bot'
tom of Lake Michigan.
The dead include Captain Peter
Kitty of Ludington, S. f. Sezepanek
of Chicago, purser. and wireless oper-
ator, whose signals of distress brought
assistance to the sinking steamer, and
two members of the crew Of car ferry
No. II, who lost their lives in an effort
to rescue the crew of No. Is.
Ely Colbean of Saginaw, Mich, a
member of the crew of No. 1S, would
make a thirty-first victim, but 1t is
believed he was not on board when the
boat foundered.
The steamship company issued list
of forty-fve names of survivors of the
wreck. all members of the crew, most
OF whom were brought here tonight on
Pere Marquette No. II.
Eight bodies were recovered, six
being brought here and two being
taken to Milwaukee.
LOSS OVER HALF MILLION
The boat was valued at 100000 and
the cargo, which included twenty-nine
loaded cars, at 100000 to $150,000, max
ing the total loss exceed $500 900, fully
covered by insurance In Lloyds in Eng
land.
"Car ferry No. 18 sinking-help!'
was the c. O. D. wireless message that
brought the first news of the disaster
to this city at o'clock this morning.
The flash was repeated continually for
nearly an hour, but was unsigned.
Superintendent Mercereau of the
Pere Marquette car ferry line received
a wireless from car ferry No. IL at
1880 a. m. stating tnat No. Is had sunk
at o'clock.
The lost car ferry carried crew of
fifty men and had on board two women
passengers, said to be from Saginaw.
At this hour the cause of the acct
dent is not known, and the facts may
not be available until No. II arrives
here.
MYSTERY SHROUDS ACCIDENT
Marine men are utterly at loss to
account for the disaster. No. 18 was
one of the finest and most costly ferry
boats ever built on the Great Lakes,
and only yesterday the craft was in
spected by government officials at this
port and found to be in first class con-
dition In every respect. This was her
first trip on regularsrun after return
ing from Chicago, where the big car
ferry was under charter to a Chicago
company, being run in the excursion
business between Chicago and Wauke-
gan during most of July and August.
Among the boats officers reported
lost besides Captain Peter Kitty and
the purser are: First Mate Joseph
Brozinski, Second Mate Walter Brown,
Chief Engineer r. Needham, First As
n lYac oil nf
Ludington, and the second and third
engineers, whose names are not known.
A report states that two of the crew
on No. II lost their lives while rescuing
the crew of No. Is. The other five
bodies are those of Joseph Koch, Lud-
ington. water tender; Miss Marian
Turner Ludington, stewardess; Albert
Chicago Navigation company and Ste
phen S. Sozepanek, Chicago wireless
operator and purser Of No. Is.
The cause of the disaster is myS-
terry Among the survivors the con-
clusion seems to be that the car ferry's
afterwater compartment filled through
an open or broken dead light which
was followed at the last minute by a
bursting of bulkheads.
BOAT MAKES GOOD HEADWAY
Leaving Ludington last night at 1880
with a stiff wind and carrying twenty
nine loaded cars, the ferry made good
headway for five hours on its course
to Milwaukee.
At 4:30 this morning word was sent
to Capt. Kitty that his boat was
rapidly making water aft, and that the
pumps were unable to keep even with
the inflow. Kitty headed his ship with
all speed toward Sheboygan, on the
Wisconsin shore, and as the water
off hAI
stern of the ferry to tighten her, but
this gave the vessel only temporary
reHef
AT 7:3O a. m. the boats buoyancy
could no longer sustain it. Suddenly
the great bow rose high in the air, the
stern settled swiftly, and with a roar
and crash of bursting decks and bulk
head the ship shot downward and was
lost to view.
Agonizing cries for help rose above
the roar of the sea. In a twinkling
twenty-seven lives were snuffed out.
Lowering one of her lifeboats con-
tanning four sailors, the crew of No. IL
began a work which marks many of
the number as heroes. AS the lifeboat +!
touched the waves 1t was hurled =,
against the side OF the steamer and |
crushed. Two of the sailors wehe
rescued by those on board. The other
sank
other men quickly manned another |
boat which was launched. 1t was a
race against time, and in the face of |
great danger more than thirty were
saved.
Meanwhile the tug A. A. c. Tessley, |
a steamer and a tug from Sheboygan, |
towing the Sheboygan lifesaving crew,
arrived. They instituted a thoroughs
search for survivors and bodies and |
succeeded in picking up seven of the |
former and eight of the latter.
GENERAL w. C. OATES DEAD