The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-09-09
MEN SACRIFICED
To SAVE WARsH|P
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u JnY[ Whn1lllE
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United to proceed to Hampton Roads
until the fire was extinguished.
When the explosion occurred the
North Dakota was the third ship from
the tail end of the first squadron then
proceeding 10 Hampton Roads She
dropped cat Of lire and in what SEEM
Ell AXE moment Was enNeloped IN
names aud smoke. flre ana smoke
poured from me hatches ana NentI-
iators on the snip, and some OF the
crew became pane stricken. One man
VINO was not injured ny the expo
sion, either Tell jumped overheard
from the snip ana re WAS nsheo up
by nis snipnIates. Nttit tre ANA smoke
All arounu them the nundreds OF men
on me snip ana not KNOW what naa
happened.
tne explosion Was 20 sudden that
the pig snip was praCtcany oil ure
before haif of her crew kue" what
had occurred. me battLesnlp New
nsmpshire and Kansas, lon"wed IN
the wake 81 the North Dakota ana
sghen the latter vessel suaaeniy be-
came enVeiupeu III nre they stood by
the burning snip.
The Norm IIakota signalled the
New Hampshire ana Kansas To stang
BY ana potn of these snips lowered
their Launches ana sent surgeons TO
the stricken vessel 'Ine New damp-
snirc proceeded To Hampton Roaos
after standing by the North Dakota
Tor short while when her services
were no longer needed.
The Kansas remained By the
stricken vessel two hours, News of
the explosion was flashed by wireless
to other ships in the fleet and Ad-
miral Schroeder who has his nag on
the Connecticut, signalled the des-
patch boat Yankton that he wanted
TO so to the scene.
Rusiics 10 Scene.
lie was taken to the Yankton in his
launch and proceeded 10 the North
Dakota, which was Tying about ten
miles out Admiral Schroeder spent
some time on the vessel and returned
to the Connecticut to prepare his re-
port of the explosion for the navy de-
partment.
Despite the awful conditions on the
shin several men made heroic efforts
to save their shipmates, Chief Ma
chinist T.. w. Andrews WAS taken
off the burning ship on stretcher
but not until he had saved the lives
of three OF his. shipmates. He was
badly burned, and his head was COM
pletely covered by bandages when
he was taken from the North Dakota
TO a launch to be transferred TO the
hospital ship Solace. II was said that
this mans injuries were perhaps the
most serious of all the Others. But
it was stated on the Connecticut that
none of the injured would die.
Ii was thought that there might be
several more dead men in the engine
room on the North Dakota but these
fears were apparently unfounded De
cause Admiral Schroeder stated that
there were only three men killed. ana
he made an official report to this erect
to the navy department.
II was stated by several officers VINO
witnessed the burning of the battle
shin that the scene was the worse
they had ever witnessed in I heir
lives.
.'The big ship looked like roar
Ing furnace" said one officer. When
the Kansas and New Hampshire drew
near her. great Volumes OF black
smoke poured from every conceivable
outlet and every few moments one
would get "A glimpse of red names
shooting out OF her tunnels and venti-
lators.
THAT there were not more than
three men Killed is due to the fact
that the men. despite the fact that
they were dumfounded by the sud
denness of things kept their heads.
with the possible exception OF dozen
and went 10 work to save the ship
and their own lives.
There are several oil tanks on the
North Dakota and had the fire reacn-
ed all of them nothing could have
saved the ship from probably total
destruction. 1t is almost certainty
that hundreds of lives would have
been lost had the fire reached the
two other tanks on the ship. There
was perhaps a thousand gallons in
the tank, which was connected with
the feed pipe that caused the ex-
plosion All the oil in this tank was
not burned, at least that is the opin-
ion at present When the explosion
occurred the engine room was i'm
mediately flooded with water, and
the fire, which had ignited the wood
work and ran along the interior
wherever the oil was spilled, was
soon extinguished. Heroic efforts
we're resorted to to prevent the fire
reaching the big tank. and this was
accomplished.
Real Heroes.
The poor fellows VINO lost their
lives and received severe burns were
heroes In every sense of the word.
They were accustomed TO fire, noise
and smoke, but not the kind that
was suddenly thrown all about them
and threatened to consume them and
the ship.
The North Dakota is commanded