Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-16
NOT NINA He SAW
Belief in Naval Tugs Safety
Soon DispeIled.
APACHE CAUSE OF ERROR
Steamer Captain Mistook Searcher
for Lost Vessel.
LITTLE REMAINS OF HOPE
Search Likely to Be Abandoned
After Today-some Chance That
Crew Was Rescued. .
LITTLE REMAINS OF HOPE

The fate of the naval tug Nina is as
deep a mystery as ever. The gleam of
hope for her safety that came with the
statement late last night from Newport
News that the captain OF the whaleback
steamer Bayview had sighted the Nina
off Montauk Point, Long Island, last Sun
day faded away with the receipt this
morning of a telegram from the New
York navy yard making the positive state
ment that the tug sighted by the whale
back steamer was the naval tug Apache.
one of the vessels engaged In the search
Another telegram. received from the
captain OF the destroyer Lamson, stated
that he had covered the belt between the
longitude of the eastern point of Mar
tha's Vineyard and Block Island and
down to where the transatlantic steamers
cross the belt. but found no trace of the
missing tug.
Naval officers this morning expressed
themselves as of the opinion that the
Nina had gone down at sea with all on
beard While the search will be continued
for some time, it is apparent that little or
no hope is entertained that the tug Will
ever again be heard from.
Search Nearing End.
The naval officials are awaiting reports
from the Louisiana and Salem, the only
vessels now engaged in the search, which
is now confined to the zone of water ex-
tending from the Virginia capes TO Fen
wick Island, on the shore Of Delaware.
No word was received from either ves-
sci during the early hours of the day.
The results Of their investigation last
night and today will largely determine
the question Of continuing the search. II
no trace Of the missing tug is found by
either vessel, 1t is said. the active search
will probably be abandoned at the end
Of the day and the Louisiana and Salem
recalled from the patrol.
This will not be done, however, until
all hope is gone Of finding any evidence
Of the Nina and the department is forced
to the conclusion that the unfortunate
with its entire crew. There still Is
glimmer Of hope IN the possibility OF
some foreign-bound steamer. not yet
heard from, having picked UP the crew
less. This IL the only possibility Of the
safety of the men. In the opinion OF the
department. officials at the present time.
Remain on Naval List.
1t may be many months before the tug
Nina Is stricken from the list of naval
vessels. 1t is recalled that the old Vim
cennes. a sloop-of-war which was lost
in the Pacific on her voyage from Hilo,
one Of the Hawaiian Islands, In 1860, was
carried on the rolls for year after her
reported loss.
Forty years afterward Admiral Nichoi-
son, then a captain In command Of the
Tacoma, acting under instructions from
the Navy Department, visited one of the
islands in the Pacific, thousand miles
off the coast Of Mexico, to ascertain II
by any chance the crew Of the ship
wrecked Vincennes had succeeded IN
reaching that island. No trace Of them.
however, or the lost ship was found.
Joy Soon Dispelled.
NORFOLK, Va, February 16.-While
naval officials here as elsewhere have
practically given up all hope Of further
tidings from the missing naval tug Nina,
the scout cruiser Salem and the battle
ship louisiana today continued their
search of the seas from the Vir-
ginia capes TO a point off Delaware
breakwater for some possible trace of
the tug.
HOPE Of the Nina's safety printed in
dispatches this morning brought to loved
ones and friends here of those aboard
the missing tug JOY that was only to
be dispeled few hours later by an
nouncement that the tug taken for the
missing Nina was the Apache. one of the
searching boats off Long Island Sun
day.