Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-01-06

out shoals the evening Of December ..
The Itasca. then hunting for q wrecked
vessel off Hatteras. was advised Of the
accident by wireless. and proceeded at
once to the rescue. AS the steamer
grounded on the shoals while going at q
speed Of eight knots she was SO firmly
imbedded in the sands that despite the
repeated efforts Of the Itasca by pulling
working her own engines, the vessel
could not be moved. Later, the wrecking
tug Rescue and small gasoline tug got
lines out to the wrecked vessel, but the
combined efforts of all three rescuers re-
suited in nothing more than moving the
vessel about twenty feet. Meanwhile
heavy seas began breaking over the
steamer. so that finally. the captain was
compelled to abandon all hope of saving
his ship and hoisted the international
code signal. IN C'-"Take people of.
please"
What occurred thereafter il best told by
Capt. Berry's report:
1.-THE motor lifeboat Of the life-saving
blight and had made fast astern Of the
Itasca- I notified the keeper and he said
that he couldn't 60 in because his motor
had broken down. so the ltasca sent In
her surfboat under command OF First
Lieut. L. c. Coyell, u. s. r. C. s., who
volunteered for the duty.
Covill in the Breakers.
Meanwhile the motor Of the life-savins
boat had been patched up and she went
in. passing the Itasca's surfboat, round
ing in close under the stern of the
stranded vessel. and attaining the smooth
water under the lee OF the Thistleroy.
Lieut.. Covell ran I'm until he could see
that the lifeboat was in safety and would
be able to get the passengers. BY this
time he himself was In the breakers about
800 feet astern Of the vessel. To attain
the lee ii would have been necessary for
him to pull straight along the edge OF
the breakers-a hopeless undertaking. He
swung around in the surf and got outside
of the line of breakers again. but not
before a sea had broken right in his boat
half filling it with water and nearly cap.
sizing IL end on.
Having freed the boat from water,
Lieut.. Covell worked toward the stern
of the vessel and kept in position to
assist the lifeboat when she came out.
Twelve people. including the captain S
wife, had managed TO get aboard the life-
boat, and she started out through the
surf. Just as she got into the breakers
the motor again broke down. The keeper
Immediately dropped an anchor and hung
on IN a very precarious position. The
sea was SO angry that he could not pos
sibly have maintained his position more
than a few minutes. He had oars In the
boat. but they were inefiicient for such
work as he had in hand. Only the one
light line kept the lifeboat from breach
ing-to and rolling over and over in the
breakers. Even IL she had kept upright
Lookout shoals would have smashed her
into kindling wood inside of ten minutes.
Luckily, Lieut.. Covell was at exactly
that spot at exactly that time. line
from the Itasca's surfboat was instantly
on board the lifeboat. and she was
dragged out through the breakers.
Dragged Three-Fourths Of Mile.
For nearly three-quarters of a mile
the Itasca's men dragged that heavy life-
boat. assisted slightly by the few oars
with which she had been provided to use
In case the motor broke down under or.
binary conditions.
LAS the two boats neared the Itasca
the Onondaga sent her lifeboat to assist
She took a running line which had been
fioated to ner with life preserver, and
carried II down to the Itasca's surfboat
Lieut.. Covell got this line aboard the life.
boat. which was hauled up to the stern
Of the Itasca, while Lieut. Covell stood
of from the vessel and the Onondaga
boat returned to the ship.
Efforts were made to get the people
from the lifeboat on board the Itasca-
She struck the Itasca once under the
counter q blow that nearly smashed In
her bow, and after that no further at.
tempt was made to get close to the ves-
sci. IL was decided to tow the lifeboat
into Lookout Blight. and In order to trans.
fer the passengers the Itasca's surfboat
was hoisted to her davits. tearing away
her batten and cracking her ribs "a she
came up to the rail.
| 'sThe itasca immediately GOT under NAV