Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1912-01-09
TORPEDO BOAT SAFE
The Mayrant And Mccall Still
Missing Remainder of the At
lantic Fleet Searching the
Seas For Destroyers.
THE ARE BADLY INJURED.
DrsytOn Which Has Not Been Reported
- Said to have Reached Bermuda
Rough Times on the Terry.

/ len DaIIieSntpS ana cruisers are
searching for the torpedo boat May
rant, which naval officers fear may
have foundered in the gale that swept
the coast on Friday and damaged half
a dozen ships of the Atlantic fleet at
! Norfolk, Va.
The battleships and cruisers have
sent wireless appeals that were heard
and answered by dozen liners Sun
day night and yesterday, but no ves-
! sci had seen anything of the Mayrant
Messages have been exchanged be-
tween the Navy Department and the
Connecticut and the maneuvers plan
ned by Admiral Osterhaus have been
abandoned and his ships sent to
hunt the missing boat.
The torpedo boats Drayton and Nc
Call, which were not accounted for
Sunday night, are reported to have
reached Bermuda though the Navy
Department still lacks news Of the
Mccall.
The battleship Louisiana yesterday
heard faint calls of a torpedo boat for
help. Her wireless appeals were very
weak and it was nearly half an hour
before the operator on the battleship
could distinguish the message and the
name of the boat sending it. The call
was from the torpedo boat Roe,
which, like her sister ship the Terry,
had been disabled by the storm and
was without fuel. The Roe's wireless
was damaged and she was able to
transmit her appeals for help only
seven miles
She reported that she had been dam
ged by the storm but could proceed
wblth one engine if she had fuel. The
Louisiana went to the Roe's assist
ance supplied her with oil to carry
her to Norfolk and sped away to con
tinue her search for the Mayrant.
The cruiser South Carolina, which
went to the assistance of the torpedo
boat Terry, which is being towed to
Norfolk by the cruiser Prairie, was
ordred to join in the search for the
Mayrant. The last heard from her
she was in the vicinity of Hatteras.
The cruiser Salem, herself badly
crippled, is coming along with the
Prairie and Terry and is relaying
wireless messages from the feet that
is searching for the Mayrant to the
Navy Department. The Salem report.
ed late last night that a dense fog
covered the coast and that they were
proceeding cautiously. Unless the
fog lifts before the ships pass Cape
Henry. the Salem, Terry and Prairie
will probably anchor until daylight.
After delivering the Terry through
the Virginia Capes, the Prairie will
join the search for the Mayrant
The Terry, it is said, would have been
turned over to the Salem but for the
fast that the cruiser lost all of her
lifeboats in the storm.
Some details of the suffering on
board the Terry were received yester-
day. Her turbine engines were put
out of commission and water poured
down her funnel. The provisions were
ruined by salt water and the crew had
only canned food and distilled water.
The ship was tossed in the storm for
twenty-six hours with her engines
broken and her wireless unable to
send appeals for help further than ten
miles. Her crew were unable to keep
their feet and they were hurled from
side to side.
None on board had a wink of sleep
for nearly forty hours, and when the
Royal Mail liner Tagus heard the
faint call for help and came to her as
sistance the crew, although exhausted,
gave cheer after cheer. The liner
stood by for several hours AMI sent
wireless appeals over the sea. 1t
was the Tagus that sent messages to
Washington. telling of the condition
of the Terry that in turn, were sent
to the battleship South Carolina and
cruisers Salem, Birmingham and
Prairie, which went to her assistance.
The Terry was without fuel and the
Salem by wireless last night ordered
oil for her.
The transport Prairie and the bat
tleships which have been searching
for the Terry have been ordered to
continue to cruise off Hatteras until
the remainder of the destroyers are
| communicated with. Nothing has
been heard from the Mccall and the
Mayrant since the other vessels were
overwhelmed in the gale There is
no reason to believe, it is said at the
Department that any accident has be.
fallen these destroyers.
All the ships of the fleet have beer
accounted for now except the Mccall
and Myrant. The feet is greatly scat.
tered, some of the vessels being al
Bermuda, some on their way Il
Guantanamo and others putting bacl
to Hampton Roads for repairs.
The Mayrant is a torpedo boat Of
the Paulding class. She has turbin,
engines of the oil-burniug type. Sh,
carries five fourteen Founders, tw,
machine guns and four eighteen incl
torpedo tubes. She was built betwee,
1908 and 1910.