The Washington times., 1912-04-17
THRILLING SCENES
MARK DEPARTURE
FROM SINKING SHIP.
Hugh Sinclair Tells How
Passengers Are Taken Off
Crippled Vessel.


crippled ship, with the nearest land
mile or more beneath the surface Of the
waters. and with every Indication that
the vessel intimately must go to the
bottom, was told today by Hugh Sin
clair, commanding the U. 8. 8. Ozark,
the training ship of the District Ma
tional Guard, who has spent the greater
part of his life at sea, and most Of the
time In the service.
II never have been on a ship which
went down. Mr.. Sinclair said, but I
have been on crippled vessels, ships in
the service as well as the big liners,
and have talked with sailors and
civilians who have had narrow escapes
from death in ocean disasters.
ITO the landsman who picks UP his
afternoon paper and reads the thrilling
accounts of the acts of heroism dis
played by the men toward the women
and children passengers, everything
looks dramatic. In reality, on such an
occasion things are more theatrical than
the landsman thinks, although the per-
son whose life is in peril probably does
not realize At until months afterwards.
No Escape.
There's a lot of difference between
being on a ship which threatens to go
down in midocean and in facing q force
OF armed men and a storm of bullets.
The latter offers several avenues Of
escape. The man on board ship which
Is about to sink, knows that there are
but two chances In a hundred of his
ever being rescued.
There's something patheticalIy in
teresting, however, in the attitude Of
the man on shipboard who. In mis-
heart, knows there is no chance of es-
cape. With the possible exception of
the captain of the ship, there isn't a
person on board a sinking vessel who
doesn't come out in the open just be-
fore the vessel goes down. That one
chance In a million that the suction
OF the ship when it. disappears below
the surface will not carry him with
II and hold him below long enough to
drown him a thousand times. IL such a
thing were possible, Is clung to.
Every person will go on deck, will
choose point where there are but few.
If any obstructions. between the sky
and himself, and vainly hope to be able
10 resist the suction when the decks
disappear beneath the waves.
THE captains, however, do not seem
TO care whether they escape or not,
and many one has locked himself in
his cabin when realization that tns
awaited the fate he knows Is in store
for him.
Mr. sinclair told Of the so-called "un-
dures mel" to stand aside and permit
the women and children to be rushed to
safety before they. themselves. can be
There is no sucn a rule of the sea-"
he said. 1T is merely a rule of court
esy or gallantry. Custom has made 1t
q rule. although there is 10 way Of
enforcing 1t. unless the preservers VOL
| untcer to do 1t.
How Boats Are Manned.
when n ship is to be abandoned the
first thing to be done is to make ready
the lifcboats. The women and children
then are gathered together. There are
no formalities. On the other hand.
| the sailormen. who have been trained
| to their duties, go about selecting per-
| sons designated by the so-cailed rule
of the deep as passengers for the first
| boats out. With each lifebout mini
designated hy the commander to go
along to see that the occupants are
cared for. When the last Of this class
of passengers a, are :. SsisS SaieS for then the
There always Is mad scramble
| among the men for first positions in the
line which they think will lead to
preference. The illiterate immigrant if
| he heads the line, is given the first posi-
| ton in the next lifeboat. Often II be-
ship to literally beat back the fright
| ened persons who want to rush the
! lines and not await their turn to get
away from the abandoned ship. 1t
| sometimes becomes necessary to. shoot
| the panicky passengers, just as one
! would cattle. II such were not done,
then the lives of the entire party would
I be endangered.
"As for the sick and weak, there is no
such a class among the men when once
| a line for safety is formed. Unless the
| stronger men desire to give their places
| to the invalids, there never is any rule
| which provides for the safety of the
| latter. All men are on common plane
| under such conditions.
| This, of course, does not apply to the
| officers and crew of a sinking ship. 1t
| always is customary and generally the
rule that the captain of a vessel be the
| last person to leave It,"