The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-10-22
MANNING,S c., WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER %, 1913
WERE NOT COWARDS
CAPTAIN OF FOLTURKO DENIES
SENSATIONAL STORY
DID NOT DRAW PISTOL

ulU NUA DnhW AU i UA
Captain Inch, Who Commanded the
Inflated Volturno, Pays Tribute to
Men of His Own Crew and to the
Rescue Ships Which Answered His
Desperate Appeal.
Francis Inch, the boyish-looking 6
Briton who commanded the burned
steamer Volturno, Thursday night
came to port at New York bringing
with him 81 survivors, passengers
and crew of his ill-fated vessel. His
story of the disaster, in which 1876
lives were lost, had preceded him by
wireless, but in a cabin Of the steam
er Kroonland, which brought him to
New York, Capt. Inch told his tale in
simply phrased and modestly spoken
detail that more vividly described tne
panorama of the Volturno's loss and
the rescue Of more than 500 OF those
she had on board.
There was no cowardice on the
Volturno, either among officers or
crew, Inch said. There was no rush
of seamen which made it necessary
for him to warn them back with his
revolver. His revolver was in a
drawer in his cabin and it burned
with the ship. And no one on board
drew a revolver. These statements
he intended should refute the stories
told by steerage passengers who ar
rived on the Grosser Kurfuerst.
The Volturno's master, besides de-
Tending his own officers and men,
said he had no criticism to make of
the tactics of any Of the boats that
stood by. "The Carmania did its
best, the same as the Others" he said.
There is nothing but praise for
every one. I did not expect boat
could live in those seas when the
Carmania and the other first few
ships came up"
The Carmania did drop a boat,
Inch declared, but it could not~get
near for the Volturno drifted faster
than the crew could row. Later the
Carmania sent forth six RATS, but
they drifted across the Volturno's
bow and disappeared. More than
that, the Carmania could not do, said
Inch. Eighteen cabin and two steer
age passengers entered the first life
boat that ventured to leave the Vol
turno. Only enough of the crew
stepped into to man it, said Inch;
they did not rush to it and it was
not overcrowded. It entangled itself
in it's after tackle and capsized. All
in it were drowned, except Chief Of
ficer Miller and steward, who
climbed into it after 1t had righted
itself and were rescued. Into the
next boat went 80 passengers and 1c
sailors. This boat got away but has
not been beard from. The third
boat took off 40, 10 of them sailors.
AS she settled into the water 10 more
Jumped aboard from the Volturno's
deck. A wave swept it under the
Volturno's stern. "She just sat on it
and crushed it out Of sight" said
Inch. "The bos'n dived and was the
only one to escape"
Inch denied reports Of rotting
tackle and fire hose and Of unsafe
lifeboats. He counted only three ex-
plosions, the last one wrecking wheel
and compass so that handgear had
to be rigged He also denied stories
of steerage passengers that women
we're swept ogerboard and babies
trampled in a rush to be rescued in
the Grosser Kurfuerst's first boat.
Officers urged men and women to
jump overheard, for the lifeboat
could not get near enough for them
to be lowered into it. None dared
to jump: "Show them how to jump"
Inch told his crew.
Two at time they leaped over the
rail. When passengers saw them
reach the lifeboat they followed them
into the sea. With boat hooks and
oars some were rescued. Others went
to their death. No women were re-
moved in this way.
"Before I climbed down ! went
over the ship to see If any one re-
mained," Inch said. "The fire had
eaten it's way beyond amidships under
the decks. I found no one alive,
though there were bodies in the fore
castles. I went to the rail with my
dog, wrapped in blanket. I leaned
over. Here I said, catch my baby
I dropped the dog into the arms of
a Kroonland officer in the lifeboat.
He opened the blanket tenderly.
why, its a dog he said, I thought
it was your kid
Inch's three "kids" and their
mother are in London. One of his
first acts upon arriving in New York
was to send them a cablegram. Their
father went Sc hours without eating
or drinking, refusing to leave the
work of fire fighting. "I smoked,
smoked about all the time, cigars.
pipes, cigarettes, anything I could
get" Inch said. A blast Of heat
blinded his ewes with pain and the