Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-10-12
Wild Seas Crush Lifeboats From
Stricken VOIturno and Prevent
Ten Rescue Vessels Standing by
From Giving Aid to Perishing
Flames Rage for "a Hours While
Wireless Operator Flashes rs.
o. S."-Carmania Wins Race
to Death Ship, but Saves Few.

LIVERPOOL. Oct. 1.-THE steam
snip Nolturno. of the Uranium una
has been burned at sea. with a loss
OF at least 1876 lives. The final death
roll may be much higher when full
details are received from ten rescue
ships that dashed at full speed for
the doomed vessel when the IS q :"
was sent out by her wireless opera-
tors.
The Cunard liner Carmania. Car
tam Barr commanding, was the frst
ship to reach the Volturno. By wira-
less he made a number of reporfs
to-day. the first stating that 23s had
peen lost. His later reports showed
that the death list would carry 1T
least 1876 names, mostly those of i'm
migrants bound for America. There
were palpable errors in these num-
bers listed in each report. but nv
scrutinizing the wireless messages
carefully, the Uranium line officials
reached the conclusion that 1876 was
the correct number.
The Volturno burn I while n tar
rihc storm was raging, and hundreds
OF passengers on ships that had
rr7hed to her aid stood helpless and
saw attempt after attempt to save
the Volturno's passengers fail.
Flames Rage "a Hours.
The flames in the hull of the shin
evidently had been burning for soma
time before discovered They "a,
beyond control of the sailors Thurs
day night and ragged for "a hours ba-
fore the destruction was complete.
The boilers exploded while the Car
mania and her sister liners were 20
ing to the stricken ships aid tearing
out section of the steel hull.
The Volturno disaster was an echo
OF the Titanic tragedy Radiograms
from the rescue fleet said that the
number Of life boats was insufficient
to accommodate the passengers and
crew.
Inc disaster occurred in latitude
1870 north, longitude 34.33 west
the middle of the North Atlantic The
scene of the tragedy was about 1900
miles east Of Halifax
The First Tidinas.
The following wireless MESSAGE
from the Carmania gave the first mo-
tice of the disaster:
Steamer Volturno, bound from,
Rotterdam for Halifax and New
YORK with 500 immigrants on
board, atire and abandoned Fri
day night in latitude 1925 north
Longitude 34.S3 west. Two hum
dred and thirty-six passengers
missing
The Carmania was the first liner "a
pick up the IS. Q. S." calls which the
operator on the Volturno was franti-
cally sending out. The Carmania i'm
mediately repeated the calls to other
vessels giving the position of the
Volturno.
Nine other transatlantic liners
were within wireless range and sped
toward the burning ship. The
race was thrilling. A gale was
S"SSRiAi6 'hS seas anu the rescue
ships had to pound their way through
headwinds and raging waters.
Ten in Rescue Fleet.
In the rescue feet were the follow
ing vessels: Carmania, La Touraine,
Minneapolis. Rappahannock, Car,
Nara gansett, Devonlan. Kroonland,
Grosser Kurfurst and Seydlitz.
The Carmania won the race to Inc
Volturno. She found the vessel a
mass of fire, her propeller fouled and
wallowing helplessly before the wind
All the boats had left the burning
ship. Those still afioat were found
water-logged by the relief fleet,
with half-frozen, covering
ses
lie purser OF the Volturno, who
was taken on board the Kroonland,
reported that the number of passen-
gers on the Volturno was $50, and
that she carried a crew of SO, making
65s In all on board. According 10
the puTser's estimate the death list
reached only 1872.
The meagerly worded wireless
dispatches from Captain Barr. of the
Carmania, told dramatic story. The
dead on the volturno were burned,
crushed and drowned. Four Of the