The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-10-14
OF the Disaster to the Steamer
VOlturnO.
MANY WERE SAVED BY OIL SHIP
The Narragansett Responded to
Wireless Call for "MiIk."
The Waters Were Gained Soon
After Her Arrival.

| French line second of the rescue ships
which figured in the Volturno disaster
to reach port, arrived at Havre this
morning. La Touraine had AZ survivors
of the disaster on board.
| On the forward deck of La Touraine
| when she arrived at the quay was
group of eight children from to Il
years old who had been rescued from
the Volturno and whose s either
| had perished or were aboard other res
cuing steamers. The children mad been
made much of since they were brought
on board La Touraine. Two other chill
dren with their mothers and 27 sturdy
Polish peasants with three of the crew
of the VolturnO, made up the total of
AZ rescued by La Touraine.
Some of the rescued passengers
wore their sheep skin coats while
others had been provided with cloth
ing from the trunks of the passengers
of La Touraine. The survivors had
been well cared for by officers and
had been supplied with small sums of
money by the passengers. All the
rescued passengers were sent on to
Amsterdam.
First Lieutenant Izenfc of La Tour
aine, told of the work of rescue. TT
was half past eight on Thursday morn
ing, he said, when we received the
| first wireless message that the Vol
turno was burning. AT that time we
J
VOlturnO at o'clock in the evening
and found ten other steamers already
on the scene. Heavy smoke was
streaming away from the forward
matches of the Volturno, whose pas
sengers had assem- bled in the after
part of the ship. The women and
children on the VolturnO had been
placed farthest from the fire while
the men formed a line nearest to the
point of danger.
Everything on board the Volturno
appeared quiet and under organized
control. I could observe the crew
working steadily with the hose, pour
ing water into the matches, from which
red tinged smoke was issuing. 1t was
obvious from our bridge that the ef-
forts of the crew of the Volturno to
extinguish the fire were futile, the
flames gained rapidly.
Twenty men among our passengers
who were yachtsmen or otherwise ia
miliar with the sea volunteered to
help man the life boats, but their serv-
ices were not needed
Saved by Oil.
New York, Oct. AT. T. Watson
of Philadelphia, passenger of the Car
mania, said that the chief credit for
saving those on the Volturno was un-
doubtedly due to the oil ship Narra-
gansett. "Only a few good swim
mers,'' he declared, would have sur
vived from the Inflated ship, had not
to calm the terrific waves.
when the Carmania arrived Cap
tain Barr recognized at once that it
would be almost a hopeless task to
attempt to save the Volturnos human
cargo without the use of oil, but with
a daring amounting to seeming fool
hardness, he instructed First officer
Gardiner to lower small boats. These,
after terrible buffeting regained the
Carmania with only three oars intact.
10 toi in
Barr did not again attempt to launch
a single boat. Hence our ship saved
only the one passenger, who swan to
her.
ION account of the size of the ships
turbine engines, which made fire
maneuvering impossible, Captain Barr
stood off and directed operations, acting
in effect as commander of the great
fleet which gathered about the stricken
Volturno. Shortly after we arrived the
Carmania tried both fore and after oil
sprays, but without effect on the noun
famous waves, then the captain sent
out wireless calls in all directions for
an oil ship and his efforts were reward
ed by an answer from the Narragan-
sett.
when the Narragansett arrived the
Grosser Kurfuerst, with other liners
got in as close as possible and lowered
lifeboats These took aboard several
persons who had jumped from the Vol
turnO.
AT once the Nara gansett began to
spray oil about the doomed ship and
the waves subsidized as by magic. Soon
small boats were enabled to run
alongside the liner and take the
clinging people from the ladders. The
rescue work was over in a very short
time. Eleven liners formed the bound
airy around the film of oil and the
survivors were hOisted aboard the va
rious steamers without trouble.
L 6n 1n n tod
and then a miracle occurred. 1t re-
suited in the salvation of the Voltur-
nos crew and passengers. When Capt.
Barr sent out CALI for tank steam
er there came back a reply from the
Nara gansett:
We will be there with the milk
the sea name for oil.
ION the arrival of the tank huge
quantities were pumped around the
Volturno, making it safe for the life
boats to approach. 1t was a stirring
spectacle when the great liners put off
their boats, which danced over the
shimmering oil-filmed waters to the
work of rescue, and soon the Volturno
was left a derelict-'
Devonian Brings Fifty.
Liverpool. Oct. 1.-THE Leyland line
steamer Devonian, commanded by Cap
tain Trant arrived here today, bring
ing so Volturno survivors.
On board the Devonian were many
remnants of families craZed with grief
and terror at the tragedy through which
they had passed. Ernst Hermann, a
German passenger, was the first to no
tice the fire in the hold of the Volturno.
He says that the flames even then had
made such progress that it was evil
6Co1tinued on Page Twol