The Prescott daily news., 1913-10-13
WIRELESS TELEGRAPH SAVES 521 PERSONS FROM BLAZ-
 ING VOLTURNO.
$. 0. S. CALL BRINGS SUCC0R
Ten Liners Come to Rescue, but Gale Is So Severe They Stand Help less for Day and Night
 in a Heavy Sea.

HUI Sudy utSlIOyO tiiC ilhSi Oi- turno, on her voyage from Rotterdam to New York, with a loss of life of 136 of her passengers and crew. Ten other liners, called by wireless to the rescue, were standing by impotent to avert the tragedy owing to the noun tainous seas.
 Again the wireless played leading part in a drama of the sea. By it's means and through the heroism of those who responded to the call, the lives of 521 of those on board the Volturno were saved.
 The Volturno was owned by the Canadian Northern Steamship com pany, but had been chartered by the Uranium line.
 Officials of the latter company de- clared that those on board included "A cabin and $40 steerage passengers, with a crew of 93, making a total of 657.
 A wireless from the Carmania said that the Volturno caught fire at sea and that the flames ragged so furious ly in the gale that the abandonment of the steamer followed
 The Volturno sailed from Rotter- dam on Oct. for New York, by way of Halifax. where it was due to stop Monday.
 When the Carmania reached the vi cinity of the Nolturno, at Thursday noon. she found the forward end of the distressed vessel burning fierce ly. The flaming ship was at the same time rolling heavily while her pro- pellers were fouled with boat tackle used in lowering her six lifeboats.
 It was learned by the captain of the Carmania that only two out of six lifeboats had succeeded in getting safely away from the Nolturno. The other four, crowded from stem to stern with passengers and members of the crew, had been smashed against the side of the vessel and all their occupants thrown into the sea and drowned.
 Capt. Barr of the Carmania in the meanwhile kept his wireless appa- ratus at work communicating with all the vessels within the radius of his instruments.
 At o'clock in the afternoon the Grosser Kurfuerst and the Sydlitz came in sight and these two were joined later in the afternoon by the Kroonland, the Deyonian and Kappa hammock, the Minneapolis, La Tour raine, the Czar and the Narragansett
 The spectacle of the great vessel being consumed by fire. with over 800 souls on board and surrounded by fleet of huge lighted hulls crowded with thousands of spectators, all anx- ious but unable to help, owing to the mountainous seas, was terrifying.
 At 9:20 at night the wireless op- eIator on board the Volturno had to turn over the connection of. his in strument to the reserve batteries. as the fire had reached the boilers and the engine room and had put the pumps and dynamos out of action.
 A few minutes later cries for help were heard rising from the water near the Carmania, and then man who proved to be a steerage passen- ger on the Volturno, wearing a life belt, was located by means of the searchlight a short distance away tossed about by the sea
 He was rescued. but only after one of the Carmania crew had been low cred into the water with a life line which he placed around the waist of the exhausted man.
 Other cries were heard, but these gradually died away and no further bodies or swimmers were seen. About midnight a ray of hope came, for 1t was seen that the flames were not making much headway aft of the en- zine room or the after bulkhead of the Volturno
 At daybreak the Volturno was still floating with her great human cargo huddled among the ashes in her poop The sea had moderated considerably and a flotilla of boats gathered around the stern of the Volturno.
 The relief ships were then able to send lifeboats to the hulk and take off the surviving passengers and members of the crew.
 Capt. Barr of the Carmania re- ceived the distress call of the Vol turno when 7S miles distant In lati- tude 42:25 north, longitude 34;33 west. The Carmania crowded on full steam and with extra stokers made over 20 knots an hour in the teeth of the gale