New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-01-06
IiIICKENBACH|S OFFICER
TELLS Of TRAGEDY.
,escribes How Survivors OF
Chin That Sank Chung to Rig
qing Till Aid Came.
uap GIVEN UP ALL HOPE
rhsir Shouts Were Vain and
Mem Were Gradually Freezing
When Lifeboat Heroes
Reached Them.

,,uat exhausted sailormen, the sur
.,,ors among those who made up the
'..v Of the lost steamship Julia Luck
,,oh arrived here last night on the
-, Dominion steamship Hamilton,
80, Norfolk. They were sturdy men.
,0e reaction following the ordeal Of
'S.,r Asht for life in Chesapeake Bay
saturday was still apparent when
...v stepped ashore from the Hamilton
,ccording to the few remarks they
,ermitted TO make by the law
for the underwriters, there WAS
s..otlcally little or no chance for those
',oord 10 save themselves. as the YES
:, ,ank within minute after she was
struck The Luckenbach was rammed
and sunk by the British freighter In
,.,houla near the Tangier gas buoy in
-. thick weather of Saturday morning
:. che was steaming up the Chesa-
peake. A.
A, soon as the men arrived on the
,.,,ilton last night they were met by
sunsrintendent Butler of the lnsuiar
,,,a. william ]. Connell, port captain
"A former master OF the lost vessel
-. vere taken direct 10 the Wall
-, office of Wallace. Butler &
u,oun proctors in admiralty, where
made a statement In response to
many questions.
The men we're very nervous and were
~, messed hard for Information Inc
,.uysrs from the company permitted
frederick r. Hunt. the husky chlel OF
scsr 10 relate his experience but II
v.s simulated that ne should not be
asked questions.
Officer Was on tho Maine.
uunt who was on the batueshlp
Maine when she was blown up In Ha-
ysna Harbor, said his experience on
,hs Luckenbach had been the worst oI
his career. lie was wrecked ABOUT
sight years ago off the Virginia Capes'
and with his father was blown ashore
on a spar that landed them on the
sands Of Virginia Beach.
Hunt is a stalwart man OF aoou'
thirty-fve. He appeared to be man
who was afraid of nothing, but MS
nerves were on edge and several times
as he told his story his eyes filled and
he was unable to speak.
We arrived off old Point on Friday
evening" ne said, and as it was get
ting foggy quickly. we decided TO an
Choir. AS We were getting ready 10
drop anchor a steamship hit us forrld
and we sank witnin a minute. In less
than minute the whole for'rid part o.
the Luckenbach was under water. IL
all happened so quickly IL was lmpos-
sible to launch a boat
The last time / saw Captain Gilbert
ne was i'm the water with his wife. L
did not see them 90 under. the pace
where we went down was shallow. AS
soon as | hit the water / SWAIN ABOUT
and finally drifted into the port rig
ging. l climbed up and up and Jaiilnleu
myself into the shrouds. The carpenter
was ahead of me. He had reached the
back stays and held on. Roth, the
third assistant engineer. seized the top
ping lift OF the mlzzen boom. kept
throwing him line, but he could not
get it. for the poor fellow was cut ana
Bleeding.
I'VE kept shouting at intervals. bit
no assistance came TO us. One OF the
men saw in the rigging was sailor.
| saw him grab twice for the tunnel
ruy and miss it. The third time ne
made for II he caught it, but just then
the funnel went down and he went
with II. That is the last l ever saw OF
hin. That made three l saw drop
away.
Feared Help Would Never Come.
I'VE were an shouting, but could get
no answer. Finally ! saw the lndra-
kaula doing something about TWO or
three miles away 10 the north. Ihen
sew three boats IN the water ana
believed that she was sending help 10
US, but somehow IT seemed as If they
would never reach us.
I'VE had about given up hope OF
getting out of the mess when The Sec
ond mate. who was in the rigging
sighted a ship bearing down upon US
Il was The Danish steamship Pennsyl-
yania. She stood by for half an hour
signalling. ! don't believe she knew
We were in the rigging. once she sig
nailed Look out for a yawl.'
Il kept asking il any one had
handkerchief. and finally the carpen-
Ter found that he had .bandanna
with him and we passed it up TO the
second mate, who was higher than any
u US, and he waved it.
After the first hour the weather had
become cold and a heavy sea was run
ming. We all kept losing our grip. III
vas awful TO see that ship standing by
ana no help coming. After half en- hour
she began to whistle. We were gradu-
ally freezing up there in the rigging.
Inc first assistant engineer and the
tnird assistant had neither shirts nor
SHOES and there was sailor up with
US who had no pants. The little cloth
ing they had on them was torn to
shreds.
Suddenly the port rigging. where |
was clinging, gave way. was the only
man ON that side The others were In