The Washington herald., 1913-10-12

4 flames and burning material had settled
down IL was seen that a great rent had
been torn in the burning vessel. This
j was later learned to have been caused
by an explosion OF the boilers
Passengers Fight Flames.
i Up to this time the crew, assisted by
many of the male passengers, had put up
a steady fight against the flames For
a long time the steam pumps had been
used to flood the holds and when the
heat in the fireroom became unbearable,
the hand pumps were put into action.
| Many of the passengers took their turn
at these pumps and II was by the use Of
these that the flames were prevented
from reaching the outer holds. over
which the women and children were
huddled. To those watching the spec
| tacle II seemed that the storm began to
die down Immediately after the explosion.
A few minutes later the first rays of
dawn shot across the water, and it could
then be seen that the fire had gone down
| materially, owing to its having practi-
| Cally burnt itself out.
1t was then that the fight to remove
| the passengers began. 1t was also then
that the great value of the Narragansett
| da wned upon the captains. few sec
onds later the pumps on the oil steamer
were working and streams of oil were
| being poured out over the water. With
| the battle line" still preserved, the Mar
| Tagansett Circled the Nolturno, and as the
oil spread over the surface of the sea
IL seemed to materially calm the waters.
oil SmOOths Waters.
When the effects Of the oil were notice
able and it was apparent that the gale
had spent itself. the lifeboats from the
| rescue feet were launched and the work
of removing the terror-stricken passen-
gers began in earnest
Capt. Inch had lashed himself TO the
mast Of the Volturno and directed the
order of leaving the vessel The sea
rule, women and children first" was
obeyed in the strictest sense.
There were large number of women
and children among the passengers, most
of whom had embarked in the steerage.
| When these had been landed safely on
one or the other of the vessels, the men
and members of the crew began to leave.
Capt Inch was the last man to leave
the Volturno. As the young captain shd
down the rope to the waiting boat he
took one last look over his vessel as II
| in the hope OF seeing some chance to
| save her. But to those who had been thc
! last to leave il was apparent that it
was only a matter of hours before the
Volturno would sink.
The report reached here tonight by
wireless from Capt Barr Of the Car
mania that the Volturno was abandoned
at sea October 10 at $50 a. m. when the
vessel was in latitude 1875 and longitude
S4:3S
List of Rescued.
Capt Barr gave the number of lives
saved as follows: Carmania, l; La
Touraine. 20: Minneapolis, 50; Rappahan-
mock. l9: Gar, IO2; Narragansett. y;
Devonian. SO; Kroonland, 90; Grosser
Kurfurst, los: Seydlitz, 36.
Capt Barr reported by wireless tonight
that several attempts had been made by
different vessels in the rescue fleet to
launch lifebOats during the long vigil
around the Volturno, but all attempts had
been unsuccessful On one occasion a
boa. Of the Carmania was in the water
more than an hour. but the sailors be-
came exhausted in their attempt to reach
the side of the burning vessel through
the rolling sea, and the mate, who was
in command of the boat, put back to the
Carmania. On another occasion a boat
from one~of the other vessels capsized a
short distance from where IL was
launched. Fortunately, another lifebOat
was close by and the men were picked up.
Explosion Kills Many.
The wireless accounts received here to-
night differ as to how the l36 lost their
many persons were either killed in the
explosion or blown from the deck of the
Volturno and were drowned. One captain
asserted that he could see many bodies
floating through the air following the eX-
plosion. The belief that many had been
blown from the ship was so strong at
that time that scores of lifebuoys were
set afioat with the hope that some of
those who had been blown from the ship
-rNr,ll la .ahI 10 Z .
same time the searchlight from the Car
mania swept the surrounding waters for
traces of any bodies. Several times OBJ !
jects, believed to be bodies, were seen, |
but none of these were recovered.
About thirty persons climbed into life |
boat lashed to the davits near the stern !
and at various times during the night |
men and women were seen to either fall /
or jump from this boat. Capt. Barr be- |
lieves that many of the 1856 were drowned |
after being thrown from this boat by the .
rolling and pitching of the Volturno. As |
one of the rescue ships reached a point
opposite the Volturno. a life raft was
launched in the hope that II would drift I
close to the stern of the vessel and thus |
enable any of those who might be in
the water to get another chance Of be-
ing rescued.
fnSSehtcFN
Hope and despair aIternated in the
breasts of the passengers gathered on
the deck of Volturno as the night wore
on. When lone of the circling ships
would bear a little closer toward the
burning ship. probably borne that way
by the gale. the terrorized passengers
would set up yell of delight but this
would be followed by a wall of despair
as the vessel would continue in the
circle and move away from the Volturno.
In the early hours of the night many
prayers were said on board the Vol
turno but as the hours passed and the
situation became more horrible, the ma
iority Of those on the boat seemed to
lose their reason and became transfixed.
For long spaces of time groups could
be seen standing close to the rail. with
scores of others pressed close behind
them. All would apparently be gazing at
one or the other of the circling vessels,
then for some unknown reason there
would come from the burning deck
cry of agony and despair that chilled
the blood of the onlookers.