Las Vegas optic. (East Las Vegas, N.M.) 1908-1921, 1913-10-15

Number had already been whipped
by the gale against the davits ant
that its bow had been smashed
don't know why, but l lowered the
empty boat. 1t got away clear Of the
ship. 1t was a pity that it was bro
ken.
"The captain then gave the order
to fight the fire. I went on the bridge
We coupled the hose to the pumps and
stretched two lines Of it.
I'VE had been working the wireless
for nearly an hour. Finally we got
word that the Carmaria was coming,
full speed, to hslp us. ran 70 the
passengers, who we're hujdled aft.
Some of them were praying, some
LAUGHING. I shouted to them that the
Carmania was coming. Most Of them
fell on their knees The panic among
them ended.
= went back to the bridge The
captain told me that the main mast
was in danger of falling. got a
couple Of tackles and made the main
mast firm so that the aerials could not
go down and destroy our wireless.
"Then the steering gear on the
bridge blew up with a loud explosion.
We began to drift. The carpenters
fixed up a hand steerage gear. We
did not want to drift for fear the Car
mania could not find us. told the
passengers that the Carmania would
reach us in an hour, and that quieted
them.
"The Carmania sent us message
to steer southwest by west to meet
her, but we had to steer before the
wind to keep the flames forward.
'The captain fought the flames
hard and within an hour or two we
thought we had them under control. /
went up to take an observation and
fix our position AS l came down the
wireless operator shouted that the
Carmania had been sighted The
flames beneath the deck seemed to
be under control, but the fire in the
forecastle was gaining fast. The sec
ond officer and several sailors went
forward to fight it there. I met the
captain in the smoke. His eyes had
been badly burned and he was half
blinded.
Il ordered the stewards to bring
food to the passengers, and it was
done. Then the Grosser Kurfurst, by
wireless, asked if we NEEDED her help,
and Captain Inch, thinking he had
the flames beaten, answered that he
did not need any more help. The Car
mania was nearby. Her captain ask
ed what he could do and Captain Inch
requested him to scout around for the
boats that had put off. She circled
about 10 miles east and returned
without finding them. None Of us had
thought about the so or 80 steerage
passengers in No. 1 compartment. We
had not had time to do so, we were
so busy fighting the fire. don't
know how many of them were in their
places when the first explosion oc-
CURED, but I fear that most Of them
were there. They were cut off by
the flames. We can only imagine
what happened to them, as none Of us
was able to get into that compartment
again.
when It seemed that the flames
had died down somewhat, the captain
tried to 60 into the sailors fogecastle
He found the bodies of four sailors,
burned to death in the hallway They
had been trapped by the fire
"The Zeydlitz came up then and
lowered a boat I saw it pull from
the ship, come half to us and then
turn around and go back did not
blame them No boat could live in
such a sea The captain of the zeyd-
litz by wireless said he would have to
wait, as the swell was too heavy. The
Carmania's said the same. The Car
mania, SO far as know did not low
er boat while she was near US.
When the saloon and the first class
quarters caught fire we broke the for
ward windows and put the fire out
there. One after another the Il ships
that stood round US came in sight
and Offered help But nobody could
help us in that gale We had TO
fight our own battle
AT 2s30 ocloch in the afternoon a
ferae fire broke out in No 2 COM
partment We tried to chop through
the iron deck to get at it, but could
not. Finally, the hatchway fell in and
then we poked hose and steam pipes
throuoh them and noured water on