The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1913-10-17

Fishguard Englsnd-On OF the
most thrilling stories of the sea that
nave ever been told is that OF the
destruction OF the liner Nolturno, OF
The Uranium Line, by fire IN md
Atlantic last Thursday night and OF
the loss OF from 131 10 135 lives OF
her complement Of p cabin and 53S
e;eeraee passengers and 90 in the
crew. 657 in all. 81 Or 523 were saved
The Volturuo was bound from Rotter'
dam to New York. by way OF Halifax
having sailed October l.
There are some discrepancies in
the figures of the rescued given by
Tie captains OF the Carmania and the
Grosser Kurfuerst. but they are prob
ably due to errors in transmission
and do not greatly alter the figures.
Ten Liners Race To Rescue.
Ten big steamships, eight Of them
trans Atlantic liners carrying thou
sands of passengers, clustered about
the burning ship for 20 hours until
she was abandoned, fighting a terrific
gale and mountainous seas IN the
work Of rescue.
All those saved but one were taken
OF by Hfeboats of the 10 vessels
standing by, as there had been time
to launch but six Of the Nolturuos
liTeboats and four of these were dash
ed against the iron sides OF the vessel
and destroyed. The Cunard liner
Carmania picked up one Of the Vol
turnos steerage passengers from the
waves.
Fight Between Elements and Science.
1t was a fight between The elements
and modern inventions, and the ele-
ments won a partial victory. But for
the Marconi wireless, which flashed
the news of the fire through the ether
FOR hundreds of miles on every side,
probably all aboard the Nolturno
would have persisted.
The rescue ships reached the scene
of the disaster in plenty of time to
save all, but for hours stood by the
blazing vessel, impotent because Of
the storm to reach the agoniZed men,
women and children crowding the az
ter part of the ship and within a
stones throw.
Ali-Nieht Battle With Sea.
All night Thursday tn, Iifeboats
made a desperate effort to get along
side the Volturno, but the waves beat
them back again and again, and not
until the storm abated at daylight
Friday did the rescuers succeed in
removing the survivors from the
doomed vessel
The Volturno was well equipped
with boats, sufficient, the agents say,
for 1000 persons, but the boisterous
sea or lack of boat drill or panic
among the passengers prevented the
successful employment Of them. The
rescue ships we're able TO lower life
boats but apparently most Of the
boats launched from the Volturno
were smashed or upset and the occu-
pants drowned.
London.-The latest accounts Of the
disaster to the steamship Volturno,
burned ana abandoned in midocean
on Friday morning confirm that the
loss Of life viii be limited to about one
hundred and thirty-siX The Car
mania, first of the rescuing ships to
reach the burning steamer, arrived off
Queenstown. but owing to the gale
proceeded direct to Fishguard.
A graphic story by the solitary sur
vivor aboard the Carmania was re-
ceived by wireless, and presents a
terriabe picture of the horror. the
panic and confusion aboard the burn
ing liner Walter Trintepohl. a Ger
man, who tells the story however, ie
clearly suffering from the stress of
illness and awful experiences, and his
story is too incoherent to be accepted
in every detail. Most important, IL
true, is his denial that two boats
got away from the Volturno.
According to other accounts. Cap
tain Inch was the last to leave his
vessel, which was still burning late
Friday nigh; and was a danger 10
navigation.
Arthur Sturgeon, a passenger on
the Carmania, in a wireless dispatch.
supplements his own description Of
the race Of the Carmania to the burn
ing vessel and the rescue Of the pas
sengers Of the Nolturno by the story
told him by the survivor, Walter Trim