The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1913-10-14
MANY DIED IN FIRE
ON THE v0LTURN0
Wireless From Rescue ShipGives
Details OF Disaster.
LIFEBOATS WERE SMASHED

Flames Which Started From Explosion
In Forward Hold Leaped Eighty Feet
Into the Air
On Board the North German Lloyd
Steamship Grosser Kurfuerst at Sea,
by Wireless to Cape Race, Oct IA
With 105 survivors on board from the
steamship Volturno, burned to the wa
ter's edge during a gale in the mid
Atlantic and abandoned on Friday last,
the Grosser Kurfuerst is approaching
New York.
The passengers and crew Of the
Grosser Kurfuerst witnessed some
|. thrilling scenes when their vessel,
called by distress signals from the Vol
turno, arrived in her vicinity.
They found the Volturno burning
fiercely and her crew and passengers
helpless in the heavy seas. It was
learned by wireless messages from
the flaming vessel that the fire had
been started by an explosion in the
forward hold at Z o'clock Thursday
mOrnluS, snip time.
On the arrival of the Grosser Kur-
fuerst the flames from the hold of the
Volturno were leaping eighty feet into
the air through the hatchway. 1t was
learned that fifty or more of the VOL
turno's crew and steerage passengers
the fire.
Six boats were lowered Immediately
afterward from the Volturno's davits.
Three of them, still empty, were
smashed to pieces against the vessels
side. One boat. with forty passengers
on board, captized while being launch.
ed and all were lost. The two others,
with from sixty to eighty passengers
on board, got away, but apparently
were lost in the mountainous seas.
Altogether twelve big liners were
brought by the wireless distress sig
nails within hail of the Volturno.
The Cunard liner Carmania was the
first of these. She reached the scene
at about II o'clock noon. Then follow
ed the Seydlitz, the Gresser Kurfuerst,
the Kroonland, the New York, the De-
vonian, La Touraine, the Narragansett,
the Minneapolis. the Asian, the Rappa-s
hammock and the Gar
The sea was running too high to al.
low the taking off of the Volturno's,
passengers when the rescuing vesse1s'
came on the scene.
During the daytime the flames from.
the hold of the Volturno were kept
more or less under control, but about
9 o'clock on Thursday night the fire
reached the coal bunkers. and It wa
found necessary to close the bulk
heads. The pumps thereupon were nm
able to work at full pressure and the.
ames broke out through the entire for
ward part of the vessel
At twenty minutes to 10 o'clock on
Thursday night another explosion oc-
Cured on the Volturno and caused a
panic among her despairing passengers
and crew. SIS
The Grosser Kurfuerst launched
three boats and rescued thirty-two per-
sons, who had been washed into the
sea. One of the rescuing lifeboats was
out for six hours and was nearly lost.
All those remaining on board the
Volturno crowded together at the at.
ter end of the vessel and were taken
off safely after daybreak on Friday.
Second Officer E. Lloyd, of the Vol
turno, was one of the heroes of the
disaster. He fell from a height OF
twenty feet while repairing the wire
less apparatus on board his vessel, but
continued to fight the fire all day, and
at o'clock in the evening made q
perilous trip to the Grosser Kurfuerst
in a small boat with three others from
the Volutrno. The little craft was sink
ing when she was picked up by one Of
the lifeboats of the Grosser Kurfuerst.
The total number of those saved is be-
lieved to be 523.
The arrival of the tank ships Maria
gansett and New York in the vicinity
of the burning vessel was one of the
most fortunate things connected with
the rescue, for through those ships
sufficient oil was obtainable to soothe
the seas and to make the work of res
cue possible.