The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-11-14
CA4rz- Florence Kelley, Secretary Ma
tional Consumers League.)
Gxchsive Service The Survey Press
Rureaul

{HECH1SiVS Service Inc survey Fr0SS
Bureau)
was a passenger on board the
Kroonland, one of the eleven ships
which went to the rescue of the burn
ing Volturno. Aside from the heroiSm
81 the Kroonland'e officers and the
men who manned the lifeboats and
brought aboard eighty-eight survivors
. from the burning ship, the deepest i'm
preston derived from that terrible ex-
perience is of the risks taken by the
steamship companies in sending their
ships across the Atlantic insufficiently
equipped with able Seamen-
The KroOnland carried from Antwerp
and Dover to New York seventy two
cabin passengers a second cabin so
crowd that staberOorns usually re-
served for drst cabin passengers were
occupied by the second cabin, and an
0verdoWing Storage To take care of
approximately 1 500 passengers in case
OF disaster, persistent enquiry contin-
ned from the evening OF the first res
cues TO the hour OF landing revealed
no more than tWenCy-S1K able-bod1ed
@eameu a~ailable-not enough to fully
man two lifeboats. Each lifeboat re-
@uEres sixteen oarEmen.
At starting the engines were In such
bad order that the KHoonIand was late
In Striving at Dover, and waited for
repairs 80 long that we left there sew
an hours late. The state of the engines
{
irving in New York after the rescue.
If the storm had been worse, complete
Is disabling the KroOnland, twenty-six
seamen could have done little indeed
for about 2Ooo men, women and chill
Sren dependent solely upon them.
The wireless call for help from Cap
tain Inch of the Volturno reached the
KromIand about 1880 on Thursday
! morning, October g. The VoIturno'S
boats had been lowered with the first
Z Lost
the first and third officers and all the
| seamen. Captain Krefbohm started
. the KroonIand at once to the rescue.
A woman well known in society in
: New York demonstrated with Captain
Krefbohm, saying in substance: I'VE
time to do any good. BY night the
passengers will be dead and the ship
sunk we are getting more and more
beIated. Why do we go back?" He
waited until she was all through and
then replied simply: I'VE may save
one life
This spirit animated officers and
crew, this infinite respect for one hui
man life It is in the sharpest contrast
to- the reckless failure of the steam
men.
We arrived in sight of the burning
boat between six and seven on Thurs
day evening The sea was then such
that no boats could be. lowered until
q bout midnight Then, in the captains
gig the first officer and six of the
twenty-six seamen rowed towards the
Vohurno as close as the sea and the
fire permitted, and returned. They re-
ported that nothing could be done by
our Iifeboats until the waves subsidized,
that 400 people were alive on the Vol
tur1ao, the wind blowing the flames
and smoke away from the stern where
the survivors. were assembled.
After a short time, the same first
officer called for sixteen volunteers to
man a 1ifeboat, which went out with
twelve seamen, two walters from the
saloon dining room and two stokers-
NThey returned bringing three men who
alad jumped from the burning steamer.
! Ssome others appear to have jumped
A5aut not to have reached the 1ifeboat.
: After an interval, a second lifeboat
sAvas lowered from the Kroonland with
the fifth officer and sixteen men, Of
5whcrn one was a dining room steward
maAdng his second trip fthis same
stevgard made two trips the following
znorEng.) This second lifeboat brought
&baclr & number of survivors.
4 At A in the morning, rescue opera
ICONS were perforce suspended because
Rhe seamen, the stewards and the fire
Ssxnen were too exhausted to go out
saea1n without an interval OF rest
iaAKennwkEle the GroSser Kurfurst seems
Ito have been able to continue the work
ez1roz1zh the night. It rescued, I'M
kderstand, $50 survivors compared with
ndghty-eEght saved by the Kroon1and,
5although we were the first ship to
3weach the scene in response to the call
snor help transmitted by the CaFmania,
and the last to leave, bringing with us
Captain Inch and his dog
The humanity and the combined eau
aFaacn and daring Of Captain Krefbohm
He'd the first cabin passengers of the
L. n de-
0sion Of a single name) memorial to
aim expressing our gratitude and ad-
Smiration The officers and men who
Unnamed the life boats faced death at
every moment They knew that all
skhe boats lowered from the Vo1utrno
ssdurtng the day had been lost with all
gon board, so fearful was the sea. Yet
the KroonIaTrd's officers and men en-
E1isted eagerly to man her hfeboats,
little group of heroes
The narve1s of wireless telegraph,
fRoo, command afresh the admiration
sof the world. without wireless no
soul aboard the Voluturno would have
kbeen saved
Admiration is due to the Red Cross
sAnd the Hebrew Immigrants Aid So
cfety for their skill in reunitfng fam
lilies
But heroisnn, devotion, skill-the
human interest of the thrilling tales
of rescue and reunion-must not be
allowed to confuse the pubic mind
s.Au rescues were accom- p1ished in life
boats and in no other way. Lifeboats
sent to the rescue in such emergencies
should be manned by seamen regu-
Iarly drilled in lowering boats, in row
ing them, in carrying heavy and diff
ficult burdens while scaling the lad
ders of steamships in storm and dark
ness.
Because someone in the ifeboat
failed in tying a sailors knot, five
year old F'roIke Grossman came with
in an inch of perishing in the transfer
from the lifeboat to the Kroon1and.
The ropes slipped from his shoulders
to his ankles. He dang1ed head down
ward and would have cracked his