The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-10-13
Laden With Human Freight
Two VOlturnO Life Boats
Vanished In Mid=OCean
Dispatches Bring Fragments Of Tale
Of Great Marine Catastrophe Survivors
Nearing Port With Tales OF Heroism
Series Of Explosions With Fire

London, Oct. a13-The last message
received from the commander of the
doomed steamship Vo1turno before he,
with his crew and passengers, aban-
doned the burning vessel, was accord
ing to a wireless despatch sent from
the Carmania at O'Clock, this morn
ing, as follows:
Cannot something be done to help
US? We must abandon the ship. IIer
plates are buck1ing. Stand close as
| may have to jump for lit. -
Captain Francis Inch handed this
to the wireless operator of the Vol
turno just before he was driven out
of his room by the flames. Shortly
afterward the Volturno was raging
furnace, blazing from funnel to fore
castle. The message to the Carmania
reiterated that two boats had got
away from the Volturno but that
nothing further had been heard of
them. The rescue of the only pas
senger taken on board the Carmania,
Walter TrintepohI, a German, was eff
fected by a gallant able seamon of the
Carmania's crew. His name is Heigh-
way and according to the despatch he,
seeing that the efforts of those who
were trying to reach the man strug-
Cling in the water from ladders hang
ing down the ships side were useless,
dtved from the upper deck of the
Carnanfa and attached a lifeline to
the exhausted swimmer.
The British cruiser Donegal was
dispatched, today, from the west coast
of Scotland to destroy the blazing
derelict Volturno.
None of the steamers which brought
suecor to the Inflated Vo1turno when
she was burning in mid-At1antic had
arrived at it's destination this morn
ing, but a wireless report from the
Carmania, which was the first to reach
the scene of the disaster, told that she
had passed Brow Head at 2:46 a. m.
today and expected to reach Fish
guard at 80 this afternoon.
All thk other vessels which played
such a heroic part ins the rescue of the
Vo1turno's passengers and which were
coming toward Europe. are expected to
reach port with survivors on board to-
day or tomorrow. The Minneapolis is
Ii due at Gravesend at 1:30 o'clock Tues
| day afternoon the Devonia at Liver
pool and the Gar at Rotterdam on
the evening of the same day. while I.o
lorraine may arrive at Ha7re this eve
ming.
/ The Uranium Line has made ar
rangemetns to send those survivors
who desire to proceed to their destina-
tions to America on board other YES
sels as soon as possible.
On Board the North German Lloyd
Steamship Grosser Kurfuerst, at Sea,
| by Wireless Telegraph to Cape Race,
Oct. 13.-With 105 survivors on board
from the steamship Volturno, burned
to the waters edge during a gale in
| nid-Atlantic and abandoned on FRI
day last the -Grosser Kurfuerst is a:p-
preaching New York.
The passengers and crew of the
Grosser Kur fuerSt witnessed some
thrilling scenes when their vessel, call
ed by distress signals from the Vol
turno, arrived in her vicinity. They
found the Volturno burning hercely
and her crew and passengers helpless
in the heavy seas. It was learned by
| wireless messages from the flaming
| vessel that the fire was started by an
| explosion in the forward hold at seven
TO clock on Thursday morning ships
time.
on the arrival of the Grosser Kur-
fuerst, the flames from the hold of the
Volturno were leaping 80 feet into the
air through the hatchway and it was
learned that 80 more of the Vol
| turno's crew and steerage passengers
had been killed by the explosion and
the fire.
Six boats were lowered Immediately
afterwards from the Vo1turnois davits
and three of them, still empty, were
smashed to pieces against the vesseFs
side. Another with 20 passengers on
board, capsized when launched and
those in it lost. Two others with from
60 to 80 passengers on board got away
but apparently were lOSI
Altogether 12 liners were brought by
the wireless distress signals within hail
of the tVo1utrno. The Cunard liner
Carmania w~~the first or these. Sne
reached the scene at about IL o'clock.
noon Then followed the Seydlitz, the
crosses Kurfuerst, the Kroonland, tho
New York, the Devonian, La, Touraine,
the Narragansett, the Minneapolis, the
Asian. the Rappahannock and the
Czar.
The sea was running too high to al
low the taking off of the Volturno's
passengers when the rescuing vessels
came on the scene. During the day
time the flames from the hold of the
Volturno were kept more or less under
control but at o'clock on Thursday
night when the fire reached the coal
bunkers and it was found necessary
to close the bulkheads, the pumps were
unable to work at full pressure and
the flames broke out through the en-
tire forward part of the vessel
At 9:4O Thursday night, another ex-
plosion occurred on the Volturno and
caused a panic among her despair1ng
passengers and crew.
The Grosser Kurfuerst launched
three boats and rescued 80 persons who
had been washed or jumped into the
sea- One of the rescuing Iifeboats was
out for six hours and was nearly lost.
All those remaining on board the Vol, i
turno crowded together at the after
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 20
feet while repairing the wireless ap-
paratus on board his vessel but con-
tinued to fight the fire all day and
at O'Clock in the evening made a