New-York tribune., 1913-10-15
CRITICISM Of BARR
FOR NOT USING BOATS
Passengers on Carmania Indig-
nant-U. S. Consul on Mime
apOIiS Joins in CenSure.
IMPEDEO OTHER LINERS
BY Holding Advantageous Posi-
tion to Windward Men in
Boats Were Compelled to
Row Half a Mile More.
Try Cable 10 The Tribune. !

Try Cable 10 The Tribune.T
London. oct. 15.--Rachael Tchaka-
voy. a passenger on the Yolturno.
brought to Liverpool yesterday on the
Devcnian. said; THE fire started with
deafening explosion, like that OF
bomb. followed by clouds OF smoke and
flames"
This agrees with the accounts given
by several Volturno passengers on the
Minneapolis to ]. Fuller. American
Consul in Durham, and II. c. Treadwell,
American Consul in Bristol, who were
on the Minneapolis. They told The
Tribune correspondent yesterday that
they had talked with some Of the sur
vivors. who all agreed that the fire
started with a terrific explosion for
ward. which killed several Of the pas
sengers and crew"
Passengers on the Minneapolis failed
to comprehend why the Carmanla did
not lower her boats and why she saved
only one person. They say the Car
mania all the time occupied the best
possible position to lower boats and
make rescues. and while making no
rescues, by keeping her position made
it difficult for other ships to get their
boats to the Volturno.
An Intricate Mannuvre.
Mr.. Fuller, describing the situation,
saws: I'm order 10 do any rescue work
the steamers had 10 get TO the wind
ward OF the Voltu-no. lower their boats
and let them drift toward the Vol
turno. while the steamers circled to lee
ward met the boats on the other side,
picked Nd the boats crews and saved.
returned 10 the windward and lowered
again. This maneuvre was executed
time and again by all the steamers ex-
cept the Carmania. She held constant
~ 10 the position most advantageous
for lowering the boats and other steam
ers had to come up outside the Car
mania. making at least half a mile
more of rowing in tre.-endous seas"
The Minneapolis passengers say that
Captain Barr did not return to their
ship the crew OF a boat smashed
against the Carmania's side. but that
boat manned by Minneapolis stew
ards rowed TO the Carmania and got
| z1f ROT, n
their own ship.
As soon as the Minneapolis arrived
on the scene the captain called on vol
unteers to man the boats. Every man
Of the crew stepped forward. The cap
tain picked a crew commanded by First
officer VI. w. Robinson. Other boats
were commanded by the third officer,
n. |. Lewis, and the fourth officer, ].
NJ Coates.
Many of the passengers on the Car
mania were Indignant that no boats
were sent out after the first had failed,
while all the other ships had many
rescued. They say passengers offered
to man the boats. The crew was also
dissatisfied and the dining room stew
ards grumbled openly at not being al
lowed 10 man the boats and attempt
rescues
Crew CowardIy and Brutal.
THE crew OF the Volturno, most OF
whom were Dutch. behaved In a cow
ardly manner and were brutal TO the
passengers" is the verdict Of most OF
the thirty survivors Of the Volturno
who arrived at Gravesend on board the
Minneapolis yesterday.
All the survivors are men. Russians
Hungarians and Poles. who know no
English and can tell their stories only
through interpreters. They are TO pro-
ceed to their destinations on board the
Olympic to-day.
None OF the survivors on the Mime
apolis saved anything with the excep-
tion of a cheerful and clerical-looking
Pole, who brought off n huge Bible
and a green bag filled with books.
The Volturno was still ahoat on the
afternoon OF Sunday in latitude 4137
North. longitude 1915 West. and there
is apparently "A possibility OF the hulk
yet reaching land. The Campania was
in her vicinity at a quarter past two on
october l., and Captain Rostron, in a
wireless dispatch to the Cunard Com
pany, says the derelct was then going
southeast, making about a knot an
hour. Her hull appeared 10 be in good
condition and liable 10 float indefi-
nitely. A careful search was made by
us for the missing boats. La Lorraine,
of the French Line, six hours later,
continued the search, but did not see
any boats"
Mrs. Charles Finch, Of Joliet, Ill, a
passenger on the Carmania who wit
messed the rescue OF some Of the pas
sengers of the burning steamship Vol
turno, declares that one OF the lifeboats
sent from the freighter Seyditz lost its
rudder on the way to the distressed
steamer and capsized, eight men Of the
crew being drowned. Mrs. Finch kept
diary OF notes on the disaster and has
the loss of the Seydlitz lifeboat as one
OF her entries.
Liverpool. Oct. 1.-THE Leyland Line
steamer Devon'an. commanded by Cap
tain Trapf arrival here to-day hrip