The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1913-10-16
Six HundredHelplesso on Blazing Steamer
Volturno in Midocean.
TWENTY SHIPS ANSWER WIRELESS CALL
A Survivors, Thrilling Story of the Scene on the
v0Iturno- Declares the Sailors Made
Panic Worse.

Fishguard, England.-One of the
most thrilling stories of the sea that
have ever been told is that of the
destruction of the liner Volturno, of
the Uranium Line, by fire in mid
Atlantic last Thursday night and of
the loss of from 131 to 135 lives. OF
her complement of 20 cabin and 53S
steerage passengers and SO in the
crew, 657 in all. 521 or 523 were saved.
The Volturno 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
the 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
transatlantic 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
off by lifeboats of the 10 vessels
standing by as there had been time
to launch but six of the Volturnos
lifeboats, 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
turno's steerage passenger. from the
waves.
Fight Between Elements and Science.
1t was a fight between the elements
and modern inventions, and the ele-
ments won 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 ar
ter part OF the ship and within
stones throw.
AI-Night Battle With Sea.
All night Thursday the lifeboats
made a desperate effort to get along
side the NolturnO, 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 were 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 and abandoned in midocean
on Friday morning, confirm that the
loss of life will 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
terriable picture of the horror, the
panic and confusion aboard the burn
ing liner. Walter Trintepohl, a Ger
man, who tells the story, however, Is
clearly suffering from the stress of
illness and awful experiences, and his
story is too incoherent to be accepted
in every detail. Most important if
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 night and was a danger to
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 VoIturno by the story
told him by the survivor, Walter Trim