The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1913-10-17
WIRELESS CALL SUMMONS TEN
SHIPS TO SCENE BUT THEY
ARE ALMOST POWER
LESS.
WORK or RESCU!NG WAS
DELAYED SEVERAL HOURS
Se~arch,ight Reveal Undesirable Hor.
rcr-Carnania Leads Fleet of
Steamers in Work Of
Saving ?asSef-
gers.

81 DOOl. ~ II. oI1 ~
and thirty-siX women, children and
men lost their lives when the Uranium
lire steamship Nolturna, leased from
the Royal line, caught fire in mid-At-
lantic on Thursday and burned 10 the
waters edge on Friday.
Survivor Tells Story.
The only survivor that has yet told
his story says the English captain and
his English officers behaved CALAMITY
in the face of death, but declares the
German and Bulgarian crews acted
cowardly.
The carmania, with one lone suryiy-
or of the Nolturno aboard, found it too
rough to stop at Queenstown and IS
proceeding direct to F~ishguard. From
that survivor, however, comes a thrill
ing story of the burning of the steam
or, OF the terror, the struggle for the
boats, the death OF those who went
over the sides and his own desperate
fight for life.
Ten big timers, led by the Cunard-
er Carmania, Captain Barr, stood BY
the striker ship and battled for many
hours in a fierce gale to rescue the
passengers and crew, but we're able
TO take off and pick UP only 52l per-
sons.
Rescue Long Delayed.
Nhlle hundreds OF passengers
aboard the rescue fleet crowded the
rails, s%pellbound With horrcr, the cap
tains Unanswered i'll desperate at
tempts to get alongside the yolturno,
but were unable to do so until day
break Friday.
Captain Barr then ran a lifeboat nr-
der the stern Of the Noltlrno and took
OF eleven passengers. Other captains
followed, and the survivors taken from
the NoltuTno as Well as those picked
Up IN the only two Nolturlo liflboats
that got away during the fire We're
distributed among the rescuing liners.
From Thursday noo the Garmania
stood BY, helpless, on account OF the
terrific storm and mountainous waves.
until early Friday. The last OF til.
surviving passengers and crew were
taken of at $50 a. m. Friday. The
Carmania was alone with the burning
liner until the Grosser, fsurst and Sci
deiitz came UP about 1 p. m. Thurs.
day. The other seven rescue ships ar
rived shortly afterWard.
-Four Lifenoats Smashed.
While the C~almania's passengers
looked on, frantic and helpless. four
lifeboats lowered from the Nolturno
were smashed against the side of the
heavily rolling ship and their passen-
gers, including and children
were drowned. A broken propeller OF
the Volturno had so foulel the tackle
Of the lifebcats that only si1 could be
lowered and only two got away.
AS darkness fell, the Carmania kept
it's powerful searchliehts playing on
the waters around the burning boat.
looking for possible passengers that
might have taken to the sea in their
desperation. Captain Barr also threw
out burning buoys all night to light the
CHASTITY scene. Their light played on
the poop of the Volturno and showed
plainly the hopeless women children
and men huddled there throughout the
night.
At midnight there was some hone
aroused When the fire appeared to be
diving down. Captain Barr made an
other attempt to get a boat to the
ship, n when this failed he ran the
Carmania head-on within 100 feet of
the V%olturno's stern. 1t was limos.
sible, though, to get a line aboard the
| wreck.
Volturno Sinks.
The fire broke out f~iercely in the af-
ter engine room before da wn and when
daylight came it was seen that the
Nolturno was sinking by the head.
The gale had abated by then and
ilfeboats from the rescue fleet were
run alongside the burning liner, taking
on the last Of the survivors.
h Nolturno was abandoned at 900
a. m. on Friday and sank a few min
utes later.
The 1876 missing passengers were
burned to death, drowned in the
smashed boats or jumped overheard.
Offlclals of the Uranium eomnany
declared early that those on board
included "a cabin and $40 steeraea
passengers, with q crew of SO.