The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-01-07
Thirteen Survivors of
Tank Steamer Okla
homaAccounted For.
ANOTHER STORY
OF HEROIC RESCUE
Officers of Booth Liner Gregory
Drag Shipwrecked Men From
Boiling Sea at Risk Of Their
O.$n Lives-Little Hope
Felt for Any Of the
Others.

New York. January 6.-Thirtecn sur
vivors tonight had been accounted for
out OF thirty-eight men aboard the
tank steamer oklahoma when she
broke In two on Sunday in "a storm on
Barnegat. Another story OF heroic res
cue was written beside the tale told by
tho wireless that brought the first news
OF the disaster.
Until the Booth liner Gregory. fresh
from a 2,o00-mile voyage up tho ANA
zon, arrived to-day the eight men
taken off the Oklahoma by the steam
ship Bavaria were believed to bo the
only ones saved. But the Gregory had
five more OF the shlpWrecked crew, that
her officers had dragged from the boil
ing sea at the risk OF their own lives.
So the Oklahomas death list stood
at twenty-five tonight: and there was
littlo hope that more OF tho crew had
been saved. What little hope remained
was based on the fact that tho men
brought TO port by the Gregory said
another lifeboat besides theirs had
been launched from the sinking steam
or. There was little doubt however.
that this was the boat sighted by the
revenue cutter Seneca. with three
frozen bodies under its thwnrts. The
boat that carried tho fyc survivors
within reach OF tho Gregory contained
but one body when II was cast adrift af-
ter the rescue.
Plunge In Sen To save Men.
OF the Oklahomn's crew OF thirty
eight eleven manned the boat that
reached the Gregory. nineteen took to
tho ether boat and eight stayed aboard.
TO be saved by the Bavaria. OF the
larger boat load probably all were lost.
pi the eleven In the smaller boat. SIX
We're drowned when the buat capsized
40 yards away from the side of the
Hooth liner.
When the Gregory sighted the Okla
homa's life boat, The benumbed sailors
t.
10 Kossp tTttsr craft from being over
whelmed by the gigantic seas. AS tho
Gregory came within haillng distance,
the shipwrecked men dropped their
sail and their boat Immediately lost
It's steerage way ard turned over.
Than. one after the other, the three
chief officers OF the Gregory, without
over the side. They were First Ofn-
Ger r. II. Buck. Second Ohcer J. 9.
Williams and Third Officer +. d. Rob-
erts. all young Englishmen
Buck tied II bow line to himself. The
others took no lines, and all but paid
the penalty with their lives. Each Off
Ger seized struggling sailor and
brought him to the ships side. then
went back to where the life boat was
floating bottom side up. Three more
were rescued. Tho first man hauled
aboard died on the deck. The other
Avo were kept alive after hard work
by surgeon and crew.
Man Disappears.
Ono man was seen swimming near
the ship. Captain Aspinwall heaved
him a life buoy at the end OF line.
The man had 1t in his grasp when
great wave heeled the ship over, and
when II swung back the man had dis.
appeared. The life boat righted itself.
and as 1t hoated past the Gregory
crow saw a man jammed under the
soats. Oflcer Buck wanted TO jump
in after him, but his captain held him
back.
When the agents of the Booth line
here sent a report OF the rescue to the
home ofice in London, tonight. they
recommended Buck, Williams and Rob
erts for promotion.
John Kosich, the Oklahoma's mess
boy, q Norwegian, said he and his ten
shipmates, in the lifeboat that reached
the Gregory. saw tho other boat put
off from the opposite side of the tank
steamer. THAT boat" he said, chad
almost twice as many I'm her as ours"
Captain Loring ~. Gates, a Boston
skipper, formerly in command of tho
steamer Ligonier. and n passenger on
tho Oklahoma. commanded the 9th or
lfeboat Kosich said.
From memory. Kosich and his COM
panions gave this list Of the names of
those In their boat who perished:
william r. Dodd, first assistant en-
Gneer, who took charge; Walter Han
nan. second assistant engineer; Axel
second cook; Manuel Gomez Spanish
fireman.
nereIfct In Dangerous