Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-01-31
SAY NANTUCKET
FAILED TO HEED
MONROE Ico''C"H co''...
iii Fated Vessel Practically
Stood Still, Witnesses Tes-
titled, It's Said.
GOVT PROBERS KEEP
TESTIMONY SECRET
Official List Shows 1o Passen-
gers and ~ of Crew
Perished.

NORFOLK, Va, Jan. 31.-Investi-
cation of the sinking of the Old
Dominion liner Monroe by the
steamer Nantucket with loss of
forty-one lines was completed today
by United States steamboat inspect
ors who will not make public their
findings before Wednesday or Thurs
day of next week.
Testimony of officers and crews of
the Nantucket was bringing in the
survivors, is being kept secret to-
day. 1t still is in the form of stenog-
raphers' notes and will make fifty or
sixty typewriter pages.
Lost Ship stood Still.
No official statement could be OBJ
tanned today about it, but 1t is said
that witnesses testified Captain John
son stopped the Monroe's engines
when he heard the Nantuckets an
swering siren signal and that the lost
ship was practically standing still
when the Nantucket rammed her
amidships and sheared her in two.
Other witnesses testified, it is said,
that the Nantucket continued to
SlGdIn IOWdTu TIC MOHTOG alter IIt
lost ship had blown two whistles
three times.
1t is said that the testimony shows
that Captain Berry, the second officer
and the quartermaster of the Nan
tucket were all in the pilot house of
their ship when the two vessels came
together and that the lookout on the
Monroe, saw the lights on the mast
of the Nantucket about two minutes
before the crash occurred.
The Monroe met light fogs inter-
mittently after passing out of the
capes and had stopped frequently
while they surrounded the ship. The
Monroe was equipped with an auto
matte time whistle and that was
blown at intervals of one minute
When the heavy fog wrapped the
vessel near Winter Quarter hghtship,
the Monroe. it is said, stopped, and
after blowing her fog horn every
minute gave two blasts, to which the
Nantucket responded. She then re-
peated the two blasts twice, and al
most before the last one had died
away the bow of the Nantucket
ploughed it's way into the Monroe's
starboard just above amidships at an
angle of about forty five degrees, The
Nantucket backed away, the Monroe
began to list and in ten minutes had
sunk.
An Officially revised death list shows
today that forty -one persons perished
when the Monroe went down.
No Bodies Recovered.
OF those who persisted nineteen were
passengers and twenty-five were of
the Monroe's crew There were aboard
the Monroe 139 persons The total
number of saved were ninety eight, of
which number thirty-eight were pass
engers and sixty members of the
crew. OF the forty-eight first-class
passengers aboard, including one
child, thirty-four were saved and
fourteen lost. OF the Monroes nine
steerage passengers four were saved
and five perished.
Wireless reports from a wrecking
steamer and a revenue cutter cruising
on the scene of the disaster say no
bodies had been recovered
Preliminary steps for beginning tho
federal investigation were taken early
TODAY as the result of instructions
from the department of commerce at
Washington. to the local steamboat
inspection service. Robert Tapley, in
spector of hulls, and Edward w. Brey,
inspector of boilers here. conducted
the inquiry.
Assistant Secretary Sweet, of the
Department of Commerce, yesterday
ordered sweeping inquiry into the
causes and circumstances that led to
the catastrophe The inquiry was
directed along three distinct lines, as
follows
Whether the masters of both ves-
sells used every possible precaution to
prevent the tragedy, including a low
speed headWay and continual use of
fog horns.
among the passengers of the Monroe
was due in any way to a lack of dis
cipline among the wrecked ships
crew.
Whether the two vessels were in
their proper positions prior to the
collision.
Naval officers and steamship men
who have been interviewed here can
not understand how the Monroe could
have sunk in twelve minutes If the
Nantucket had been going at reduced
speed because of the fog, as the
sunken steamship herself was doing.
Monroe Was New Boat.
The Monroe had steel-plated sides
and was new boat, but such was
the speed of the Nantucket that the
latter boat, although of inferior ton
mage. knitted through the larger ves-
sci dS IL Sll6 WtlG VI PoPiOA
mache.
According to E. P. Lyons, of Rich
mond, Va.,f there might have been
even greater loss of life If the Nan
tucket had been rammed instead of
the Monroe. Mr.. Lyons was In the
last lifeboat to leave the Monroe. Cap
tain johnson, of the Monroe, was in
the same boat.
when we got alongside the Nan
tucket Captain johnson called for a
rope for the helpless and ladders for
those who could use them, and with
perfect order the dead and the living
were put aboard the steamship.
"As soon as the boat had. been
cleared, Captain Johnson ordered that
a lifeboat be lowered, and he and the
crew of our boat got into it. They
found that it had no life preservers,
and that there was no plug in II, ana
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