The Washington times., 1914-05-18
Eleven Comrades Perish Before
Their Rescue by Revenue
Cutter Senaca.
LAST SURVIVORS OF
FREIGHTER COLUMBIAN
Hope of Succor Had Gone With
Passage of Steamers Be-
low Horizon.

HALIFAX, n. s., May 1S.-Snatched
from the very jaws Of. death, after
fourteen days of famine on an Arctic
sec, four survivors of a crew Of 1if-
teen, who escaped a fiery fate when
the freight steamer. Columbian burn
ed May 3, arrived here today on the
United States revenue cutter Seneca,
which picked them up after eleven Of
their number starved.
Officer Robert There, Sailors Oscar
Kendall and Peter Belanger. ard Fire
man Mitchell Ludwigsen were the
quartet Stripped of their clothing by
their famishing mates, the bodies of
the eleven other sailors, one by one,
were consigned to the pitiiess sea.
Each went overheard after his spark
of life had fled.
Hardtack and Rain.
Word by word. after their rescue,
the four starving men told in gasps
of their awful experience. Water and
biscuit gone. the castaways existed
on scraps of hardtack. catching in
tarpaulins and in the Jackets of their
dead fellows the rain which fell from
the limitless sky bending above the
great gray waste OF water OF which
their boat floated.
When the Columbian, of the Leyland
line, burned at sea. $50 miles south OF
Sable Island, three boats left the
flaming vessels side. In the wallow
of the waves, they separated. Two
days later two of the boats. contain
ing twenty-seven OF the crew, were
picked up by the liners Franconia and
Manhattan. The third, that which
the Seneca rescued, was given UP as
lost
The revenue cutter was on duty as
icebergs when, on Sunday morning the
lookout shouted: Boat ahead on the
starboard bow"
In an instant Captain johnson or
dered full steam ahead and eager eyes
watched the little dereiict as the cut
ter's Prov sheared through the waves.
Not a sign of life was to be seen from
the deck of the ship, but, 10 make sure,
the captain ordered the gig overheard
for q closer examination.
When their boat hook gripped the
grnwaie of the drifting lifeboat four
rIen. huddled together in her bottom,
were found. All were In \ state Of ab-
Their iaek-ISster eyes and hollow cheeks
plainly told their story of starvation.
The pile Of clothing on which they
Crouched was the first indication that
others who shared their fate had gone
~ sAS oSNNShA VI AAS SEQ.
Sleep of Exhaustion.
Spoonfuls of brandy and sips Of water
were given the rescued four immedi-
ately. Then, wrapped in blankets, they
were laid anew in the bottor. Of the
boat and the gig was pulled back to the
Seneca with the lifeboat in tow. In
the cutters side. Her physician minis
tered to them, and from Very exhaus-
tor they slept Then the cutters nose
WAS turned toward Halifax and all
speed made for this port.
After several hours rest, and when
iudicIousiy administered food had
st!ed their hunger pangs, the men
tod briefly the story Of their ordeal.
weakly they sasped out how. when
the Columbia burned, their boat was
tht.I TO leave her side. Pounding in a
heavy sea during the night, they said.
tue hIteen men by turns held her head
uo to the waves When morning dawn
ell the! were alone upon the heaving
sea.
All that day and the next they en-
dured and hoped for succor Within the
fTsJ forty-eight hours three steamers
wen: by. With each sight OF q vessel
duh despair as liner after liner van
ished hull-down on he horizon
For seven days the fifteen endured,
the stronger aiding their weaker feI-
IONb lnefe WAS little 1000. Water
Yves short. But they portioned out
what they had fairly. and kept up
thair hearts.
Or the seventh day George Hull pass
el a%ay with groan. That was on |
MAY 10. That was the first death.
The stouthearted men of the sea
wasted no time in vain regrets HuTs !
body was stripped and slid intD the
SEA, and his clothing, still warm from !
the lifeless body, was used to aid in |
keeLing heat in the frames of those
who still endured.
Soon the food was all gone. There |
was no more water.
Rain, however. prolonged the lives of !
the tortured men, but one after another
they succumbed and their bodies. like
that of Hull. were cast into the waves /
The last to go was Peter ElrieI He
died just before the Seneca appeared
Teiro. the officer. and the thre4 others
rescued. had stretched out their lives Inv
chewing their boots. and still had ! !;
morsel OF strength. When Elriel died {
they summoned their last energies
stripped his body, and sent it to join
those of the ten who had gone before
Then they lay down TO die.
When the Seneca's bow showed atove
the horizon. Teiro, strainins for a last
look over the sea saw the cutter but !
he was too weak TO do more than muir
muir his discovery 10 his mates Piled in !
the bottom of the boat.
He took one look. prayed aid mig ht !
come. and collapsed. He vas UHcon- ,