New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-02-02
DIVERS TO SEARCH
FOR MONROE'S DEAD
Wreck Found by Revenue
Cutter at Site of Collision
with Nantucket.
EACH CAPTAIN Is
BLAMED BY OTHER
Both Vessels Going at Full Speed,
Apparently. at Time Of
Accident.
B, Telesraph 10 ID rrLbune !

By Telegraph to The Tribune
Norfolk, Va, Feb 1.-The old Dominion
liner Monroe. which went down with
forty-one persons in a collision with the
Nantucket on Friday, was located TO-DAY
by the revenue cutter Onondaga. She
lies twenty-four miles southwest, one
quarter south. of Winter Quarter Light
ship. almost in the exact spot where the
collision occurred.
The wrecking tug |. J. Merritt is stand
ing by the sunken ship. and If the weather
is favorable tomorrow she will send down
two divers in an effort 10 recover bodies
supposed TO be i'm the wreck. Il. Il
Palen. assistant general manager OF the
Old Dominion Line. said that the ship
probably would he blown up to clear the
path of navigation.
The board Of survey which examined
the Nantucket in drydock announced that
only her forward bulkhead saved her from
sinking almost as quickly as the Monroe.
The further opinion Of experts who eX-
amined the Nantucket in the drydock OF
the Newport News Shipbuilding yard is
that the damage below the water line Of
the Merchants and Miners boat bears out
the contention of Captain Johnson If the
Monroe that the Nantucket met him going
at full speed forward.
About twelve feet OF enc Of the masts
OF the Monroe are protruding from the
water. Efforts will be MADE to save any
thing of value that can be recovered, as
we'll as the bodies OF any Of the dead
found in the cabins or other parts Of the
ship.
The Monroe a Total Loss.
Officials of the Old Dominion Company
here are of the opinion that the Monroe
is a total loss, and that efforts TO raise
her from her bed, ninety feet beneath
the waters of the Atlantic, would be a
useless waste of money. If blown Up.
this will release the bodies of any Of the
victims held under the water.
Three gaping holes were found in the
Nantuckets hull below the water line,
extending down 10 her keel. These three
gashes were made by contact with the
two decks and the keelson of the Mon
roe when the Nantucket rammed her just
behind the bridge. The gashes appear
as mute testimony that the Nantucket
v
the crash came.
So great was the force Of the impact
that the three-inch steel guards on the
Nantucket crumped up like paper, steel
rivets were cut off as though made OF
wood, the steel plates on the side of the
ship were bent and broken like sticks, the
fiukes of 4,0o)-pound anchor snapped off
sharp AT the stock, and the six-nch
steel hawser pipes broke into dozen
pieces.
The bow is stove in from the main deck
to the keel Just above the keel is one
of the longest gashes. where the Nan
tucket struck the keelson of the Monroe.
About fifteen feet above that is another
large cash, where she struck the lower
deck of the Monroe, and about the same
distance above is the largest cash of the
three, where the Nantucket cut into the
Monroe's main deck. The remainder Of
the bow is merely crumped and twisted
together.
Monroe Near Another Collision.
The Monroe had barely escaped col
ision with an unidentified four-masted
schooner about half an hour before she
was rammed by the Nantucket surviving
members of the crew say. and because of
this narrow escape the Monroe was pro-
ceeding with the greatest caution when
the collision occurred.
1t was about | o'clock that the undent-
fed schooner doomed up in the fog blanket,
the schooner being southwark bound.
Those on the Monroe say that so close
did the steamer and schooner pass that
it would almost have been possible for
those on the steamer to reach out and
touch the schooner as the two vessels
passed each other.
Baltimore, Feb. 1.-The steamer Nan
tucket locked here to-day. In a written
report 10 the officials OF the Merchants
and Miners Transportation Company Cap
tain Barry said that in an endeavor to
avoid a collision with the Monroe the
Nantucket's helm was hard-a-ported to
keep TO the right, but the Monroe pro-
ceeded at full speed and tried to cross
the bow Of the Nantucket She succeed
ed in getting partly past the Nantucket's
stem, when the vessels struck, the Nam
tuckets stem striking the Monroes star
board bow forward of the pilot house
about at right angles
The Monroe passed under such great
speed. according 10 Captain Berrys re-
port that the stem of the Nantucket was
bent sharply toward her starboard side
and the Nantucket slowed around so that
her port side was scraped by the Monroe.
crushing one OF the Nantucket's port boats.
ha Of ciC
At the time Of the collision the Nan
tuckets engines were running at full
speed astern and had been so running for