Daily Kennebec journal., 1914-01-15

summoned from the Maine coast
| fought her way through 50-mile gale
| last night and just missed a part in
| the rescue. a heavy vapor caused by
| the action of the intense cold on the
water handicapped the searchers and
| it was a fisherman on Port Maitland
| shore who first made out the Cobe-
uuid as the vapor arose late this af-
! ternoon and revealed the liner on the
dreaded Trinity.
The tank steamer Rappahanoock
was the first to bring hope to those
on the Cobequid and she stood by till
the John l.. Cam and Westport ap-
| peared and the Lady Laurier came
| steaming up.
| Darkness was gathering fast but the
| boatmen from the coastal steamers knew
the rock and the surrounding shoals as
well as they did their own front yards
| ashore and they went at the work cut
| out for them with perfect confidence.
| Less than five hours later those who had
faced death for two days were being
| warmed and fed in the most comfortable
quarters in Yarmouth. So far as could
| be learned tonight, none of the party
| was permanently the worse for their ad
| venture.
According to Capt McKinnon of the
| Westport, the Cobequid's stern was not
| broken as was first reported. Capt. Nc
Kinning said the afterpart was highest
| out of water. The steamer was badly
| iced up Capt. McKinnon said the gas
| buoy on Trinity ledgt was in position,
| but was covered with ice which might
| make it of little use in snow storm.
! The Westport was the first to reach the
! Cobeaud She found her at 4.29 this aft
ernoon on the southeast part of Trinity
ledge. At the time there was a high
wind and a rough sea. Capt McKinnon
| took off three lifeboat loads, Y persons,
including all the passengers, the purser,
several deck officers and part of the
crew. The Westport stood by until 6.15
O. clock tonight, when the John L. Cam
| came UP and took on board a men just
as the westport was leaving for Var
The government steamer Hansdowne
| is standing by the Cobequid ready to
take off the captain and his compan-
| ions of their situation becomes desper-
| ate.
mouth worse for their adventure. All,
however, had suffered greatly from the
intense cold. Most of them were frost
bitten and everyone showed the ef-
fects of exposure to zero weather.
When the rescue ships reached the
docks many of their passengers had
to be carried from the ships to the
hotel. For the SO hours after the ves-
sci struck seas broke over her contin-
uously and the steamer was coated
with ice.
Benumbed with the cold and dazed
by their long ordeal, few Of the res
cued could give an intelligent account
of their experiences tonight. One of
the officers of the Cobequid said.
THE ship struck at 6 O'clock Tues
day morning, while we were trying to
locate the lightship off the Lurcher
shoal. In the binding snow storm
which prevailed, we overshot the mark
and brought up on the southeast end
of Trinity ledge. 1t was low tide, and
later in the morning as the tide rose,
it forced us farther and farther up on
the shoal The steamer began to
pound heavily and in a few minutes
the engine room was filled with water.
This stopped the dynamos. putting the
lighting system and heewireless ap-
paratus out of commission.
had sent out an sos which was picked
up by the Cape Sable wireless station.
Later, with the engine room flooded, our
operator had TO depend entirely on the
auxiliary storage batteries and when he
| attempted to use these the gale inereas-
ed and carried away the deck connec-
tions of the aerials A temporary con-
nection which proved unreliable was fix
ed up, but an hour later this, too. was
carried away. Again we rugged up a
connection. but the batteries We're grow
ing weaker and we could send only
very faint spark. The puny waves could
not reach the Cape Sable station, only 80
miles away, but we were able to pick up
messages regarding ourselves and knew
that we were being searched for in vain
off Brier island, 40 miles away, in the
position we enormously gave before our
wireless failed.
Early today the Canadian Northern
liner Royal George, outward bound from
St. John. picked up our feeble cry and
the rescue followed"
| 1t was day and night of
terror on the steamer. Life belts
| had been served out to all OF
board and when the seas began to
break over the ship all hands were
ordered below where they huddled in
the cabins. 1t was feared that the hull
would part. Daylight and the knowl-
| edge that their appeal for help had
been heard gave renewed hope, but
| the position of the ship grew more
dangerous hourly. Up to noon the gale
| showed no signs of subsiding. The
bridge, charthouse, companionways
and everything movable on deck, in
Guiding all but four lifeboats, were
washed away.
| q. H. Douglas, chief engineer, said
Ten minutes after we struck the
/ engineroom was full of water The
| fires were extinguished and the lights
went out. The ships bottom had been
| ground out. She is resting squarely on
| the ledges and will be a total wreck.
| Desperate attempts to prevent perish
| ing from the cold were made. Fires were
| kindled in an iron bucket in which holes
had been cut to afford a draft. This
| crude utensil was used to heat water and
! make tea One of the crew suffered a