Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-24
|gHIp. JUST LIKE STACK
/ GCARDS, FELL APART,
| AYRESCUED SAILORS
c.,rivors of the Grace Sey-
y, ,.o,,r. Reaching Here, Sus-
nsct Work of Germans Be-
fore Ship Left New York
. MAKE REPORT TO-DAY

.i rsnort Of the circumstances sur
slnr the sinking of the Grace Sey-
three-masted schooner, about l75
~ the Irish coast, on December 4.
~. made today to A. d. Cummings, OF
u,.,rut street. agent for Howard
! 3.r,on. Of Leesburg, N. j., owner OF the
~, by the seven members of the crew,
i .,srs rescued by the Grecian steam
T AIp Tcsslfoglu'
n. crew, consisting Of Captain Charles
4 4,'.r,rell sf06 Richmond street; first
~. Donald Wright, of Linden street,
Il s..s,vn. and five negroes told n story
4 ,Aship. adventure and mystery that
+ z...,osehed fiction. when they arrived in
Il. ,Itv from the Delaware Breakwater,
~. they were put of of the Greclan
gamer
a.. wright declared that the circum-
..srss surrounding the sinking were
's.tsrious and intimated that some
H. vas done" TO the vessel before II
+ w New York harbor on October II with
.srro OF oil consigned to the French
1 s.,,ynt. ent, The seams Of the vessel
4 "a bsen tampeie ed with, 1t was said, and
4. crew believes that German agents
,re responsible
,ocordlnR to Wright the vessel was
I ,Asut two weeks out when II was dis
! sv,red that the boat was leaking. From
1 .s,. An until the time they were picked
4 N Nv the Grecian ship the crew worked
,rht and day at the pumps to keep her
/ scat
NATE wRIGHTS STORY
-something was done that made her
ak all over" said Wright.
we were loaded with oil for Rouen,
rance. We had about 1900 barrels of
n on board, and we had a good big
h,Isht, so they must have wanted the
Al badly on the other side to pay that
flight. But we ran into heavy weather
RON, the start, and then she sprang n
kak
she leaked badly in the rudder seam
md forward, and, In fact. she leaked all
wtr The water seemed to come in
ruywhere We had crew of FIVE sail
ra and kept on the pumps all the
tine The power pump was driven with
I, easoline engine. and while she was go
hg we kept afioat, Then the gasoline
ave out and the water gali'ed on us all
he time. We didn't get a CRY suck out
u the pumps the whole trip, and when
he power pump gave out we made no
hsadway Mt all against the water she
kok It Kept gaining on us all the time.
FIGURED VESSEL WAS "GoNER."
"She sank deeper and deeper as the
mter rose in the hold. We had seven
h,i Of water in her and she had gone
iOWn until her decks were flush with the
water. The big seas kept breaking over
Ar all the time, too. or course, when
vessel is full of water she is very
spIy capsized, so on the morning OF De-
amber we cut away all three masts to
isp her from turning over.
I'VE had been lying to for q long time
hen already, and had lashed the tar
panllns over the afterhouse so We could
stay there. We couldn't keep on deck of
the xater-logged schooner and we could
Just about figure out how long she would
laE At the rate the water was rising In
hg hold. We figured that she was a
scner that night. She couldn't possibly
folt another q hours.
This Greek steamship came in sight
It o'clock in the afternoon. 1t was
pretty dark and stormy, but she made
u out. and when she saw there were
living men on board the sinking schooner
he went up to windward OF us and
tcpped her lifeboat overheard. The boat
thfted down to us and picked us all up.
lhd the steamer in the meantime went
town to leeward OF us so that we in the
ecat merely had to keep on drifting to
isaeh her, or course, that's all a boat
seuld do In that sea. II was blowing so
bard the seas swept over the bridge of
10 steamer. But we made her and all of
u got safely aboard. But the lifeboat
sn smashed to kindling wood. But we
dcnt lose man. We all made II.
Going up and down the coast here the
ufsee Seymour always was all right,
ife and sound. After all the money
nn was spent on her at Norfolk and
ssw York, she should have been better
nan ever. She should have been.
Hhsther she was or not is something I
liupose TO talk over with the owners
nmorrow morning."