The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-08-26
Survivors of Albert Gieger,
Picked Up by Steamer,
Reach Horne.
WIND BLEW $50
MILES AN HOUR
Capt McNefll Tells of Rescue
After One Man Had
Lost Life.

struggling in raging sea and
buffeted about in wind, the velocity
Of which was officially placed at 40
miles; losing one man in the mad
waters and unable to help their COM
rade who thus went to his deaths
fighting for life for twenty-five hours
and only rescued when death itself
stared them in the face, were some
of the thrilling experiences which
Captain A. P. Mcneil and crew Of
nine men endured on August IT, while
they knew that their smack, the Al
bert Geiger, would last but a Few
hours longer, according to Capt. Nc
NELL, of the lost schooner Albert Gei-
ger, who, with his crew, arrived in
Pensacola last night.
Then, after fighting for life for
hours, and after one of the brave
fighters, in the person of Frank Caus-
ter was washed into the sea, and
/ everything movable on the smack had
been consigned 10 the seething waters,
Captain Mcneil said, the smack
started laundering. With extreme
difficulty, and at the risk of sharing
the fate Of Frank Causter, men Of
the crew worked their way to the Ian
yards. These were cut away, and the
rigging went into the water.
Looked Like Death For All.
! For some hours, the light smack
was thus allowed to 90 before the
. wind, just like a cork on stormy
/ water. Death looked as If it was the
portion of all of them. Racing for
some distance the smack came up
where the American steamship Ala
bama, tanker Of 1851 tons. vas
hove to in one of the iercest hurri-
canes that could be conceived of. Cap-
tain Anderson, of the Alabama, see
ing the probable fate Of the crew if
some effort was not made to lend a
hand, even at the risk Of his own yes
sci, started in to rescue. There was
not a boat on the smack's deck, and
! it was madness to attempt to launch
one from the steamer. The expert
/ enced skipper, however, worked out
a plan, used in like cases, which was
nothing more than that Of putting oil
on the troubled waters This was the
last resort. The Alabama, steaming
in circle around and around the AL
bert Geiger, which was fast sinking,
finally managed to spread circle Of
oil, with the smack in the center.
This gradually had the effect of still
ing the waters, and a great lifeboat on
the Alabama, manned by sturdy sail
ors, was lowered. Tt came to the AL
bert Geiger, took Of nine men, and
returned to the Alabama. Then the
later steamed for Sand Key, and the
remains Of the Albert Geiger are
believed to have remained on the sur
face but E short time.
! Anchoring off Sand Key, the men
were put ashore, and later were taken
aboard the U. S. S. Peoria, on which
vessel they were landed at Key West.
From that point they came by rail to
( Pensacola, arriving here at 10 o'clock
last night,
'Tf the wind blew 104 miles here,
said Captain McNeill, to The Journal,
81 have not a bit Of doubt that the
claims of a wind of 100 miles an hour
are not exaggerated. ] was in both.
Could Not Help Causter.
1--WE were 81 miles north by west
Of Alicran Reef when me hurricane
came down upon US. The steamer
Alabama, a tanker, was hove to, it
was so rough, but that wind howled. Il
was the 18th, and the hurricane came
] out Of the Yucatan channel. We were
) IN it for % hours. One time We man
= aged to work out Of it, but were
: caught again. Everything movable
, went into the sea. We had no boats
and the smack was going TO pieces,
thought, just as fast as possible. Il
was when we shipped one sea after
the other than one man, Frank Caus-
5 ter, went over. We saw him astern
(Confiuued On PAGE Two.l