The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1918-02-26
SURVIVORS TELL
GRAPHIC TALES
Persons Escaping Death on
Wrecked Red Cross Liner
Relate Experiences.
DEAD RECKONING BLAMED
Ship Was Navigated Without
Patent Log Owing to Icy
Crust on Sea.
DEAD RECKONING BLAMED

St. Johns, N. r., Feb. 26.-Graphie
stories of rescues from the wrecked /.
Red Gross liner Florizel and further
details of Sundays disaster were re-
lated by survivors who are recovering
here from the terrible hardships they
endured before they were saved by
small boats from the Newfoundland
steamer Prospero.
When Capt. Martin, of the FloriZel,
reached here he was in such n state
of collapse he could make no state-
ment.
Members of the crew said the mis-
take in reckoning which brought the
Florizel head-on to the coast twenty
miles north of Cape Race was due to
running without the patent log. The
heavy snow, forming an icy crust as
1t struck the sea, made it impossible
to use the log to register the steamers
progress against the storm, The ship.
therefore, was navigated by dead reck
oning, and. as frequently happens in
this region of shifting currents and
winds, the calculations were off.
Trapped Below Decks.
to death half clad In less than fifteen
minutes after the steamer struck the
rocks. Dozens of passengers, trapped
below decks. were drowned In their
berths or at the foot of the companion
ways by seas which filled the saloon.
Directed by officers and crew, those
who escaped from the saloon sought
safety on the bridge deck. Two hours
later giant wall of water thundered
uppp them mrepcbiupa tbet otr
bodily from its base and engulfing
thirty men and women.
a short while later, twenty persons
clinging desperately to the roof of the
smoking room met similar fate.
The stout construction OF the wire~
less house saved most of the survivors.
Thirty-two persons piled into the wire
less room, packed so closely they could
neither sit nor lie down. They were
WITHOUT food, water or adequate cloth
ing. They were often engulfed by
boarding seas. Some OF them. badly
injured by flying timbersIand other
wfeclIage. died as they stood. III N " /.
WhoIs Families Die.
The pitiful manner In which meni-
bers OF families died one by one
was graphically described by snr-
viyors
Three-year -old Betsy Mum. daugh-
ter of John $. Mum. managing direc-
tor of the line, was swept overheard
before his eyes. The child's nurse had
been drowned in her berth. Mum was
swept to his death with the group on
the bridge deck. Fred Butler, an arr
chitect of this city, who was going to
Florida, with his wife. was supporting
her against the rush OF water when
one comber, towering above all the
others. snatched her from his arms.
He was carried along helplessly In the
torrent. Bruised and enneshed In
wreckage, he was unable to extricatc
and perished miserably.
Fought Death Heroicaliy.
One of the most remarkable tales OF
the survival of the strongest relates
the way in which Mai. Michael Sulli-
van, commander OF the Newfoundland
forestry battalion, and Ralph Burn
ham, cadet of the royal flying corps,
fought back death literally with their
bare fists and brought through with
them naked Spanish stoker. Maj
Sullivan and the young subaltern con-
trived to shelter themselves in the
upper section of bunker through
which ashes from the stokehold are
empted into the sea. There for twen-
ty-six hours they maintained them
selves. They nearly perished with the
cold. and TO keep warmth in their bod
les beat each other with their fists.
Into their precarious retreat crept one
Of the Spanish stokers, stark naked
and nearly dead from the shock of icy
water after the terrific heat of the fire
room. He was too numb to fight for
his own life. So the major and the
corporal fought for him.
From pummeing themselves they
.ook to pummeling the stoker. Secur-
ng a tarpaulin they wrapped it about
him and. though nearly exhausted
themselves. they worked up the pros
rate stoker's circulation by unceasing
sxertions. They brought the stoker
through. but he lies at a hospital here
i'll. Burnham was badly frost
,itten. and Maj. Sullivan was seriously
crippled when flying wreckage crushed
me of his legs.
Movie Man Tells Story.
Another terrible experience was that
# John Kelly, manager of a moving
,icture theater in this city. He is the
nly one of those trapped below who
ives to tell OF 1t. The first rush of
vater flooded his stateroom, but the
ir pressure at the top of the room
,ept down the water. so that by lying
IN the upper berth, with his nose to
he ceiling. he was able to escape
rowning. His greatest fear was that
ifesavers might board the ship. take
If those on the decks and, believing
II below deck drowned. depart and
cave him to die. He cried for help
{ the top of his lungs. but the howl
ng of the gale and the crash of the
eas drowned out the feeble sounds he
ould make. When hope had nearly
one he gave a last despairing shout.
Te heard an answering shout Res
uers had heard him and in a short
me blueiackets from one Of the res
ming vessels had smashed a way to
i'm with axes and lifted him from his
)mb.