The Nenana daily news., 1918-10-12
PASSENGER ON LAUNCH FLYER
 TELLS OF TRIP
Peter Jensen, Who Got Off Al Wood River, Tells of Passengers
 On Board Launch.

Flyer on her ill-fated trip, and who got off at Wood river, returned to town yesterday in a polling boat when he heard of the accident to the launch.
 Jensen says that the launch was not travelling at very high rate of speed and the trip from Nenana to Wood river consumed one hour and forty minutes, which, in his opinion, is not as good time as this launch has hitherto made.
 The Flyer, he says, had canvas covering all around it, also at the stern end, fastened on the outside. A glass shield forward and flush with the forward deck of the boat could be easily let down for the purpose of ingress and egress. I'm mediately aft of this shield, on the starboard bow, there was a small opening in the canvas covering through which one could get out by diving head first; a similar opening was also available on the same side of the boat at its after end and next to the seat occupied by Mrs. Hawley Sterling
 The engine of the launch took up much of the space in the center of the boat and extending slightly aft. The space between the engine and the hull of the boat on the star board side was used as passage way and for luggage; the space on the port side was taken up by the exhaust, magneto and the fittings of the engine. The position of the passengers, as described by Jensen, was as follows:
 Immediately back of the wind shield, seated on some baggage, were Richards and Jensen on the port and starboard side respectively, Jen- sen being immediately next to the small opening in the canvas cover, which though fastened, could have been easily opened; immediately be- hind Jensen in the starboard pass ageway between the engine and the hull, Craig was said to have been in reclining position on some bag gage. Next to the engine at the after end, on the port side, the Hungry Kid" sat at the steering wheel On the seat immediately be- hind the Hungry Kid" was Mrs. Craig and her child; abreast of her on the starboard side was Helen Moulton. George Coleman was seat ed behind Mrs. Craig and Mrs. Ster- ling sat behind Helen Moulton. Mrs. Sterling's seat was immediately next to the canvas flap opening at the after end of the boat.
 As a possible cause of the acci- dent, Jensen favors the same theory as advanced by Fred Douse, and thinks that the shaft of the boat was forced up by the shock of the impact when the boat grounded and that the rapidly revolving propeller tore a great hole in the stern end of the boat before the engine came to a stop. The boat on drifting off the bar, sinking by the stern. Asked as to whether Mrs. Craig had a life preserver on when leav- ing Nenana, Jensen says he did not
 notice it. She may have had one
 on under her coat he thinks, but has
 no recollection of seeing her with ] one on.
 Joe Johnson, of the launch Peer ! less, is of the same opinion as Douse
 and Jensen as to the probable cause of the disaster, and the finding of the wrecked boat will alone estab fish the means of her destruction. No word has been received, so far, from the scene of the salvage oper-
 ations. The steamer Shusana is | expected to arrive on the scene sometime today, when the big grab hooks, recently sent out from Fair , banks, will be used to drag the
 river for the hull and the bodies of