Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-10-18
WRECK OF THE oTRANTo.
Survivors Of Transport Had Terrible
Fight for Life.

Island of Islay, Scotland. october IL
(By the Associated Prcss).-A British
army labor battalion has begun to re-
move the OtrantO wreckage, piled IN
enormous masses in many deep gullicS
on this savage shore. Only by much
laborious and systematic work can the
bodies be- removed from the wreckage
and il may he several weeks before the
task is completed. other bodies are
imprisoncd in rocky inlets and great
beds of kelp or tanglcwood, as the Is
landers term IL.
The Otranto went to pieces on great
rocks a mile out, almost at the very
entrance to Machr bay, where sandy
beach might have offered It haven 10
the disabled transport. y year ago Il
small steamer stranded in Il storm on
that beach intact without the loss oil Il
single life. Here over Il hundred bod
los came ashore and were recovered
easily.
The storm which RACED at the time
Ot the loss VI lIlt oliShSo "'" ~
,lblethat wrcckagc was carried by huge
waves over the cliffs Il quarter OF Il
mile inland. 1t is regarded as a MIRA !
Gle that anybody escaped. yet with one
TOR two exceptions the twenty SURVIVORS
who reached ISlay shore showed little
effect Of their fearful ordeal.
Sergeant Macdonald. a husky Illinois
loy. was hurled by giant combcr in
to one of the deepest rocky ravines
among grinding timbcrs. broken boxes
and PORTIONS of the Otrantos cargo.
He elm bed out with scarcely scratch
and with strength so unimpaired that
he was able TO help two others get be-
yond the reach OF the pursuing waves.
Fri>at" Robert F. Shawd of Lcba-
non. Pa. had Il still more rcmarkaplc
experience. According TO Shawd. two
of his hru;hcrs were Oh the Tuscani;I
and both were saved. They wrote
Urging him To learn to swim. If had
not taken their advice" Shawd declar-
ed. Il would not be alive today. lie
tried 10 Jump from the Otranto to the
destroyer. but fell into the sea. Event
ually he was thrown up on lslay.
Several survivors say the cotton col
lar of their life preservers saved them
from fatal blows by pieces OF wreck
age and they believe if the heads OF
the swimmers had been similarly pro-
tected many others probably would
have escaped. This theory Is support
cd hy the bodies found. The conccn-
suy oi opinion is that far more were
killed by timbcrS than were drowned.
According to the figures compiled
here Sunday and carefully checked
with rmy records the total loss of life
as a result of the disaster To the trans
port Otranto is 52I.
These figures represent one Amerl-
can officer. Second Lieut.. Bernie II.
Coffman OF Robinson, H., 356 Amcri-
can troops. l6l of the Otranto's Off
GERS and crew and six members Of the
crew of French fishing boat.
Up to tonight 266 bodies had been
recovered. Only two were found to-
day as the result OF Il change in the
wind. which now is blowing strongly
off shore, and, according to scaiaring
men. may sweep the bodies far out TO
sea. The two bodies found today were
of an American soldier and a chief
petty officer OF the Otranto. The un-
identified dead include two Asiatics.
The work of recovering the remain
ing bodies of victims of the disaster
washed on the shore of Islay island is
extremely difficult owing to the rugged
coast and the tons of wrcckagc which
hll every crevice In the rocks.