New-York tribune., 1919-12-22
Sailors, Dazed and Weak,
Tell of 2 Boats Swallowed
in Sea With Captain and
SO of Manxman's Grew
Aid Quarter of Mile Away
Steamer Answered Distress
Call, but Gale Prevented
Launching of Lifeboats

Nineteen sailormen. still weak and
dazed from exposure in a lifeboat on
The Atlantic. were brought to port yes
tsrday on the British steamship British
Isles. They are the sole survivors o.
tbe crew OF ffty-nine officers and men
of the British freighter Manxman
which foundered in q gale off the coast
Of Nova Scotia December 49,
They saw Captain Burgess, master
Of tn lost vessel. hurled into the sea
ron. lifeboat and swallowed up in a
wave. Theirs was ;he only one of
three boats that lived long enough in
,he northwest gale to reach the steam
ship British Isles. which steamed about
in search of the laundering Manxman
= ouarter of mile away. Chilled bv
he icy gale, the survivors were unable
"a handle the oars. Five were hurled
INTO the sea at different times, but
managed to cling to a small raft which
served as sea anchor to their life
boat.
In vain they looked for a boat to
come out .om the big freighter stand
inc by, but none was lowered to help
mem. Every time the men OF the
British Isles attempted to lower boat
Il was hurled against the ships sides
and smashed
nv OSYlCtS (fc same DlJlloSS gaze
that wrecked their vessel worked them
nearly two hours OF waiting they
dr;fted close enough to take line. Ii
was then that the crew of the British
isles went over the sde in lifeboats
and one by one hauled the half frozen
survivors to the deck. Once aboard,
hey were stripped of their wet cloth
inc and put into warm hunks, but de-
sn,te this care one of the twenty sur
rlyors dleC
When the Manxman left Newport
News for Portland, Me, to load grain
or Gibraltar her master, Captain AL
an Brooks. was too i'll to sail. The
yessel was then turned over to the
command of Mr.. Burgess, the chief Of
acer. who perlshed when he left her
in a lifeboat.
When some forty hours on her way
TO Gibraltar the ManXman got into a
nigh and confused sea and her cargo Of
grain shifted, giving her a big list to
port She had been in this plight for
zen hours when the British Isles sight
cd her, on December II, and sgnalled
mat she would stand by. Several
tlmes the rescuing vessel tried to lower
boats, but was unable to get one off to
the laundering Marxman.
She stood by from early morning
unit dusk, and just as the light of day
was fading three ifeboats put out from
me doomed steamship. Two were
quickly swamped and the thirty-nine
men who occupied them were swallowed
up in the sea. The third boat, which
kept ahoat, contained the twenty men
who were saved.
Hoping that he might be able to
rescue others, Captain J. H. Gore, of
the British Isles, steamed about in the
vicinity throughout the night, and at
dawn. when there was no sign of life
aboard the derelict or in the waters
around il, he resumed his voyage to
New York
The rescued men are Andreas Donna,
J. S. Boxall, Frank McCloud, Edgar
Hanson, W S. Mandur. William S.
Leigh. Paul Keenan,, Herbert Nathan,
James Fairweather, Thomas w. Hem
ing, f. W. Mitchell, Sydney Thomas,
William Russell, Angel Batiologo, Will
lam J. Bates, John NJ. Montgomery,
George Dimitrios and Gricos Goylialas.