New-York tribune., 1920-06-12
Nine Dead, Six
Missing as Navy
Boat Capsizes
U. S. Submarine Tender
Eagle Swamped in Squall
in the Delaware River;
Rescuers Rushed to Scene
8 Imprisoned in Hold
Fishermen Witness Mishap;
Commander of Vessel
Risks Life for Others

Commander of Vessel
Risks Life for Others
PHILADELPHIA, June 11.-Nine
men of the crew Of the U. S. navy
submarine tender Eagle No. 25 are
dead tonight and six others are be-
lieved to have been drownd when the
vessel capszed in the Delaware River
off Newcastle, Del, at 1921 o'clock
this afternoon. The ship carried 7
offisers and approximately 65 men.
All the officers and fifty Of the crew
were known to be safe at 10 o'clock
tonight.
Three Of the men unaccounted for
are imprisoned in the hold Of the over
turned boat, it is believed. In the hope
of saving their lives navy tugs and
barge bearing a crane and acetylene
torches have been rushed down the
river by navy yard officials.
The Eagle, in command of Lieutenant
Commander r. M. Pierce, was return
ing from a cruise in Delaware Bay
when the vessel ran into q storm about
two miles off Spike Buoy, near New
castle. Men in small fishing craft in
the river saw the sailors of the boat
making frantic attempts to keep the
Capsizes IN Squall
Many of the fishemen, believing that
the vessel would capsize. started to
row toward the Eagle. Before they
could reach the boat, however, the sub
marine tender, caught in an unusually
violent squall, listed and capsized
Those who are believed to have been
drowned include:
DAVIS Paul seaman SnrinofeId
Mass.
GRIFFITH, Ivy, cook, Bluefeld, W.
Va.
HANCOCK, chief yeoman, supposed
to have been drowned while being
hauled to safety by Commander Pierce
HOUSTON, Robert Ross, seaman,
Bristol, Tenn.
LAMB, John, chief machinist's mate,
Philadelphia.
MYERS, Robert, chief electrician,
RILEY, Robert, seaman, Bridgeport,
WILSON, -, wardroom cook, Key
West.
One other man, John Brandt, died at
Hog Island, after having been rescued
from the hold Of the ship.
Lieutenant Commander Pierce and
about forty sailors were on deck when
the vessel overturned. They were
thrown into the water and swan
either toward shore or toward the
small fishing craft which were hurry
ing to their aid
According to several of the survivors,,
Commander Pierce, instead of trying
to save his own life, swan near the
capsized boat and tried to assist three
members of the crew who were unable
to make appreciable headway against
the strong tides and wind.
Daniel Manguse, an electrician on
the tender and one of the men rescued,
told of seeing Commander Pierce's
the crew. Manguse, who was working
in the engine room, was thrown against
battery box by the listing of the YES
sell
Looking through q portfolio he saw
the danger menacing the craft. In
company with several other men work
ing in the engine room he clambered
through hatchway and jumped over
board. At least forty men were strug-
Cling in the water near him, the cleo
trician said
Two Steamers Give Aid
Shortly after the submarine, cap
sized the steamship Thomas Clyde, en-
route to this city from Baltimore, ap-
peared. A tanker steamer making for
the Delaware Bay also hove in sight.
The two vessels Immediately steered
their course toward the overturned
navy craft and small boats were put
off,
1t was these boats from the two
larger steamships that aided in the
rescue of at least a score of the sailors
who were swimming near the over
turned boat.
When rowboat put off from the
tanker, reached the side of the navy
craft, the men on the rowboat heard
cries coming from the hold of the over
turned craft. Rowing swiftly back to
the tanker they seized axes and crow
bars and returned to the submarine
tender.
A hole was chopped through the
steel plates in the vessel and one fire.
man imprisoned in the engine room
was brought to SAFETY. Other men are
believed to have been imprisoned in
the hold and it was in the hope of saw
ing them that hurry calls were sent to
the navy yard for acetylene torches
to bore through the steel plates of
the tender
Not long after the tanker and the
hoilaS Clyoe appeared to aid the
crew, the independence Hall, an ex-
cursion boat, also approached the over
turned tender. Many of the survivors
were taken from the small fishing craft
and rowboats and placed on the Inde-
pendence Hall or Thomas Clyde.
At the same time messages from the
Philadelphia Navy Yard advised the
rescurers that navy yard relief tugs
carrying physicians were on their way
down the river. Navy Yard tug IS, one
of the fastest of the smaller vessels
at the yard, met the Thomas Clyde in
the Delaware River a few hundred
yards off the navy yard.
The thirtyhve survivors carried by
the Clyde were transferred to the tug
and taken to the navy yard.
There the men were given hot coffee,
sandwiches and cigarettes, while per-
sonnel officers at the yard questioned
them in the hope of getting an accur-
ate estimate Of the casualties among
the crew.
Funeral of l.. M. Porter
To-day; Ill Only Four Days
Services will be held to-day at the
Funeral Church, Broadway and Sixty
sixth Street for Louis M. Porter, fifty
nine wears old director of the Near