Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1921-08-19
RUSk COUNTY BOY
IN SHIP WRECK
Blown One Hundred and Fifty
Feet Into Air When Cargo
Expl0des

Harley Christensen, son of Henry
Christensen, of Weyerhaeu&er, was
second mate of the steamship Western
Front which was blown up at sea
near the Sicily islands on the morn
ing of July IL.
In the following letter to his folks,
he gives graphic description of the
wrecking of the ship and the hard
ships of the crew:
5. 5 City of st. Louis, July 2G, 1921.
Dearest Mother, Father and Sisters:
| am now on my way from New
York to Savannah to get paid off
| suppose you received my cable
gram from England and are anxious
20 hear about the accident.
We sailed from Jacksonville on June
23rd, had a pleasant voyage; caught
4 big shark; saw very large iceberg.
and everything was going along fine
until the fatal day, July 18th, as we
we're nearing the English coast We
expected to be in London in three days
more. At 3 :27 a. III. | was on watch and
was pacing up and down the bridge
md smelled wood smoke. / was on
the port side at this time and ran over
to the starboard side and saw heavy
smoke pouring out of the ventilatOr
at No. 3 hatch | Immediately turned
iii general alarm and called the cap
tain; took a fiashlight and went into
the shelter deck to ascertain, if pos
sible, the exact location of the fire.
and l could see that it was in the
lower hold where was stored phos-
plate rock, lumber. rosn and turpen-
tine. The latter is highly explosive
We almost persisted in opening a wa
ter-tight door so we could batter down
turned on the steam fire eXtingnisher
and left it on for five hours while we
made all speed possible to the near
est port. which was Penzance, Eng
land. We swung out the life boats
and were all ready in case anything
happened. We had just sighted Bish-
ops Rock in the Sicily is1aiids and as
| came down the ladder from the
bridge the smoke was so strong it
burned my nostrils. At the foot Of
the ladder the captain and chief engi-
neer were holding a Thermometer down
in the ventilator,
| said, The fire is gaining; the
smoke is strong" The captain said,
1T smells like steam to me-" Steam.
hell, it's smoke." ana 1T the word
smoke, bel! itself broke loose The ex-
plosion was awful. I started in the
air with hundreds of tons of cargo
and was conscious, but the next expio-
sion, coming within q small fraction
of q second after the first, gave nae IA
awful boost and knocked me out. The
third mate, on the bridge, said | went
$50 feet in the air, Whirling over and
over. | was going down in the water
50 fast when | regained consciousness
that it locked all white streaks. My
mind cleared instantly and / realized
everything and started climbing Up,
but it took me q long {ime to stop
and there was ne air III my lungs as it
had all been driven out by the force
Of the explosion. When | reached the
surface the first breath of air was the
greatest pleasure l have ever know,i.
Barrels and wrecSage We're still
falling ab1ue me- 4 Big hatch cover
hit close to my head and the water
splashed 50 hard it hurt my eyes, but
it was the hast thing to fall and |
took g lock- and there was the skipper
about ten feet from me, struggling to
get hold Of some wreckage. | said.
Hello, skipper" and he turned his
head and said, ''Get your legs out Of
the water; the sharks will get YOU"
The sharks had followed the vessel
all morning but the explosion had I'M
doubtedly frightened them away.
This all happened In a very short
time, and the ship was going ten knots.
at the time Of the explosion, SO it left
us very fast. | looked at the ship and
the black smoke and flamess were .eap-
ing in the air all over the forward
part of the shin, we thought that
most everyone had been killed, but we
could see them lowering three life
boats. BY the time they got the life
boats in the water the falls was burn
ing.
We were now about mile and a
half from the ship and we thought it