, 1923-01-14

MIS-. ACklnS, VINO saw her
before her eyes, was rescued by the
crew Of the ferryboat Henry NJ.
E1agier. The Others aboard the sea
plane picked up by the Flagler were
Miss Julia Haverty. a nurse with the
Atkins family; Otto Abrnnnms, veal
thy New York broker. and w. p.
Miller and Harold Thompson. pilot
and mechanician of the plane.
The Flagler locked here tonight
with the survivors. Pilot Miller de-
clared engine trouble forced him to
attempt a descent when twenty miles
from Havana. his destination. As he
turned the nose of his machine
toward the water, something snapped
and the plane crumpled, diving down
out OF control.
The four who died were trapped In
their narrow seats and were unable
to extricate themselves. Their bodies
have not been recovered
The survivors chung to the wreck
age. They were unable to aid Atkins.
the two children and the governess.
The Flagier, which came in sight just
as the seaplane fell, sent off a small
boat TO the rescue. Those picked up
were unhurt except for shock and a
d~renching.
The Atkins family had Just arrived
from New York. their home, and
were en- route to Cuba where Atkins
had extensive sugar holdings.
The first indication OF trouble
came when we were about three
quarters of a mile away from the
Flagler," Miller said. I'VE had been
going along all right when I noticed
that the engine was beginning. to
miss. a
"I tried for several minutes to ad-
just the engine so as to keep It from
missing but in spite of everything 1
tried It kept on failing. I cut down
the speed of the plano and decided l
would come down and then try to ad-
Just the trouble
at had been making IS miles an
hour and cut It down to As.
81 put the machine into a glide and
attempted a landing. I brought it
down all right but we struck the top
Of a high wave and bounded back
into the air.
"a high sea was running and made
the landing very difficult.
"I SCARED around a few times and
again attempted to land.
This time I landed in the trough
of a big wave which crushed h
center passenger compartment Of h
ship.
both of the children wcFe in this
compartment asleep.
THE wave must have killed them
Instantly, as they made no sound
after the cabin caved in.
Mrs. Atkins opened the cockpit
and was the first to come put I
crawled i've from my seat to where
she was clinging TO the wreckage,
and helped Miss HAverty and Miss
Mcdonald out of the pit. Atkins had
crawled out of his seal in the pit and
was wild to dive into the center com
partment and save his children. l
held him back, though, as It would
have meant certain death TO do SO.
"Just as we had all secured good
grips on the w~reckage, n big wave
came along and turned the plane com
pletely over, Mr.. Atkins and Miss
Mcdonald lost their grip and were
swept away into the sea, which was
running high. We could see them
carried away but 1t would ave been
suicide to try TO rescue them.
"Thompson and 1 held on to the
wreckage with one hand while we
helped the other two women to keep
their grips.
1.-THE wave were running high and
we hung tightly, hoping that the
Flagler saw us fall.
I'VE had been there several min
utea when a life BOAT from the Flag
Ter came to u rescue, Captain John
Albury himself headed the rescue
party.
Several unsuccessful attempts
were made to transfer us TO the life
boat due to the heavy seas. Mrs.
Atkins was the first one to be taken
from the wreck. Then followed Miss
Haverty and Mr.. Abrahams.
I'VE We're then rowed back to the
Flagler and brought hore."
Mrs. Atkins was taken to a hospital
as soon as the Flngler docked here.
She appeared TO be suffering from a
loss OF memory and did not seem TO
realize what had happened.
The rest of tho survivors were little
the worse for their narrowing exper-
fence. Aside from being drenched by
their stay in the water, they suffered
no other III effects.
Boats VIII leave here tomorrow in
an effort TO recover the bodies OF the
victims, Little hope is held out for
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