Evening star., 1926-11-20
Check-Up by VesseI's Cap
tain Indicates Toll In.
cIudes IL of Crew.
FOUR MEN Unidentified
ARE BELIEVED SEAMEN
Burning 0il-Generated Gas Is Re-
puted Cause of Blast at Spar
rows Point, Md.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
BALTIMORE, November 90
Search Of the cooling ruin Of the Nor.
weg!an tanker Mantilla, rent apart by
an explosion in it's hold while in dry.
dock at Sparrows Point, today had
accounted for only eight of Is men
believed killed
A check made by Capt. Nils Daniel.
sen indicated that the death toll in.
cluded IL Of the Mantillas crew Of
35. Four unidentified bodies were ap.
parently those Of seamen. The other
bodies recovered were believed those
of employees of a ship cleaning COM
pany. OF these. the body Of Amiel
Petersen of Baltimore was Identified.
OF the two score injured receiving
hospital treatment several had slight
chances Of recovery, physicians said.
Many injured who were treated at
the Bethlehem Ship Building Corpora.
ton dispensary went to their homes.
to keep an accurate tally of those
hurt
Gas Is Blamed.
Accidental ignition Of gas general ted
from oil that remained in fuel tank
when the Mantilla went into dry dock
was believed the cause Of the blast
which ripped the vessels steel plates
like tissue. Flames leaped from the
assures, soaring workmen from the
docks and drydock scaffolding.
Rescue workers who penetrated
pillows Of smoke which blanketed the
drydock after the explosion. found dis
abled men krantically attempting to
frnn odv,o nc{nO NJ
burning oil. Many were taken out
with their clothing afire.
Thorough search Of the interior OF
the vessel was impossible until sew
eral hours after the explosion. At
that time no trace Of bodies could be
found.
Ohicials believed the missing men
might have been hurled into the
water or consumed in the flames.
Mate Details Disaster.
Lars Larsen. second mate Of the
Mantilla who was aboard when the
vessel blew up. gave a graphfc ac-
count of the disaster from his bed In
Marine Hospital. He was seriously
burned.
"As second officer Of the ship he
said. ut was more or less my duty to
be foreman for the day OF the repair
jobs and the overhauling that was
being done. had come on duty at
o'clock in the morning. I had lost
sight of the time, and do not know
exactly what time 1t was when was
standing amidships about Is feet from
the side, observing some laborers who
were crawling under the ship, testing
the rivets with torch
But all of a sudden I heard ter
rife crash and looking UP saw
vivid flame that seemed to shoot out
mediately what had happened. I
turned around, and It seemed as II
the whole side Of the ship was coming
down on me.
During this time I heard continu-
Gus explosions. Not so loud as the
first but with each successive bang
there was crash and part OF the
ship seemed to give way. Protecting
my eyes as much as I could with my
hands I rushed out Of the slip and
was finally picked up by some labor
ers.
II do remember looking toward the
ship and seeing men climb down
rope from the stern to the dock
The MAntilla was owned by w.
wilhemson Of Ponsberg. Norway.
ice Of the Mexican Petroleum Co. on
the Tampico- Baltimore run. She was
Of $50 gross tonnage.
Worst for Years.
The explosion was the most serious
harbor disaster here in 13 years. 1t
recalled the wrecking Of the British
tramp steamer Alum Chine on March
8, 1918, by three carloads Of dynamite
in its hold. Thirty-three men were
killed and so injured.
Had the blast aboard the Mantilla
been delayed 10 minutes. the toll
would have been greatly lessened,
officials said, most Of the workmen
would have been away from the dock.
during the lunch period.
The force of the explosion was in
dicated by havoc created throughout
the neighbcrhood. Factory windows
we're crushed in and steel missiles
rained over the shipyard. A piece Of
steel weighing several tons crashed
on the deck Of the steamer Mount
Clay, in an adjacent drydock. The
Mount Clay had no one aboard.