Evening star., 1928-11-23
ENGINEER BLAMES
BLACK GANG STRIKE
| FOR VESTR|S' LOSS
Claims Crew Deserted Posts
Before Noon of Day
When Ship Sank.
SAYS GREAT CONFUSION
REIGNED ON LIFEBOAT
Filled With Colored Men All
Shouting Different Orders,
He Declares.
BY the Associated Press.

NEW YORK, November 23.-The
Vestris might not have sunk if the
black gang" had stuck to its posts
in the Stokehold. said Chief Engineer
James A. Adams, testifying today in
the steamboat inspection service hear
ing at the Customs House.
The volume of water in the vessel.
he told Dickerson N. Hoover, supervis-
ing inspector general presiding at the
inquiry, was kept down as long as they
had steam, but the stokehold crew
deserted its posts before IL o'clock of
the Monday that the ship sank.
Tells Of His Rescue.
At one point, Adams told of his rescue
by No. 13 lifeboat, in which there were
flve or six sailors and one fireman. He
said that the men in this boat were
not panic-stricken, and Mr.. Hoover
asked him if he took command of the
boat.
II tried to control them as much as I
could" Adams said
Did you ever have trouble with the
! black gang?"
In what way?" countered Adams.
Were they ever mutinous?"
There was no trouble except they
| wouldn't turn to-"
"On this voyage?"
yes"
In the lifeboat he finally boarded, he
said, there was great confusion.
Filled With CoIored Men.
'It was filled with colored men and
/ they were all shouting different orders"
Johnstone said. They were unanimous
in only one thing-that was to get away
from the ship"
! Adams testified that the black gang"
left the stokehold about 1890 the
morning the ship sank. He denied q
statement made at the hearing yester-
day by Samuel Augustus Parfitt, fire.
man, that he was below at IL o'clock on
1.-The day of the sinking. The chief en-
gineer said the black gang" left their
posts before the bulkhead between the
coal bunkerS and the stokehold was
! broken. He said that water which got
4
| did not know, caused the disaster.
| The chief engineer testified the en-
gineers remained with him, but that
the firemen were on top and in the
| alleyway. He said he reported to the
! chief officer and some came down, but
he did not think they remained. He
/ said that there was no serious danger
until IL 80, when the bulkhead of the
coal bunker gave way,
Says Mutiny Large Factor.
Asked by Walter F. Brown. Assistant
Secretary of Commerce, whether he
thought "the mutiny of the black gang
largely contributed to the loss of the
ship" the chief engineer replied;
Il most certainly do"
Adams then told how the ship had
behaved from the time she left her
! pier in Hoboken until 9 am. Sunday,
when the ash ejector began leaking.
| He stated that after several hours work
! this leak was stopped.
The board of inquiry sought to learn
from the witness the source of the water
| that sank the ship. The witness did
not know. He was able. he said to
check the rise of water in the engine
stokehold and held it almost steadfast
until 1880 o'clock Monday morning,
! when the bulkheads gave way.
Questioned About Pumps.
The only theory the chief engineer
had as to where some of the water may
have come from was that probably a
scupper plate was carried away on the
Starboard side
Adams was questioned on the pumps.
which. he stated. came under three
aSsifications-Service pump. ballast
pump and the pump on the ash ejector.
With full steam pressure he was able
to throw out of the ship, with these
three pumps, so to 80 tons of water an
hour and had not the bulkheads given
way to the engine room, he said, could
have held the ship afloat much longer.