The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-11-13
Drama of Horror Is PieCed
Together From Radio
Messages.
go WOMEN ON BOARD
Drift for Hours in Tiny Craft
as Search Goes
On.

as Search Goes
On.
lifeboats had been rescued, the s.
S. Berlin flashed ashore these brief
messages telling the most graphic
story Of all:
Rescued one man drifting in life
belt. Tells that woman with child
is drifting here within radius of
two miles,"
still searching for two lifeboats
and makeshift raft reported to have
women"
Radio Operator Missing
At the offices of sanderson & Son,
Inc, New York agents for Lamport
d Holt, it was said. No messages
had yet been received telling the
number of life boats and RATS that
had put off from the Vestris.
Such information has been re-
quested from Captain w. ]. Carey
aboard the rescue vessel NIyrian.
From the Myriam early today
Captain Carey sent the surnanes
OF persons rescued with him aboard
the Myriam. Fifty-six names were
sent, but there were several dupli-
cations. The list did not include
the name of Michael j. OLoughlin.
the Vestris' radio operator. It was
believed that OLoughlin, if he man
aged to leave the stricken craft be-
lore she sank, would have been in
the same lifeboat with the CAPTAIN.
usually the last to abandon ship.
The rescue messages this morning
came as stirring interlude in what
earlier had given promise of being
one OF the great tragedies of the
sea-surely the greatest tragedy
since 1916, when the French cruiser
Provence sank in the Mediterranean
with a loss of more than three
thousand lives.
The list Of lives endangered when
the comparatively minute lifeboats
put off the Vestris at noon Monday
was even greater than the death list
from the sinking of the Principessa
Mafalda off the South American
coast last winter.
Reported Trouble Monday
The Vestris first reported trouble
at 1o;O5 a. m, Monday. She had
sprung a leak, Her 339 passengers
and members of the crew were in
danger unless help arrived imme-
diately, the radio operator,
OLoughlin, reported. At nNon Cap
tain Carey-who was on his last run
as commander of the Vestris-or-
dered the passengers to the iifeboats
and once again the familiar:
Women and children first" rang
from an ocean-going vessel.
Carey and OLoughlin abided by
the rules OF the sea. They stood by,
watching the great craft list to a
SO-degree angle, watching the bill
lowing waves beat over the decks,
watching the one-time queen of the
South American fleet gradually
break up, watching death approach.
At 1;25 p. m. Monday they aban-
doned the boat.
The Vestris sailed out of New
York Saturday bound for Buenos
Aires. Captain Carey was the last
one on the Vestris. He carried a
de luxe passenger list, which in
cIuded many prominent South
Americans and North Americans.
once away from sight Of land the
Vestris encountered a storm. The
United States weather bureau
warned this storm was imminent
and the warning went directly to
the Vestris. Estimates in Wash
ington were that the wind reached
a velocity of eighty miles an hour
at times-a wind that would whip
the angry waves well over the decks
on any ocean liner.
The Vestris sailed through until
1905 a. m. Monday when an SOS
electrified land stations and ships
at sea. 1t came from the radio oper-
ator OF the Vestri and read:
we need help at once; very ur-
gent"
She gave position as latitude
S5.S7 north and longitude 71.O8 west.
Seas Moderately Rough
Forty minutes later Captain Carey
messaged his craft was listing at a
perilous 30 degrees angle, standing
on her beam, and that the seas were
moderately rough"
OLoughlin kept flashing the SOS.
asking and pleading that help be
sent. His messages were terse, but
told Of the perilous position.
Shortly before noon the United
Press intercepted a message from the
steamer saying that the passengers
might have to take to boats.
Then at 1880 p. m. the passengers
left, but true to the tradition Of the
sea, Carey and OLoughlin remained
at their posts. 1t was not until 1923
p. m. that Carey and OLoughlin left.
Seas had broken high over the craft
The radio had been destroyed and
temporary measures were installed.
Then the messages ceased and no
further word was heard until this
morning.