New Britain herald., 1928-11-22
FORMER SKIPPER
 0f LOST VESSEL
 GIVES EVIDENCE

GIVES EVIDENCE (continued from First Page) the ship sank and he saw no efforts to repair it.
 Boxili was the frst witness of the day. He said that the Vestris began to list week ago Saturday night. q few hours after leaving New York for South America
 Had Listed Previously He had noticed ! similar list. how ever, on previous voyages.
 About 10 o'clock Sunday morning. he said. water began to pour from the ash hopper. Tho ship sank about ] o'clock Monday afternoon. So much water came in from the hopper, he continued, that tho stoke hold floor was awash and the firemen had to stoke standing deep in water. Water also poured into the stoke- hold. he said, from half door above. which other witnesses have testified leaked constantly. Water Stopped Engines
 When he went on duty at mid night Sunday. Boxill continued, the water had stopped one of the ships three main engines. The stokers had to be held up as they shovelled because Of the ships list. There was q brief interchange during Boxill's testimony when Cap tain A. P. Jessup. American nautical adviser to U. s. Commissioner o'Neill. presiding at tho hearing. asked for some blue prints of the Vestris.
 A lawyer for the Lampolt & Holt line. owners of the Veitris. said that none was available.
 Blueprints Wanted
 There must be blue prints" Cap tain Iessup said. You couldn't op- crate your ship out of this port with out blueprints."
 It developed that all available blueprints had been sent down to the separate inquiry being conducted by tho U. s. steamboat inspection service.
 Before this was made clear, how ever. the lines lawyer complained that he was being unjustly criticized for not having witnesses and dia- grams at both hearings at the same time.
 Both Captain Jessup and U. :. At- torney Futile. who is conducting the federal inquiry, disclaimed any in tention or desire to criticize the line.
 Says Bremen Obeyed
 Boxill said that despite very try ing and perilous conditions, all the night fremen stuck to their posts in the stoke hold and obeyed the or ders of their officers. They had nothing to eat from Saturday night. up to tho time tho ship sank Monday afternoon.
 Dumped Cargo overboard
 Boxill said he helped dump cargo overheard until the chief officer came along and ordered all hremen below. This was about II o'clock Monday morning. he said. He was tying on | hatch cover. nauseated. hs said, but hs was ordered down with the rest.
 After seeing the way things were down there. we came back up." Box i'll said. T stayed below deck. iN hA 90 l cans up on deck, too. This was about | quarter past l2. On deck I found everybody with their lifebelts on"
 Tho witness said he went to | lifeboat on the port side which was then being filled with passengers. men and women. The boat would not 60 all the way to the water. he said. because the falls were not working, 70 he and another member of the crew cut 1t loose with their knives.
 They were about to lower one Of the boats. he said, when the ship turned over.
 Thrown Into Water
 The lifeboat rested on the ships side," he said. Y jumped of the ships side as the ship turned over. The women and children who were in that nfeboat were thrown out into the water as the ship went over"
 Boxill said that after swimming about in the wreckage for a few minutes, he found lifeboat that had tipped over. Its occupants were in the water, he said. and some of the men were trying to right it.
 T held on to the side," he said. until I saw some dead children and women there. That made mo kind of dizzy, so I took off most of my clothes. so I could swim better, and swam away.
 Held Onto Wreckage
 Finally l saw one of the en- gineer's messman on a large piece of wreckage-a piece about six feet square. I swam over and stayed with him until 1t was dark. There was another man on the piece of wreckage. too, a passenger.
 We saw | fAft noatlnG near. ana said to the engineers mess man, Slim, come on-let's % over there Slim couldn't swim, 50 went after the raft and lowed it over and got him on it. The other man got on too.
 Then Slim yelled that he'd got . cramp. He couldn't hol6 on any more. 50 he slipped of. don't know if it was midnight then or not-but it was mighty dark. The other fel- low said something in Spanish, and hs slipped of, too.
 Saw Red Flare
 '"rhe raft had lost its ballast then. so 1t turned over, and l had to swim until it turned back again. Then saw a lare-a red fiare-but it looked a million miles away. l