Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-21
DROWNING OF FIVE
BRINGS NAVY PROBE
Two District Men Are Vic
tins of Canal Zone
Tragedy.

Drowning of two Washington naval
officers, Capt Ralph Griswold, COM
manding officer of the 9th Destroyer
Scouting Squadron. and Chief Pay Clerk
Arthur S. Wrenn. and three enlisted
men when Navy gig collided with a
barge off Balboa. in the Canal Zone,
yesterday, was under investigation from
two sources today, according to Asso-
ciate Press dispatches from the Canal
Zone.
A probe of the affair is being made
by board appointed by Rear Admiral
Frank H. Clark, in command of the
American destroyer squadrons, and by
canal officials.
The enlisted men drowned were Cox
swain Fred w. Sweinberg of West
Orange, N. j.; Seaman Herbert d. Nc
Dowell of Jacksonville, Fla, and Fire
man Earl D. Tibbetts of Haverhill, Mass.
Four other occupants of the gig, which
was returning shortly after am. to
the U. S. S. Whitney, saved themselves.
They were Capt. William J. Giles. COM
mander of the tender Whitney. and
Seamen Walter C. Rowell, Albert W.
Gatewood and James p. Powers.
Barge's Position Misjudged.
With relief crew supplanting the
regular crew of the gig, which had been
sent to their ships some time earlier
/ for oyerstaying their leaves ashore,
| Capts. GriSwold and Giles were being
| returned to the Whitney after having
| spent the evening in Panama.
| 1t was dark as the gig swung out
from the pier. The canal tug Mariner,
with a tow, was coming along the
center of the canal about 300 yards
from shore. Towing lights we're burn
| ing on the tug. but. according to those
who escaped from the sunken gig the
coxswain of the gig apparently thought
the bargeS were behind instead of
alongside the tug.
The survivors said no one aboard the
| gig saw the barges until they were
about 80 feet from them. Then. they
/ say, man cried to the coxswain, Look
OUT There's a lighter alongSide!"
| Just after leaving the pier Capt Giles
had ordered the gigs speed cut to half
because a bearing in the boats engine
was burned out. Hearing the cry of
warning, the coxswain swung to port.
but the gig struck the barge on the
starboard bow. All of the gig paSsen-
gers were thrown overheard
Capt. Giles, strong swimmer, car
ried Wrenn to the tug and helped him
get aboard but efforts to revive the
| pay officer failed The motor whale
boat of the submarine rescue ship Fall
con, responding to calls for aid, picked
up the body of Capt. Griswold. The
bodies of Wrenn and Capt. Griswold
were taken to the Gorgas Hospital to
await word from relatives
RoWell. one of the survivors. said that
after being thrown overheard in the
collision he grabbed the side of the gig
and clambered aboard. Another man
came up alongside. he said. and, put
ting his foot over the gunwale, he told
| the man to take hold of it and pull
himself up. The man did and then
caught hold OF the handrail of the en-
CINE room. The rail broke loose and
the man disappeared in the water.
Marine Code Violation Charged.
Gatewood and Powers managed to
swim to the Falcons whaleboat and
were taken aboard.
Members of the tugboat crew charged
that the gig was proceeding on the
wrong side of the canal channel and
said that the tug was running on its
regular schedule with all proper lights
burning.
Capt. Griswold received the NAVY
Cross during the war for his services as
commanding officer of the transport
Kroonland. He YVES 48 years old.
Griswold Here Nine Years.
Capt. Griswold. native of Pennsyl-
vania. was appointed to the Naval
Academy from Massachusetts,, receiving
his commission in the Navy in 1902.
For nine years. up to September / last
year, he had lived at 2435 Wisconsin
avenue, where his widow. Mrs. Ethel
Sharp Griswold, and two daughters,
Misses Nancy and Elizabeth GriSwold,
now reside.
Chief Pay Clerk Wrenn. a native of
| Washington, was the son of A. c.
Wrenn, Bureau of Engineering, Navy
Department. In addition to his father,
Wrenn is survived by his widow and a
| 20-month-old son, both of whom are
i'll with influenza at Fall River. Mass.
1t is expected the Navy will expedite
the return of the two officers bodice ~
the Capital and that military services
will attend their burial at Arlington Ma
tional Cemetery.