The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-11-20
Is SAVED IN
THRILLING SEA
RESCUE RACE
Woman One of Those Taken
Off of Sinking Ship in
Mid-AtIantiC.
DEATH STOOD CLOSE
Mauritania Arrived as All
Hope for Saving Vessel
Had Vanished.

81 tnfcd Press
ABOARD THE S. S. MAURE-
TANIA, Nov. 2O.-The Mauritania.
feetest British merchant ship on
the Atlantic, steamed toward the
American shore today with twenty
seven men and one woman whom
its crew had saved in the years
NEST thrilling sea rescue
Bringing new glory to an already
famous record. the old Cunard
speed queen OUTRAGED two other
ships in a heaving. turbulent sea
Wednesday afternoon and picked
up the survivors of the Swedish
steamer Ovidia just as they we're
about to abandon hope for their
lives.
The story of the rescue. of the
mastery seamanShip which met
the emergency, and of the narrow
escape that the Ovidia's crew had
in the storm which battered their
small boat into helplessness, formed
one of the most heroic marine
chapters since the Antinoe and
Florida rescueS.
Fried Dashes to Rescue
1t was only by an hours margin
that The hero of those two episodes,
Captain George Fried of the S. S.
America, failed to be first at the
side Of the fast sinking Swedish YES
sci. He had started with the Maui
retania and the S. S. Endicott in a
race for the Ovidia when the dis
tressed ships wireless broadcast its
first call for aid.
Despite the fact that the Ovidia
replied his help would not be needed
because other ships we're closer.
Captain Fried proceeded at full
speed on the mercy Grand, The
Mauritania was standing by. when
he arrived
Scene of the rescue was about
LOO miles east and slightly north
of New York
With two ships ready to help the
Ovidia, the Endicott was advised its
aid would not be necessary, and it
proceeded on its course.
Great mountainous waves we're
breaking over the sinking ship as
the Mauritania approached.
The Ovidia, lurching drunkenly,
its decks awash, seemed all but
ready to plunge to the bottom At
times only its masts were visible as
the heavy seas battered its rolling
sides.
The cargo of lumber with which
it had started for st. Nazaire,
France, had shifted in the storm,
causing the ship to careen so badly
that its propellors stuck out Of the
water.
The Mauretania's passengers ex-
citedly crowded the rail as Captain
S. G. S. Mcneil circled his ship
around the Ovidia, working as
closely up to the Swedish vessel as
he dared.
Ship Is Abandoned
With aid thus at hand, Captain
Alex Carlson of the Oyidia con-
sidered If there might not be some
final means of saving his ship.
1t soon was apparent, however,
that the Ovidia was doomed, and
the crew was ordered to lower two
of its lifeboats.
The wireless operator stayed at
his post, continuing to send out
messages, until the dynamo became
water-soaked and disordered. He
finally sent word to the nearby
Mauritania that the ship would be
abandoned.
Captain Mcneil then worked the
big liner, bobbing in dangerous
swell, to within fifty yards of the
Ovidia, and the passengers watched
breathelessly as the first of the life
boats descended from the lurching
Swedish ship into the sea.
Even Cat Is Rescued
The fifty yards that lay between
the two vessels presented the most
dangerous perils yet encountered.
The lifeboats at times would seem
to have no chance against the on
rush Of the tremendous wave crests.
Sometimes, as they disappeared
from view in the troughs, passengers
on the Mauritania would be heard
to cry they're gone" And then a
cheer would rise as the tiny craft
bobbed upward again.
At length the Mauritania was
reached and the crew clambered I'D
the rope ladders to safety. None Of
the survivors was injured.
The rescue was so complete that
even the ships cat was saved. II
was clasped, badly frightened, in the
arms OF a friendly sailor.
Reach New York Friday
The Ovidia, her bow dipping into
the sea, was left behind as the res
cue ship steamed forward on its
course again. The ships officers
said it could not stay on the sur
face more than two or three hours.
Miss Viola Tree, one Of the pas
sengers on the Mauritania. visited
Mrs. Carlson. pretty Swedish
woman who was making her sec
ond voyage with her husband, and
presented her the clothing she
would need to complete the trip
back to land.
The Mauretania is expected 70
reach New York harbor with the
survivors Friday morning.