The Bismarck tribune., 1933-08-23
OTHER SHIPS RUSH
TO STRICKEN Liner
OFF VIRGINIA COAST
81 Passengers and Large Crew
Endangered as Mountain.
Gus Waves Hit Craft
DECK HOUSE WASHED AWAY
East lashed BY Disturbance as
Winds From North and
South Converge

0NHI ~OIVSISo
New York, Aug. 23.-(P)-A wireless
message intercepted by the coast
guard vessels, the Upshur and the
Carabasset, were alongside the liner
Madison, in distress off the Virginia
Capes.
Other messages, picked up by Mac
kay radio at 1880 a. M, and by the
United States coast guard at 1l:58
a. m, gave the position at 20 miles
northeast of Chesapeake lightship,
OF the coast of Virginia, and said:
Housing breaking"
The first distress signal at A. m
which was followed by five hours Of
silence, said that the entire forward
deckhouse had been washed away.
The coast guard intercepted an
answer to the second sos from the
$. S. Emilia, which did not give its
position. The Emilia reported itself
on the way to give assistance.
While the Madison did not give
any details of its trouble, her posi-
ton would indicate that it was at
the converging point Of two violent
storms, one sweeping up the coast
from the south, the other down from
the northeast.
The vessel had 81 passengers and
a crew Of so to go aboard. Captain
William Heath Is in command.
Officials OF the Eastern Steamship
Line, owners Of the vessel, said the
forward housing contained only
apartments and nothing vital to the
operation of the ship.
The Madison left New York Tues.
day for Norfolk, Va.
Weather Observers Differ
r. H. Weightman, weather bureau
forecaster at Washington, said the
disturbance was near hurricane In
tensity" but that no winds had been
reported to observers here as yet
which would put 1t in that category.
At the navy department, however.
officials of the bureau Of aeronau-
tics asserted that at q. M, E. s. r..
the storm off the Virginia capes had
reached force 10-the most severe
recording of a storm" It was de-
scribed as hurricane"
Caught between a raging north.
easter and tropical hurricane blow
ing up from Bermuda, the Atlantic
seaboard found no respite from five
days of storm and gale which al
ready have wrought death and de.
struction over wide area.
Communication along the entire
Maryland shore was cut off at an
early hour.
At Norfolk winds of 70 and 80
miles velocity. accompanied by heavy
rain, marooned vacationists and
flooded low-lying sections.
Damage was estimated at more than
81 ,0O0.000. 1x =
Schooner in Distress
The North Carolina coast also was
being pounded by mountainous waves
and an unknown four mast e d
schooner wallowed helplessly off the
shoals near Meneto while coast guard
craft stood by unable to give any as
sistance.
New Jersey, which received the
brunt of the storms Of the last four
days, continued to be buffeted. The
300-foot municipal pier at Cape May
was washed away and telephone and
electric lines were torn down.
The body OF one of seven known
victims of Sundays storm washed up
on the shore near Atlantic City.
New York city missed the brunt
Of the gale promised for Tuesday, but
heavy rains continued.
Along the coast the heaviest rain
for August in many years Was re-
ported.
Lines of communication in Vir-
ginia and parts Of Maryland were
disrupted during the morning and
no reports were available of the
damage done.
Communications Hampered
The indianapolis, anchored in
Hampton Roads, reported to the navy
department that the storm in that
area had cut off all communication
in the Norfolk, Virginia, district.
Naval officials expressed consider
able apprehension that damage in
the area may have been serious.
The disturbance was first reported
to the weather bureau last Thursday.
It was then in the vicinity OF the
West Indies and was labeled as an
other of the series of tropical storms
which begin there or in other South
Sea areas in the late summer and
early fall months.
Advance warnings OF the storm
reached the capital early in the
morning in drenching rain and
high wind.
A large elm, opposite the white
house on Pennsylvania avenue, was
blown across the street.
Another barely missed crashing
down on moving street car in front
of the public library.
Immediately after the Indianapolis
made its report, Admiral William II.
Standley, chief of naval operations,
instructed the vessel by wireless to
get in touch with the Norfolk shore
area "by any possible means" and
report the extent of damage ilnme-
diately.
Naval officials said it was possible
that the storm had abated sufficient
ly in the area to permit landing
marty tn on ashore from the cruiSar