Evening star., 1934-05-16
SHIP CRASH TOLL
MOUNTS
Hope Abandoned for Four
Missing When Liner
Hits LightShip.
BY the Associated Press.

bS Lnc hSSOClhIeO FTeSS.
NEW YORK, May 16.-Only four
members Of the Nantucket lightships
crew Of II lived to tell today of the
fog bound crash that sent the little
sentinel craft to the bottom Of the
sea.
The mighty prov Of the White Star
liner Olympic ripped through the
steel lightship off the Massachusetts
coast yesterday. The small vessel sank
quickly.
The liner put out lifeboats and res
cued seven Of the lightships crew but
three OF them died shortly afterward
in the ships hospital. The four
missing men were given up for dead.
The four survivors. too i'll to talk
much about the disaster, were brought
10 New York today aboard the Olym-
pic. They were suffering from shock.
Engineer Among Victims.
The three who died after rescue:
w. w. Perry. engineer, Reading,
Mass; A. Monteiro, cook, New Bed
ford, Mass; J. F. Richmond, oiler,
Boston.
The missing men:
l. Pima, cook; N. S. Rodricques, sea-
man j. Portes, seaman, and E. B.
George, seaman, all of New Bedford.
The Survivors:
Capt. George W. BraithWaite, Cam
bridge, Mass; c. E. Mosher. first off,
Ger, New Bedford; L. U. Roberts. oiler.
Boston, and J. S. Perry, radio opera
TOR, Provincetown, Mass.
Capt. Braithwaite suffered severe
head injuries and was unconscious
when rescued. His first request after
regainlng consciousness was for a
cigarette.
This is my first since the war"
he said as he lighted it.
He was not told that seven mem
bers Of his crew had persisted.
It's lucky" he said, that we had
our life preservers on"
Crash Scene Treacherous.
The crash occurred at 1906 am.
eastern standard tine) in the
treacherous Nantucket shoals, one of
the Atlantics loneliest spots. The
Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic,
was bound from Cherbourg and
southampton for New York.
Proceeding through thick fog the
Olympic was blowing her fog horn
frequently. Then there came a faint
blast from another horn. 1t was that
OF the lightShip. straight ahead.
The Olympic Swerved but too late.
The giant liner struck the Nantucket
amldships.
Capt. Braithwaite said the hours
preceding the crash we're anxious ones
for his crew. Several steamers passed
so close during the night that his
men feared for their safety. All night
long they kept an anxious vigil
Two steamers certainly came
close he said aboard the Olympic.
Too close for U.s. We were all on
deck and I ordered everybody to put
on life preserVerS. l stayed on duty
all night, but when the fog nghtened
after daylight I went below. Not to
sleep, but to sit down bit"
He was in his quarters reading
when the Olympic approached.
Said Crash Inevitable.
II rushed on deck" he related.
When l saw the Olympic she was
porting her helm, but knew it would
be too late. She struck us hard. 1
remember struggling in the water,
then nothing"
Capt. w. J. Binks of the Olympic
wirelesSed the Coast Guard immedi-
ately after the accident and put cut
two lifeboats and a motor boat for
the Nantucket'S crew, whose cries
could be heard through the fog.
Ending Service This Year.
Capt. Binks is completing his last
year of service before retirement.
The Department of Commerce at
Washington, investigating the disas-
ter, suggested that possibly the Nam
tucket was victim of its own radio
beam.
Radio beacons of the lightship were
so accurate, 1T was pointed out that
few weeks ago a steamer following
the Nantucket's beam in a fog scraped
the side of the hghtship.