The Washington times., 1934-05-16
FLUNG INTO SEA,
AGED SKIPPER
CAN 7 SWIM
"Had Consigned Self to Goo"
He Says; Heroism of
ReScuerS Praised

(COntinusd from Page y
up and 1 was knocked down
again.
"The next thing l knew I was
struggling in the water"
II Can't Swim"
"A wry smile fitted across Cap
tain Braithwaite's weather-beaten
face. He confessed:
81 can't swim, but I did my
level best. found myself 60
ing down instead of staying up.
GAS l tried to keep up I
opened my mouth to yell.
found my mouth full Of water.
(Laughing).
There was a strong tide run
ming. The captains face be-
came serious AGAIN. / got hold
of a piece Of driftwOOd."
The captain revealed the clarity
of his mind in the stress Of his
plight by describing the drittWood
infinitely as follows:
at was 2 feet inches long,
5 inches wide and y Of an inch
thick.
"The driftwOOd didn't do me
much good. ! tried to move my
legs but whenever did my head
would 20 under. UncOmforta-
BILE? Well, rather"
Captain Braithwaite said that
the olympic meanwhile had
quickly lowered lifeboatS and sent
men to the rescue. He continued:
81 saw a ifebOat going past.
Iyelled. didn't think they saw
me. was getting weak. / felt
/ was going down for the last
time.
SAVED JUST IN TINE
$50 consigned myself to God
Almighty through Christ and
laid myself right down.
"The next thing l knew 1
was in . lhcbOat."
The captain managed a smile.
He remarked, dryly:
Il guess 1 did pretty well for
an old bird Of &c."
Occupying the same room with
Captain Braithwaite was another
Of the four survlvors-Chfton
Mosher, the First Mate. He said:
"It was Just like a big saw,
q hig saw working up and down.
1t was all over In a minute.
The Olympic cut us right IN
half and we went down.
II was ON one half Of our
poor ship. The other boys
were on the other half. We
didn't have q chance"
Mosher was one of the four
fortunate ones of the three Off
GERS and eight men who manned
the Nantucket to warn mariners
against the treacherous shoals of
the shore Of Massachusetts,. He
escaped practically unhurt.
Perry, the wireless operator, and
Robert, the oiler-the other two
survivors besides Braithwaite and
Mosher-were in an adjoining
room in a half exhausted condl-
ton. Perry wore a blanket draped
across his injured shoulders.
Three Bodies Recovered
Three others who manned the
Nantucket came in, too. They
were the dead.
Four more bodies lie around the
shoals where the ship went down.
Mosher graphically related how
he was on deck when the crash
came in the heavy fog which hung
a curtain over the sea beyond 500
feet.
He saw the Olympic bearing
down on them. ploughing through
the misty waters. He sounded the
collision alarm that brought
every man on deck. that shut
down the engines, and closed the
matches and prepared them for the
inevitable crash.
The boilers of the Hghtship
exploded. he declared. and the
huu was filled with Kissing
steam.
Three Investigations of the dis
aSter were in progress.
With a lawyer beside him, Capt.
John w. Binks, master Of the
olympic, sat in the writing room
OF the ship and told how q haz-
ard OF the sea had finally
marred his command with seven
deaths.
Tried to Avoid Crash
Why the olympic rammed and
sank the lightship he didn't know.
All ne could say. was that he
did what he could to avoid the
collislon. He was inclined to
blame the hghtships own appara-
tus and the factor of error in the
human ears capacity for judging
che direction of sound.
His ship, the Olympic. is Q Sis
Ter ship Of the Inflated Titanic.
Ship Reduced Speed
Captain Binks gave out the fol-
lowing statement:
when we got the radio bea-
con signal / reduced speed. 1
thought I was about five miles
from the ightShip. / tried by
the radio beam to keep the light
vessel on the StarhOard side. 1
was going two to three knots
when We struck. i heard the
FOG signal Of the HRhtShip.