The Washington times., 1934-09-14
HOSE FAILURE
PRECEDED BY
BLAST
Other Witnesses Say Fire Drills
Were Infrequent and Not
Attended by Crew

drills. 81
'NO."
"On any ship?"
"No."
Chairman Hoover remarked:
"That may not be the ships
fault. That may be something
TO look into in the future. l
know passengers do not like to
60 to stations in drills"
Chairman Hoover asked if the
crew was efficient. Mr.. O'Sullivan
said:
"The deck crew was average
or above average"
Q.-Were their hours such that
they couldn't be in good physical
condition?
A.-No, sir. Their hours were
regular.
Q.-That night, was IT "every
man for himself?
A.-Not exactly. They worked
without orders. but they did the
best they could.
Mr.. O'Sullivan explained how
he knew there were no orders as
follows:
"The only directions I heard
from Acting Captain Warns
~up~- GNo~aS& A,,we% %HAnmm vwyswa TMNap~
I was busting cabin windows so
the passengers could get out.
kept right on"
@. Why do you suppose Warns
gave this order?
A. Well, in most ship fires you
batter everything down and try
to smother it, but this one was
too far gone
Mr.. O'Suilivan said that when
the fire broke out he was on his
way up to A deck. The flames
spread with amazing rapidity.
Within three minutes after the
alarm, he asserted, life boats were
afire. He said his station in this
emergency was on the boat deck.
He went there.
He was excused from the stand.
He was the most sensational wit
mes of the day.
Joe Spilgus, Of New York city,
who was in charge Of the MORO
Castles lifeboats on the Starboard
side, came next. He was on day
work and consequently was asleep
when the fire broke out. He ran
up the port side, was driven back,
but finally got to his station on
the starboard side. He testified:
"To q man with common sense
. 1t looked like the fire was hope.
less then. The chief engineer
was the only officer I saw
around. There were quite a few
other men there, though. Soon
they were going over the sides.
"The chief engineer was in
No, 8 then, / noticed. When
he saw that No. l was clear
he got out Of No. and went
: over and climbed into No. l.
"But / thought at the time
those in the lifeboats were in
IS just as much danger as those
= in the water. The tanks had
+ been taken out Of the boats
" by the man who had the job
ahead of me. / never was
given the help to get the tanks
back in.
II never heard any orders to
lower the boats and don't
know who lowered them"
Q.-What spread the fire so
fast?
Al haven't been able to figure
it out.
Mr.. SpilguS was asked what was
the matter with the tanks in the
lifeboats. He said they were cov-
cred with rust and he believed
they had holes in them"
Q-Did you see holes in them?
A.-No.
Odd you report the condi-
ton of these tanks?
A.-No.
He explained the purpose of the
tanks as being ito keep UP boats
when boats hit the water and to
keep them from turning over"
Q.-Did you ever see inspection
Of the tanks on the boats or other
equipment, or any general inspec-
tion of equipment?
A.-No.
Mr.. Spilgus was then excused.
The hearing was adjourned at l:l5
p. m. until 10 q. m. Monday
morning.
The theory that generator in
the engine room blew up, causing
the catastrophe, was expressed by
Charles Angelo, of New York city,
an able seaman on the ship, and
also an electrician.
Mr.. Angelo testified he was
awakened at 2:45 a. m. by the
fire alarm and lost no time help
ing man the hose to fight the
flames. But, after about 10 min
utes, the water pressure died down.
Heard Explosion
Chairman Dickerson N. Hoover,
of the board of inquiry. asked him
why the pressure failed. He re-
piled:
Il guess the generator in the
engine room blew up. Anyway,
heard an explosion. Il shook
the whole ship"
Mr.. Angelo threw up his hands
in illustrating the explosion:
'Tt went 'phO0-OO-OO.'
Chairman Hoover Sh0uyA6 IN.