Evening star., 1936-07-29
Only Seven Are Rescued
From Sinking Ship in
Heavy Storm.
MEN UNABLE TO LAUNCH
RATS TO SAVE SELVES
Aid Rushed to Stricken Vessel by
Lighthouse Keeper, Who Sees
Distress Signals.
picture on Page a.
sy TIE Associated Press.

By TIE Associated Press.
CHICAGO, July 29.-Sixteen men
were feared drowned early today when
the motor powered ship Material Serv-
ice capsized in the rough waters Of
Lake Michigan miles of Chicago's
South Side.
Seven members of the crew were
rescued, but Capt. c. D. Brown and Is
others we're listed as missing by the
Coast Guard.
First Mate John NJ Johnson, one of
the seven who were saved after they
had clung for more than half an hour
to pieces Of wreckage bobbing in the
white-capped waves, gave the first ac-
count of the tragedy.
He said the vessel, loaded with sand.
listed suddenly to port as it nosed
through a heavy sea some time be-
tween and am. Eastern standard
time. 1t lurched crazily to an even
keel, johnson related, and then sank
swiftly.
Lighthouse Keeper Sees Ship Sink.
A. E. Pierce, keeper Of the Calumet
Harbor lighthouse station. 2 miles off
Eighty-siXth street, saw the Material
Service go down. He notified the Coast
Guard and put out in a small boat
with r. A. Carlson. his assistant
They picked up two OF the survivors.
A South Chicago Coast Guard craft
rescued three others. A Benham tow
ing company boat lifted the remaining
two from the lake.
Other Coast Guard boats, from the
old Chicago and Jackson Park sta
tions, and the cutter Rush, dispatched
from its berth at the municipal pier,
were rushed out to the scene to comb
the waters for Capt. Brown and the
IS missing members of his crew.
The survivors were first taken to
the Calumet Harbor Lighthouse.
There, chilled and exhausted, they re-
lated the details of the tragedy.
Struck by Huge Wave.
They told how huge wave struck
their 2.000-ton sand and gravel
carrier.
I'VE were going along as usual"
said First Mate johnson, when
suddenly the vessel listed TO port.
Then it came back to an even keel,
but Immediately began to sink. We
had the usual complement of life
boats, but the sinking was so sudden
there was no chance to launch them.
"All We could do was to seize any,
thing which would help us to float
and to go along the best way we
could.
The rescued men clung to beams and
other wreckage. We would all have
gone down in short time if help had
not reached us when it did.
"At one time I had hold of Capt.
Browns hand. but somehow he jerked
away. Then I lost sight of him. He
must have gone down with his ship
The Material Service was ap-
preaching the Calumet Harbor, laden
with gravel and sand it had taken on
at Lockport, Ill.
Ship Nearing Destination.
The boat left the Illinois waterway
shortly after midnight and passed into
the wind-whipped waters of the open
lake from the Chicago River. 1t was
proceeding south and was nearing a
destination in the vicinity of Ninety
second street when it sank.
The boat was the property of the
Smith-Putnam Navigation Co., but
was under charter to the Material
Service Co. Its home port was Stur-
geon Bay, Wis. 1t was about 10 years
old and was powered by Diesel motors.
Despite the swiftness with which
the vessel plummeted to the bottom,