Evening star., 1938-05-29
500 LIVES SAVED
IN n. Y. HARBOR
BOAT COLLISION
Excursion Vessel Goes Down
Half Hour After Liner
Rams Her.
QUICK ACTION BY CREW
AVERTS BAY TRAGEDY
Band Keeps Playing as Those on
Doomed Craft Are Taken
on Crashing Ship.
Ems e,sl Dispstch to The Star,

NEW YORK, May 28.-Tne eXcur-
sion steamer Mandalay with more
than 300 aboard was sunk tonight in
q collision about 6:15 o'clock with
the steamship Acadia of the Eastern
Steamship Lines about a mile south
of the Narrows in the lower bay. The
vessels were held together after the
crash and in the half hour which
elapsed before the Mandalay sank, all
on board marched across gangplank
to the deck of the Acadia.
The Acadia anchored there. off the
Craven Shoals Buoy. until Coast
Guard craft took off the rescued pas
sengers, then the ship, which started
a few rivets in the crash, returned to
her pier at Murray street and the
Hudson River. her captain, w. B.
Corning, uncertain whether his lis
passengers would be able to make a
new start on their three-day cruise to
Bermuda.
The collision occurred in heavy
fog which had rolled in suddenly on
a south wind about 10 minutes before
the accident
All Were on DECK.
The Mandalay, which began her
season today on the run between the
Battery and Atlantic Highlands, N. j.,
was returning to New York. Capt.
Philip r. Curran said he had about
300 passengers aboard and there were
IS in the crew. On her preceding
trip to Atlantic Highlands she had
carried 420 passengers.
Almost all of the passengers were
on deck as the steamer came up the
lower bay toward the narrows. Many
were dancing on the third deck. 9th
ers stood by the rail watching the fog.
which came in from the ocean and
suddenly enveloped the vessel.
The crash came within 10 minutes
after the fog. Oficers of f1reboats
which sped to the scene said later that
visibility was limited to 100 feet
The Acadia struck the excursion
boat on the starboard bow and her
steel stem went through the side Of
the 46-year- craft like knife
through cheese. Capt Curran. expert
enced in local waters. shouted from
the pilot house: Hold her there"
Held Bow Up.
Capt. Corning of the Acadia already
had signaled the engine room. He
had seen at once that the bow of the
Acadia was wedged into the flank Of
the Mandalay in such way that, un-
less the latter vessels deck burst up
ward, he could hold the bow above
water.
Most of the passengers on the Man.
dalay seemed to be dazed, according
to her officers, and for some minutes
did not realize that anything serious
had occurred, although the shock was
so severe that several Of them were
thrown against stanchions. BY the
time they began to realize the gravity
of the accident, officers and men OF
both vessels were forming them IN line
and guiding them toward the gang
plank which had been thrown across
from the deck of the Mandalay to that
of the Acadia
In the first few seconds of the
movement toward the gangplank there
was some crowding and showing and
one woman reported later that she
had been thrown to the deck by
man. Most of the passengers agreed,
however, that everybody on board
kept his head remarkably well. There
were 25 or 80 children among the
excursion boats passengers and sew
eral of the women spoke of the care
with which the men in their vicinity
herded them toward the gangplank.
Orchestra Kept Playing.
The four-piece orchestra on the
Mandalay, which has been playing
aboard that vessel for IA years, was
playing "Honeysuckle Rose" when the
crash came It kept right on playing
"Honeysuckle Rose" though the nose
of the Acadia had come through in
few feet of them.
William Griffith of Roselle, N. j.,
the drummer, discovered after 1t was
all over that he had broken wrist,
but he kept right on drumming at the
time.
I'VE got no orders to stop playing"
he said later, 80 we kept right on
playing 'Honeysuckle Rose I guess
we played it or 10 times"
The members of the orchestra were
among the last to leave the Manda-
lay. When Capt. Curran left his
steamer and reported that everybody
was of, Capt Corning backed cau-
tiously out of the gap in her side.
The Mandalay slid OF into the fog,
but was still visible when she broke
in two in the middle minute or two
later. Within 10 minutes she had
1See SHIP CRASH, Page A-3D