Evening star., 1944-09-19
D. {. Pilot HELPS
Save31Fronl
Lost Cutters
Survivors Describe
Storm Bottle; District
Sailor Among Group
Special Dispatch tc The Star.

special Dispatch tc The Star.
NORFOLK, Va, Sept. ia dra-
matte story of shipwreck and rescue
was unfolded by 81 survivors of two
Coast Guard cutters lost In last
weeks hurricane as, weak from
more than so hours adrift in shark
infested waters of the Virginia
coast, they were recuperating today
In a hospital near here.
The search for 40 officers and men
still missing from the cutters was
being continued.
Among the officers and men OF
the two cutters-the Jackson and
Bedloe-who were rescued after
being spotted by a Coast Guard
plane was Fireman First Glass;
Robert N. Zimmerman, %, son OF
Mrs. Floyd Zimmerman, 6217 Forest
road, Cheverly, Md. Plotting one OF
the planes that took survivors from
a life raft was Chief Aviation Pilot
Carl F. Krogman, 1921 Kearney
street NE.
AS they received treatment in the
survivors told how 10 OF
the crew of the jackson and II from
the Bedloe were rescued by Coast
Guard air and sea units after sur
vivors of each had laid hopes on
being rescued by the other cutter.
D. C. Sailor Among Missing.
Meanwhile. an undisclosed num-
ber Of officers and men who survived
the sinking of the destroyer War
rington in the Atlantic hurricane
have been landed here, the fifth
naval district headquarters an
adding that no details
could be released at this time.
Among those still missing in the
Coast Guard disaster was Motor
Mate (third class) Rob-
ert w. Clements, son of Clarence F.
Clements, 1923 Rosedale street NE,
a member Of the crew Of the Bedloe.
Seaman (second class) Charles w.
Farrell. 1343 F street NE, also a
member of the Bedloe crew, was on
leave when the hurricane struck.
Survivors told how 10 officers and
men from the Jackson spent So
hours hanging to a life raft on
which 81 men had climbed after
huge sea swells sank their 125-foot
vessel. Seventeen died during the
second night adrift and another,
badly injured in the disaster, died
a few minutes before the rescue ship
reached shore.
Waves Overturn Cutter.
The IL Bedloe survivors, who were
picked up after 81 hours on their
-afts, said that waves that seemed
10 tower 100 feet in the air swamped
their cutter, fitting it until the masts
tipped the water. They said all
rev members safely abandoned the
hip and at least 80 managed to
1ang on to the life RATS.
Survivors said the strain of fiSht-
ng the hurricane was too much for
many of the men, who had been
larassed by sharks and Portuguese
nen-of-war. The heavy seas took
heir toll Of men, and one coast
yuardsman slipped under the water
ust before the rescue ship arrived.
The men were spotted Saturday
by three Coast Guard King
fisher planes from the Elizabeth City
IN. c. Air Station, which landed
n the swells after radioing for aid.
The planes were drawn up to the
ats and the men hauled on to the
wings, where first aid was given.
Death Comes After Rescue.
Meanwhile, a 36-foot rescue launch
1ad put out from the Coast Guard
Oregon met Station Is miles away,
and guided by PBM planes and
Navy blimps, made contact with the
rescue planes. Later the men were
aboard Navy ship near
shore where medical attention was
given them.
One member of the rescue party
said the first thing he saw was a
man doubled up on one of the RATS,
his eyes looking like a couple of blue
dots on a beefsteak.
He smiled, and I felt that I had
seen something a man sees once in
a lifetime" the crewman said.
Then he slumped into the water.
He was pulled from the sea, and
on the way to shore he reached up,
stroked petty officers face, and
said, We made it,
Those were his last words. He
Stunned hack daadn