Evening star., 1947-10-20
Special Dispatch 10 The s,or

Sr~~'s' S'sPofSH 70 me Sfdr
BOSTON, Oct. 20.-The roll cal
of heroes in the rescue of passen.
gers from the stricken flying boat
Bermuda Sky Queen ran hiet
today, but the championship TO,
coolness went to 3-year-old boy.
He was Gordon Ritchie of And.
over. New Brunswick, son of Albert
E. Ritchie, who was third secretar,
OF the Canadian Embassy In Wash.
lngton from August, 1914, to June
1916.
Amid the nubbub of JOYOUS
greetings for the SO survivors who
arrived here yesterday aboard the
Coast Guard Cutter Bibb, young
Gordon solemnly drank almost q
Quart OF milk, ate an ample guam
tty OF ice cream and chirped!
IT was fun. I cried but I wasn't
scared"
He admitted he did not like it SO
well at night, when the crippled fly
ing boat was fou.ldering in heavy
Atlantic seas.
If carrot-topped Gordon thought
1t was fun, his mother and father
we're anything but sympathetic with
his thoughts.
Returning From Geneva.
Now with the Economic Affairs
Department of the United Nations
Organization, Mr.. Ritchie was re-
turning to this country from Geneva
/, with his family.
Mrs. Richie said the screams of
babies tore every mothers heart to
pieces and that the women were
threatened with possible madness.
Every creak of the plane-every
sound of the sea-told that it was
too late now" she said. II put up
every prayer I knew. I was not
ready to die.
Il was scared stiff. I visualized
the plane sinking-the babies
drowning-my baby drowning. Those
hours we waited for death. My
hands were pressed tightly together
The whole time, I believe there
seemed to be no escape from the
plane-not even jumping out to sea
with chance to swim for our lives
Aboard Plane ALI Night.
The Ritchies were among those
forced to remain on the plane all
last Tuesday night when the Bibbs
rescue operations were temporarily
halted.
"At the last minute (before
rescue), found that my husband
and Gordon were assigned to the
next trip" Mrs. Ritchie continued
II had not said goodby. I wanted
to go back, but then. what point was
there in it? We had said 10000
goodbys with our eyes that day."
She remembered one little boy
who kept awakening with scream: {:
Get me of the planet"
Mr.. Ritchie was more succinct:
I'm damn glad to be alive" he
told a reporter. I'm particularly
grateful to the pilot for a good
landing, the merchant seamen who
initiated the rescue and the Coast
Guard who so well carried 1t out -
Woman En- Route Here Saved.
Another of the saved passengers
was Miss Johanna Won Goeckingk
of New York, a member of the
Preparatory Commission for the In
terpational Refugee Organization,
and bound for Washington to tender
her resignation. .--
Miss Won Goeckingk was in Wash
tngton from September. 1914. to
August, 1915, as a personnel officer
with UNNRA.
" She was on the last raft to leave
the plane, and underwent the extra
suspense of having the craft found
, er uncertainty. All she would say
was: I'VE all survived it beauti-
fully"
A third passenger bound for the
Washington area was Miss Mary
Candy of London, who will visit her
sister, Mrs. w., C. Schroeder, wife
af a Bureau of Mines official in
Clinton.
Nine From Ship Aid Rescue.
Nine crewmen of the S. S. CHS
holm Trail who were passengers OF
the plane, figured prominently in
the rescue
One of them, 1st Mate Patrick
Quinn, told how it was necessary
to literally throw adults and chill
dren alike on the life raft.
There was so much anxiety
among the passengers that Mr.
Quinn and two other merchant
sailors, Gerald Harmon Of Comp
ton, Calf, and Arthur Brown of
Troy, N Y. made initial contact
with the cutter Bibb lust to show
tt could be done"
I'VE decided to take lifeline to
the cutter" Mr.. Quinn told news
men. The line parted while max
ling the crossing in small inflated
Mife raft, but we kept on padding
Upon arrival at the cutter sug-
gested to Captain Cronk Capt. Paul
Cronk, Coast Guard skipper that
transfer Of passengers could be
made by RATS, the only craft We
could get near the bouncing plane.
Then a large raft and a powerful
whaleboat were launched"
Threw Passengers From Plane.
Mr.. Quinn said they had to liter
ally throw them out of the plane to
get them on the raft. Each time
the raft would be raised on a level
with the plane from the swell of
the ocean, one was pushed out of
the side port.
1t. q. g. Clarence S. Hall, exec
utive officer of the Bibb, who COM
manded the rescue boats and made
seven trips between the cutter and
the plane, told how two or three of
the survivors were washed overheard.
1--WE pulled them back into the
boat" he said. "One was 61-year-
old woman MRS. May Last of Los
Angeles. She was saved by Boats
wain's Mate Ralph J. Keller of Fair
hope, Ala, who dove into the water
from the Bibb"
Three of the trips were made the
first day after dark, and on one of
theno TT Hall himself was washed