TWO WONDERFUL RESCUES

Evening Star, Issue 20666, 13 December 1930, Page 21

TWO WONDERFUL RESCUES

HOW COTTON WASTE WRECKED SHIP

The sea has no generosity. No display of manly qualities—courage, hardihood, endurance, frightfulness—has ever been known to touch its irresponsible consciousness of power. . . . The most amazing wonder of the deep is its unfathomable cruelty.” Were Conrad still alive, and were ho asked to write a foreword to ‘ Sea-toll of Our Times,’ by Mr R. L. Hadfield. he could scarcely choose more appropriate words than those which he wrote some years ago (says an ‘Argus’ writer!. Mr Hadfield makes no pretence of being a writer. His_ “ chronicle of maritime disasters during the last thirty years drawn from authentic sources ” 'is a bald narrative. But it loses no power through its lack of embellishment. As disaster after disaster is recounted, from the wreck of the Aden in 1892 to the foundering of the Vestris in 1928, the sea seems to brood over the reader, the malevolent, savage monster of the works of Conrad, “ if not always in the hot mood to smash . . . always stealthily ready for a drowning.” The .sinking of the Titanic and the foundering of the Vestris are two conspicuous examples of the sea striking by stealth. Those tragedies are fresh in memory. Less known is the story of the sinking of the Londonian, which “ is the story of how a piece of cotton waste wrecked a ship.” “On November 15, 1898, the Wilson liner left Boston for London .with a company of seventy, a cargo of oats and wheat and 150 cattle, under Captain Lee.” She was a steamer of 3,614 tons net register. “Seven days out she ran into a strong gale, during which she shipped a great deal of water, and on the next day the gale increased. So far there was no anxiety at all as to the safety of the ship. She was encountering very dirty weather, it is true, but it was nob of a kind to cause distress to such a vessel or anxiety to an experienced mariner like Captain Lee. But on November 23 an incident, trivial in itself, occurred, resulting in the loss of the ship, a.tremendous fight for life, and heroic rescues which form in themselves veritable epic's of the sea. -.“Whilst encountering very heavy seas the steering gear suddenly jammed. A more disastrous thing could hardly have happened, for it was then impossible to_ keep the ship’s head on to the mountainous waves which were growing hourly in size as severity of the gale increased. The engineers instantly commenced efforts to put the trouble right, and they discovered that a piece of cotton waste had been accidentally dropped into the mitre wheels controlling the steering gear rods. They began to clear it in desperate haste. THROWN ON HER BEAM ENDS. “ But fate, was against them.’ Whilst, tliey were doing so—and it was not a very long affair—the vessel, unsteerable as she was. broached to, was struck by a heavy sea, and was thrown on her beam ends. A great quantity of water immediately entered the* engine room, and within less than half an hour the ship had become unmanageable, a hulk at the mercy of wind rind wave, and. unless visited by extraordinary good luck, doomed to go down. . “ Lying along as she was, the Londonian hardly rose at all to the waves; They broke over her ceaselessly, pitilessly, smashing down a rain of blows upon her and threatening to engulf her at any moment. Efforts were made to lighten the ship so that she might have a chance of righting herself. To this end some of the cattle were cast overboard, and one needs but little imagination to visualise the .scene upon this stricken ship. “Port scuppers awash, her decks offering hut the most meagre foothold to her crew, she wallowed in the trough. Amidst the crash and thunder of ihe seas that repeatedly struck her and ran in masses of hissing foam from stem to stern, there was the mournful bellowing of the terrified cattle. Poor beasts! Their lives were of less value than the ship or the lives of the crew. Tliey must go, and they were brought up and driven to take the plunge into the sea, to be swallowed up instantly in the mountains of green wafer and foam.

“ But the ship, despite this sacrifice, would not right; her cargo had shifted; and for two days and rights she drifted, the sport of- the angry seas. Her crew were in a desperate condition. It was almost impossible on account of the 'water in her to get provisions, and of shelter against the wind and spray there was scarcely none. There was left to them only the hope that they might be sighted by another vessel It would have to bo soon. So heavily did the Londonian lurch in the sea that at every shock the crew started up, thinking that the end had come, that the ship must go down instantly beneath their feet. “ But as day broke on the morning of the 25th there came a ray of hope. Her signals of distress had been seen, and there came, . . .. the Vedamore • . . under Captain Bartlett. The latter . . . signalled to Captain Lee, asking if ho. wished to abandon his ship. The reply was characteristic of an indomitable _ seaman. He answered that he wished to be taken in tow. EPIC BATTLE WITH THE SEA. “ Captain Bartlett, however, saw that this was impossible. He signalled that ho refused to make the attempt, as to do so would be to endanger his own vessel; but he would stand by, A little later Captain Lee signalled that he would abandon the Londonian, and at noon an attempt to get him and his crew off was made. “But it seemed ns if the sea had determined that the company of the Londonian was its prey. They should not be rescued; they should go down at the sea’s good time; should perish when, drop by drop, all hope had been crushed from them by the hammer blows of the sea. “The sea reckoned without its seamen. With a volunteer crew Mr Hobbs, one of the Vedamoro’s officers, succeeded in launching a boat and made for the Londonian. For three hours that handful of men battled with the sea, wearing themselves down to utter exhaustion before they were forced to abandon the attempt. Then Captain Bartlett steered the Vcdaniore to windward and tried to fire rockets with wires attached across the Londonian. This also was unsuccessful. No further attempts at rescue were possible that day, and there fluttered from the Londordan’s mast the pitiful signal— * For God’s sake do not leave us.’ Captain Bartlett replied. * I will stand hy till morning.’ “ That -was a night of terror for the men of the Londonian; a night of watchful anxiety for those of # tho Veda more. The gale showed no signs of blowing itself out. If anything it increased, and with it the anger of the sea. “ First thing in the morning the Vedamore tried again. For hours lifebouys with lines attached were thrown into the sea in the hope that they would drift down and bo picked up by the Londonian, and at last, after many unsuccessful attempts * a line was picked up. Communication between the two vessels bad been established. “A heavier, line was now drawn across, and to this .one of tho Jeda,-

more’s lifeboats was lashed. This was successfully hauled to the Londonian and back, twenty-two half-frozen and! exhausted men being rescued. Tho boat was then sent across again, but as it was returning one sea capsized it, smashing it to pieces, at the same time breaking the line that bad been with such great difficulty established. A TERRIBLE BLOW. “ This was a terrible blow to the unhappy men remaining in the Londonian, but not yet should they be deserted. The Vedamore’s chief officer, Mr Doran, offered to make another attempt in a boat; but after two hours’work he had got no nearer the stricken ship than 60yds. He bad to-give up, and as tho boat returned to the Vedamore it was dashed to pieces against her side, the crew being saved with lines- “ Another night. Then, as soon as it was dawn, the fight for life was resumed. And this time the Londonian made an attempt to launch a boat. The first was instantly capsized, her crew heinz either crushed against The ship or drowned, but the second . got away safely and reached the Vedamoro with twenty-three men, though this, like the other, was smashed against tho steamer’s side, and the men,, already exhausted by their terrible . experience, had to be dragged aboard with ropes. All day long other attempts were made, bat without avail. The Londonian was more awash than ever; it surprised beholders that she was keeping afloat so long. ‘ But when at last light returned on the next day, the sea was scanned in vain. It presented to anxious eyos an unbroken vista of grey rollers tipped with foam. The Londonian had vanished , “The Vedamore had done her best. She steamed away to her destination, 1 Baltimore, to report another disaster of the sea and the loss of many bravo lives. “Seventeen were known to have been lost when the Londonian tried to launch her. first boat. Forty-five had been, rescued by the.Vedamore. ; Eight,including Captain Lee, had been forced to remain on board. Was' there any hope for them? “. . ,On December 14 there came further news of a stirring story of indomitable courage in the face of th© gravest peril. The steamer Maria Rickmers, of Bremen, under Captain Grosch, signalled Cape Henry that sho had on board eight survivors taken from the Londonian, and soon tho. story was told.. Said Captain Lee: ‘During the night of November 27 wo lost sight of the VedamoVe’s lights, and at daybreak she *was nowhere to be seen We made up our minds that nothing short of a miracle could save us. Wo were drenched, exposed to bitter winds, and unable to reach provi-. siqns or water. The ship was slowly but surely sinking, and we felt that at; any moment she would take the final plunge.’. , . ‘ THE RESCUE OF THE SURVIVORS. “But at midnight the look-out of the Maria Rickmers saw a flare and reported it. Altering her course the German vessel saw a large steamer, tho Londonian, almost on her beam ends. She steamed in close, hailed, and received an answer. With great difficulty in the darkness the second mate, Mr Lenz, and six men put off in a boat, -and after three hours’ struggle finally got close to the Londonian’s stern and shouted to the men, who were huddled together on the bridge, to come aft. " A line was then throwm on hoard the Londonian. This the men secured, and lashing themselves to it threw themselves into the sea, and were dragged-into the lifeboat. “ This-rescue, simple as it sounds, was a most notable enterprise. The.sca was still running mountains high; so severe was it, in fact, that the crew., of the Maria Rickmers’s boat and thomen they had saved had to be drawn aboard the steamer with lines and the boat abandoned. The Londonian, now, deserted, drifted away into the darkness, and was seen no more. ’ That was nearly the last of , the astounding train of events set in motion by the piece of cotton waste, in remained only for the principals to be commended by the authorities, and to be given awards to commemorate their gallantry If .* Sea-toll of Our Times ’ were written from another angle it could bo made a record of gallantry, for the lasting impression of almost aU the sad chapters is tho bravery displayed in the face of death. The sea is seldom completely victorious. Courage takes the sting from death.