Great Tragedy of the Sea

Evening Star, Issue 21821, 10 September 1934, Page 9

Great Tragedy of the Sea

*— Fire on American Liner Ship Returning from Cruise New York to Havana Death Roll about 200 Speeding home to New York from an autumn cruise to Cuba’s capital, Havana, disaster overtook the Ward liner, Morro Castle. When eight miles off the coast of New Jersey, and within four hours’ steaming time of New York, fire was discovered on the ship at 3 o'clock on Saturday morning. The flames spread with appalling rapidity. Nearly all the passengers were asleep in their cabins, and as a consequence there was a terrible death roll, comparatively few people being able to reach the lifeboats. The darkness and confusion added to the difficulties of gaining the boats. It is estimated that about 200 persons lost their lives out of a total of 503 on board the ship.

NO WARNING FLAMES SPREAD WITH APPALLING QUICKNESS Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. SPRING LAKE (New Jersey), September 8. It is reported that a bolt of lightning struck an oil tank in the Morro Castle, which is a liner of 11,520 tons, 519 ft in length. She was built in 1930. The fire broke out so quickly, survivors stated, that there was little time even to spread the alarm to sleeping passengers. So far as the survivors who have arrived here could see, only six lifeboats were able to leave the ship, most of them containing members of the crew. The catastrophe occurred shortly after 3 a.m.. Eastern standard time. A brief wireless S.O.S.: — 44 Morro Castle on fire twenty miles south of Scotland Light. Fire near wireless room,” was all the word that came crackling through the night. CAPTAIN DIES BEFORE FIRE BREAKS OUT NEW YORK, September 8. Captain Robert Wilmot, who was in command of the ship, suffered a heart attack ou Friday night, dying only a few hours before the tragedy, at the time of which the ship was under the command of the chief officer. Mr W. F. Warms. A RAGING INFERNO NEW YORK, September 8. The Morro Castle was a luxury liner completing a Labour Day holiday cruise from Now York to Havana. The fire, of which the origin has not been determined, broke out about 3 o’clock ou Saturday morning, when the craft was seven miles off Ashbury Park, New Jersey, less than twenty-five miles from the safety of New York Harbour. Within a few minutes the liner was a raging inferno, with panic-stricken passengers jumping overboard for their lives, and many undoubtedly perishing in the cabins, cut off from exit by flames. COASTGUARD CRAFT TO THE RESCUE SURVIVORS PIGKED UP NEW YORK, 'September 8. Coastguard craft along the Now Jersey coast put out immediately in a rough sea tor the scene, and liners in the vicinity turned about and raced to the place, which was marked by a ball of fire, through thick weather. The s.s. Andrew F. Luokenbach, the first to reach the spot, reported by wireless that she had picked up some of the survivors. Lifeboats landed here, and several of the occupants were hurried to hospitals. THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY mostly tourists on board NEW YORK, September 8. The Morro Castle was returning from an eight-day cruise to Havana. Among the passengers when she left New York on September 1 were 100 members of the Concordia Singing Society, New York. All but sixty of the passengers were tourists. More than 100 survivors, passengers and crew, landed at Seagirt shortly after dawn, all in Morro Castle lifeboats. SHIPS' LIFEBOATS STAND BY A STORMY NIGHT NEW YORK, September 8. Lifeboats remained near the burning ship for nearly half an hour, but no persons were seen in the sea. A hurricane was whipping the Atlantic, and north-east gale warnings had been posted along the coast where the Morro Castle caught fire. The sea was not especially heavy, however, though the crews of the lifeboats found it heavy going pulling eight miles to the Jersey shore. The lifeboats have a capacity of seventy persons, including the crews, but the six known to have been launched were not filled to capacity. One left with only twelve persons, including the crew. SHIP ABLAZE WHEN ALARM GIVEN NEW YORK, September 8. Rain beat down in torrents as the wind gained force, and despite the poor visibility the burning ship could be seen plainly from the shore. It was believed she would sink. No one could remain long aboard her and live. Whether Chief-officer Warms escaped was not known. Honoris indicated that between 150 and 200 survivors had lauded, but there may have been some duplication, in the?'

count. One survivor said lie believed most of the passengers and the crew lost their lives. One sailor said all the ’midships was ablaze when the alarm was sounded, and it was impossible to go through the aisles to arouse the passengers. Sailors ran round the decks smashing cabin windows to awaken sleepers. Six boats were launched on his side, but he knew nothing of what had occurred on the other side. From the shore two rescue ships were seen standing by until fog closed in. . Six members of the crew said that the fire, in which more than 200 ai'e believed to have lost their lives, started in the library, in the fqfepart of the ship, and she was not struck by lightning. BODIES COMING ASHORE NEW YORK, September 8. Later sixty bodies were washed ashore. The missing are estimated at 133, but a true compilation of the dead will probably not be known for hours owing to the widespread shore points of rescue. The skipper of the rescue craft Diana said that, after bringing in twelve bodies, he counted three sharks in the water where survivors were struggling. 186 BODIES RECOVERED NEW’’ YORK, September 8. As darkness descended on the New Jersey coast to-night it seemed inevitable that at least 200, perhaps several score more, perished in the Morro Castle disaster. So far 186 bodies have been lodged in temporary morgues along New Jersey coast resorts. An indefinite number of the 658 passengers and crew are still missing, and the estimates of those saved vary between 250 and 350. It is one of the greatest tragedies in recent American marine history, and the origin of the fire has not yet been determined. A DREADFUL DAWN SHIP ONLY FOUR HOURS FROM DOCK

NEW YORK, September 8. Within an hour of the S.O.S. being received four ocean vessels and a score of small craft from the land were speeding to the rescue. In the dawn, made cold and grey by driving rain, aeroplanes joined in the search with the rescuers. According to the most reasonable stories by rescued passengers and members of the crew the fire started in the ship’s library and spread so rapidly that all efforts to curb it with lire hoses were futile. Although the vessel was due to dock in New York four hours later a few merrymakers were still in the cocktail bars. The majority, however, were asleep after an evening’s gaiety, and many others were suffering from seasickness as the result of two days’ bad weather. FEW LIFEBOATS LAUNCHED NEW YORK, September 8. Starting in the middle of the vessel, the fire spread to both the port and starboard sides and upward, making the boat deck, where the lifeboats were swung out, almost untenable. Only a few boats were successfully launched, apparently none with capacity loads. The rest of the passengers were obliged to leap into the sea or be burned to death or suffocated by the acrid fumes. Some were equipped' with lifebelts; others were too panic-striken to find theirs. . By dawn the Furness liner Monarch of Bermuda, the freighter Andrea Luchenbach, and the liners President Cleveland and City of Savannah were standing by. Lifeboats were launched for the frantic and pathetic work of picking up the survivors and the corpses. The Monarch of Bermuda brought 71 survivors, several seriously injured, into New York, the City of Savannah 65, and the X/uclienbacli 21. The President Cleveland was too late to save any. Meanwhile a number of coastguard cutters and dozens of small craft which were patrolling the area took many survivors into nearby New Jersey summer resorts. At least five persons, including a married couple, swam the eight miles to the shore m a heavy swell. There were several cases of living but exhausted persons being found clutching the bodies of relatives and friends, and the rescuers had to pry them loose. Throughout the day and into the night National Guard soldiers and police were patrolling the beach, to reclaim the bodies being washed in. DESPAIRING RELATIVES COASTLINE THRONGED NEW YORK, September 8. As the day advanced and word spread of the disaster the Jersey coast line for miles presented an almost indescribable sight. The boardwalk promenade joining the fashionable summer resorts Deal, Asbury, Ocean Grove, and Spring Lake was lined by anxious relatives and friends, while curious thousands wailed in the driving rain for the rescue shins to return with the hope

of receiving a sight of the survivors or of the corpses as they were rolled in in the surf. Under the miserable weather conditions the highways from New York, Philadelphia, and interior points became one great traffic jam, and army lorries were pressed into use to remove the injured who wore unable to move. Special railway trains wore chartered to New York and Philadelphia as the rescue ships started to return, and the police and fire stations were converted into emergency hospitals and morgues. The frantic efforts of survivors to find relatives from whom they had been separated, and of others to identify the dead added to the confusion. By evening matters were better organised. With the uninjured and slightly injured survivors removed, the seriously injured were placed in the regular hospitals, and the dead were concentrated in the regular morgue. BURNING HULK BEACHED NEW YORK, September 8. Tugs attempted to tow the burning hulk to New York, but the lines broke and the vessel was beached at Asbnry shortly after dark. The chief officer (Mr W. E. Warms) and fourteen of the crew remained until the late afternoon, seeking refuge from the flames and the intense heat in the extreme stern of the vessel. .Finally they were removed by a coastguard cutter. Mr Warms was in command. THEDRIES REGARDING FIRE NEW YORK, September 8. The first reports that the flames wore started by a lightning bolt which struck the oil tanks quickly disproved the rumours which had been circulated that the fire was of incendiary origin, though these will be thoroughly investigated. Officials of the Ward Line, the operators of the Morro Castle, scouted the reports of possible sabotage, but recalled that the dock workers at Havana had been staging bloody strikes during recent months. They considered it possible that a time bomb might have been planted in the ship. One of the surviving officers added credence to the rumours by stating that the flames seemed to start in several places instantaneously. The other theory is that a member of some gay party carelessly flicked a cigarette in the lounge. . 225 PERSONS MISSING NEW YORK, September 8. The list of survivors compiled at the Ward Line offices showed that 333 people were ’ rescued and 225 not accounted for, but New Jersey private homes may hold many not reported. Other cheeks, made in New York and New Jersey const towns, indicated that the deaths might run as low as 130. The National Guard headquarters at Seagirt (Now Jersey), however, said that 171 bodies had been reported’ in various communities. THE CAPTAIN'S FUNERAL PYRE NEW YORK, September 8. The cause of the death of Captain Robert R. Willmott, who was stricken on the? bridge before the fire broke out, was acute indigestion. The body lavin the captain’s quarters aft of, the control room, his ship providing a funeral pyre. Captain W. F. Warms, the chief officer, who had assumed command, with a few of his aides and crew who had stayed aboard, abandoned the vessel after the cutter had her securely in tow in mountainous waves, and boarded the Tampa. Officials of the Federal Government and Steamship Line have opened investigations. Many survivors agreed that the fire originated in the ship’s library. Some said that lightning struck the liner. Reports from Havana that the ship might have been sabotaged by striking dock workers were quickly denied, both by Havana officials and officials of the line. PASSENGERS BLAME GREW NEW YORK, September 8. Most of those who made the Jersey shore in lifeboats were members of the crew. They said that they repeatedly called to the passengers to brave the flames and make their way to the upper deck, and that they were finally forced to lower the boats with what few passengers were aboard after the flames had started burning through the davit ropes. Some survivors who were picked up from the dark and churning waters severely criticised the attitude of the crew, stating: “They never turned a hand to help us.” There were many tales of tragedy. Mothers were torn from their children and wives and husbands separated. Living up to the best traditions of the sea, the liners in the immediate vicinity raced towards the Morro Castle when the S.O.S. sounded. Among the rescuers was the fishing schooner Paramount, which bobbed about close to the liner and rescued seventy-two people. Aeroplanes spotted swimmers and bodies from overhead and directed the rescue ships. Governor A. Harry Moore (New Jersey), who was in one of the planes, said: “ I’il never forget the face of one man, peering at me from the sea as he struggled for life. I could see that many of those in the water had their lifebelts improperly adjusted.” Many bodies floated ashore, and several persons swam ashore with the aid of lifebelts. The search was continued on Saturday night, while a north-easter pounded the shore and rain fell in sheets through the fog. The Morro Castle cost 4,800,000 dollars to build. HULK STILL SMOULDERING HUMBER OF DEATHS UNCERTAIN CROWDS OF SIGHTSEERS. NEW YORK, September 9. (Received September 10, at 12.35 p.m.) Throughout the day the smouldering hulk oi; the Morro Castle, which was beached 200 ft pff Ashley Park board walk, constantly menaced the large recreation pier, which is only protected by a rock jetty. Confusion still exists regarding the exact number of casualties. The Ward Line announced officially that 116 were dead or missing. However, the United Press Association reports that 186 bodies have been recovered. Twentyseven people are missing and are undoubtedly dead. Of tbo 314 rescued a few are in a serious condition from burns and exposure. With the aid of gas masks undor-

writers and coast guard officials boarded the wreck in the afternoon and viewed such parts as were accessible. It is reported that they found two charred bodies. They made no comment regarding possible discoveries of the origin of the lire. Chief Officer Warms curtly refused to make a statement to Press interviewers. He said; “I will make ah official report.” Thousands of curiosity seekers invaded the New Jersey coast to-day, creating a serious police problem. Some relatives and friends were sent to the sad task of identifying the dead in the temporary morgue. Most of the visitors looked at the wrecked vessel and gazed seaward, watching for bodies, INSURANCES ON VESSEL LONDON, September 8. It is understood that the Morro Castle was insured for £750,000, of which at least £600,000 was placed in London. Many brokers who are carrying the insurance reinsured to-day against total loss, paying over ,40 per cent, premium*