CALL FOR HELP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21905, 14 September 1934, Page 11

CALL FOR HELP

burning liner EXTRAORDINARY DELAY [RADIO OFFICER'S STORY CONFUSION ON BRIDGE last-minute order Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received September 13. 5.25 p.m.) I NEW YORK. Sent. 12 " The Federal board of inquiry which fs investigating the Morro Castle fire disaster resumed its sittings to-day. Mr. George W. Rogers, chief radio operator of the vessel, stated that it was fully 30 minutes after he had been awakened because of the fire before he received the order to send out the S.O.S. signal. Witness further stated that some time ago his first assistant, George Alagna, and another operator "tried to instigate discontent on the ship." Alagna is now being held as a material witness. In further evidence Mr. Rogers said his instructions to send the S.O.S. call were not available until the furnishings in the radio room were burning and all but emergency sending equipment had been put out of commission by the extreme heat. Witness said that his first assistant, Alagna, as well as Charles Mackay, his second assistant, went to the bridge for instructions. Mackay did not return, but Alagna eventually returned saying: " Let us get out of here. They are running round the bridge and I cannot get any co-operation." Daring this delay, continued Mr. Rogers, the freighter Luckenbach could plainly see the burning vessel and repeatedly asked over the radio: "What is your ship's position?" and "What can we do?" However, for some reason, the S.O.S. order was still delayed. Finally, on his own initiative, Mr. Rogers sent a "stand by" signal and sent Alagna on- a second trip to the bridge. Shortly afterward he returned with the S.O.S. order. By that time the power was off and the radio room was in darkness. With the aid or a pocket flash-light and emergency storage batteries Mr. Rogers said he flashed the S.O.S. and continued to do so until collapsed from the effects of smoke and fumes. Witness said that Alagna dragged him on deck and somebody pushed him into a lifeboat. / An ironical fact was that Mr. Rogers was forced to state that Alagna, the man who saved his life, was considered a radical and a trouble-maker by the late Captain Wilmot, who died on the Morro Castle before the fire.