ADRIFT IN THE ATLANTIC.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 670, 20 May 1914, Page 5

ADRIFT IN THE ATLANTIC.

..BOAT'S CREW PICKED UP. TWELVE DIE FROM EXPOSURE. ONLY FOUR SURVIVE. Telegraph..—Press AsoOciaticfii.—- CopyriffHt New York, Monday. The United States revenue cutt. r Seneca reports by wireless that Bhe picked up the third missing boat of the Columbian off the Nova Scotian oast. Four of the men were alive. Twele others had died from exposure, and the bodies had been thrown into the ssa. The rescued are Chief Officer Robert Teire, Sailors Kendal and Belanger and Fireman Lurwig3son. They have now arrived at Halifax. Captain Johnson, tha Seneca's commander, states that the survivors abandoned th 9 Columbian in the middle of the night, but kept her in sight owing to the glare of the flames until daylight, when rain fell and they lost sight of the vessel. The party remained in the neighbourhood, hoping to be picked' up. They tried to light a lantern, but the waterproof matchas had been wetted. They drifted after that. They saw steamer after steamer pass by on the horizon. A Cunarder came within plain sight, headed towards them, and then changed her courso and disappeared. Afterwards much rain and fog prevented them seeing other vessals.

A sailor'a coat hoisted on the boat caught the attention of the Seneca's iook-out and led to the rescue.

NO FOOD AND LITTLE WATER. The condition of the survivors js se:ioug, but it is believed that they will live. They left the Columbian \o hurriedly that they had' no time to secure provisions, except those stored in the lifeboat for emergencies.

The single cask of water was soon exhausted, but rain fell, enabling the men to avoid the pangs of thirst Hunger, however, tortured them, their only food being a small supply of hard-tack.

Efforts wsre made to attract the attention of steamers.

MEN GO INSANE

One atfer another the men in theboat died, some becoming insane through drinking salt water. Their comrades cast, the bodies overboard into the sea with their little remaining strength.

Some were badly burned, and collapsed after the first day's exposure. The four rescued were found huddled in the bottom of the boat, and were unable to talk.

An extraordinary feature is that ;ha search by five trans-Atlantic iners for several days was fruitless.