THE VOLTURNO FIRE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 15 October 1913, Page 5

THE VOLTURNO FIRE.

BEHAVIOUR OF DREW.

THE CARMANIA TO THE RESCUE

(Received Last Night, 10.50 o'clock.) LONDON, October 14. It is believed that seventy-eight of tho crew out of ninety-three perished, whilst most of the officers were saved. This fact lends colour to the statement that the crew rushed the boats, and may also account for the failure of the Volturno to make some attempt to second the Carmania's attempts to get a line aboard. The Narragausett's timely arrival was an important factor in the rescue work. The oil calmed the waters, and enabled the boats to reach the Volturno. The passengers. were reduced to a state of collapse after a day and night of horror, when they saw the heroic efforts of the boats from the Minneapolis and others/steamers fail. On the arrival of the Carmania at Fishguard, on the English coast, Smith, a Cambridge University graduate, was interviewed. He said the first sign of anything being wrong was the sudden increase of speed during breakfast on Thursday morning. The Carmania rushed through the water, the spray flying high over the deck. After four hours' steaming they saw the smoke of the doomed steamer, and the people huddled on the decks dumbly appealing for aid. They launched a boat quickly but, owing to the high seas, they could do nothing." Chief Officer Gardner's heroism was magnificent 1 When the attempt of his boat to reach the Volturno was abandoned, he first volunteered to save a drowning man, who was drifting near. A deck hand, however, jumped overboard and rescued the man. The appearance of the Volturno at night was like a picture of Dante's Inferno. The flames enveloped the forepart up to the funnels, and lit up the terror-stricken faces of the men and women. ?.--*.^r. On the" Carmania the women wept, and the men were struck dumb by their inability to save those in danger. "When the detonators and rockets h the Volturno'schartroOm exploded- those aboard Y: thought'.'/, the end had come, and terror drove them almost mad. The boat sent outTby the Minneapolis, was out for five. , hours and had a runner broken. She remained at the mercy of the sea,' and the Carmania going to its assistance lost her position.in the plan of the rescue operations, the Carmania now being the farthest from the Volturno. Captain Barr signalled, as the Carmania Was difficult to manoeuvre,, that he would stand aside if handier ships could do the work. Mr Lloyd, the second officer on the Volturno, with four men, launched a boat and made a gallant effort to carry a line to the Grosser Kurfurst, but the boat was dashed to pieces against the Grosser's side. All the crew were rescued. TERRIBLE SCENES. GALLANT RESCUERS. AN IMPRESSIVE SPECTACLE. (Received Last Night, 11.20 o'clock.) LONDON, October 14. The spectators hardly appreciated the significance of the presence of ten great ships in the face of the terrible sights enacted. An eye-witness said he saw a passenger with his wife, and two children clustering round him. The man had evidently despaired of rescue by the boats; and fastened lifebelts to his wife and children, and dropped them one by one into the sea. He then jumped in after them. All were drowned close to the Carmania. Groups of passengers were seen kneeling in prayer aboard the Volturno. All hopes of their salvation waned until, in abject despair and tossed by the sea, it seemed as if all must be washed overboard. As night came on the heat in creased and the passengers passed through, an inferno. . The lifeboat was* the first alongside the Volturno, and took off twenty-one children. The. other boats took women and children, carrying fiftyrsix altogether. The Volturno's officers passed ropes around them and, lowered them to the rescuers. Within fifteen minutes the boats were filled and the survivors were transferred to the ships. The final spectacle was impressive. Various commanders signalled complimenting Captain Barr on his leadership of the rescue operations, and then the vessels sailed in different course, to search for the missimg boats, leaving the derelict shooting flames eighty feet in the air. The parents of the children were widely separated during the rescue work. Some were taken to America and others to Europe.