Show THE CREV C Ui 0 THE Jii1IAllGF HOME Admiral Stanton Tells the Story of the Wreck THE SAILORS ARE GLADLY WELCOMED Life on the Saud Bar Known as Ron cador Reef No Possible Chance of Saving the Kcarsarsre as She Is Very Badly Stove in and Half Full of Water A Commission to Inquire Into the Cause of the Casualty The Deadly Avalanche Dynamite Explosion New York Feb 21The steamer City of Paris arrived here this morning from Colon bringing the officers andrew and-rew of the warship Kearsarge wrecked on Roncador reef I The City of Paris arrived at the dock I shortly after noon The dock was gaily decked in honor of the returning sailors and a large American flag was spread over the gang plank A large crowd of friends and relatives was on I the pier Admiral Stanton told this story of the wreck of the Kearsarge to an Associated As-sociated Press reporter The accident occurred about 2 p mon m-on February 2 a stiff northeast trade I wind blowing The Kearsarge struck lightly at first then went high and I I dry on the reef The crew remained I on board that night The following day I all hands were taken off on a catamaran I catama-ran b oat together with water and provisions pro-visions old sails awnings and duck to fix shelters fx shelers Everybody was per fectly cool and the work of arranging rafts etc to take the plunder ashore I was carried on systematically Water was rather scarce allowing them only a pint per day for each man In the transfer a seaman named Anderson Robbins who tried to swim to the reef was drowned This was the only fa I i I tality and the rest of the officers and ofcers I the crew are in good health As soon a they got ashore Lieutenant Brain ard was dispatched with seven men to Old Providence to secure a vessel to take the shipwrecked wen off of At Colon Brainard secured the City of Paris which arrived at the scene I February 10 and took them off the men not having undergone any special I specal hardship aside from the shortage of water I I Admiral Stanton declined in advance of the investigation by the investgton government govern-ment to say anything a to the cause of the wreck or the responsibility there for He expressed the opinion that there was no possible chance of saving the hull of the Kearsarge a she was badly ter stove in and nearly full of wa Commander Oscar F Heyerman said Admiral Stanton and I were together from the moment the vessel struck un tlll we went ashore the next day together to-gether He and I were the last per ter sons to leave the Kearsarge We went ashore to save our lives as the Kear sarge was beginning to ship a great deal of water We made several ef forts to go ashore but were unsuccess ful till we finally succeeded in getting ashore on a catamaran boat We got I along very well after we reached shore although the supply of provis ions was ShOt and until we dug a well the water was very scarce As to I the responsibility for the accident I do not care to say anything Those facts will be investigated in all probability prob-ability by a court of inquiry or by investigation by the navy department We managed to save a great many instruments in-struments the chronometers the log of the Kearsarge and other articles The story of the wreck as told by Lieutenant Brainard was substantially the same a the admiral and commander com-mander He said At the time of the accident there was quite a sea running run-ning which broke over the poop After she struck she ran up high and dry on the reef and left her full of water and in a very bad condition There was nobody on the bridge at the time of the accident and there was no pi lot but I do not care to talk about causes or effects or responsibility or anything of that sort that will have to be left for investigation I was known we were in the vicinity of the reef Thore is no chance of saving the ship She is full of water and high and dry on the reef 1 and the wrecking company could not save enough of her to pay for coal nor could all the engines en-gines in New York do anything with her She struck so hard she glided j I over two of the reefs like a grey hound before she stopped |