Salt Lake Tribune | 1914-02-13 | Page 8 | Captain Left Ship on the First Boat

Hill LEFT SHIP . ' ON THEJ1ST BOAT Master of the Lost Monroe Makes Poor Showing on Witness Stand. PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 12, What meanB Captain Edward Johnson of tho steamship Monroo took to avoid tho collision with the steamship Nantucket off the Virginia coast, in which forty-one forty-one persona wero lost; what efforts ho mudo to save lives and his conduct from tho time tho shipa struck to tho time ho went aboard tho other vessel wore among questions inquired into today to-day at the trial of Captain Osmyn Borrv, commander of tho. Nantucket, who is charged with liegligcnco. Captain Johnson said that after tho collision he ordered tho other officers of the ship to get all passengers on tho boat dock, as tho ship was sinking. Because Be-cause of the heavv list to starboard, only two boats could bo launched. One wus commanded by himself, he said, and tho oilier by the chief officer. Captain Johnson au-mittod ho left tho ship with knowledge thoro wero other persons iu tho vessel, but that he wanted to go around tlio stem to the port side where ho could Have them. The starboard rail was under water. In his boat were James O 'Council of Washington, a negro woman and sov-onil sov-onil of his crow. IIo saw no one on the deck when ho quit the ship. On tho way round to tho port side of the sinking "Monroe, Captain Johnson said, ho saw a raft with four men on it. and took them off. Altogether he I saved twent3'-cight or tweuty-nlne per- j sons. Asked if it would havo been better for him to go about tho ship maintaining maintain-ing discipline and giving orders, Captain Cap-tain Johnson replied: "If I had walked round tho deck seciug what others were doing, there would havo been about thirty more people dead." Questioned why he did not cut loose all tho life rafts, tho witness replied ho was busy trying to get tho boats away. Every person he saw on the decks or in tho water, ho said, had on a life preserver with the exception of himself. Tho Nantucket stood a quarter of a mile astern of the Monroe, the witness said, and did "remarkably well" in helping to savo passengers and crew.