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Show jNAVAL COLLIER HECTOR SINKS OURM! Vessel Carried Sixty Marines in Addition to Her Crew of Seventy Men and Twelve Officers. STEAMER ALAMO RESPONDS TO CALL Owing to Static Conditions Wireless Report Cannot Be Obtained; Captain of Tug Sends News. CHARLESTON, S. C, July 15. All the 142 men who abandoned the large naval collier Hector when she grounded last night are safe aboard the tug Wilmington and the lights house tender Cypress, Captain Bryan Bry-an of the Charleston navy yard announced an-nounced early today. CHARLESTON, S. C., July 14. The big naval collier Hector, carrying sixty marines in addition to her crew of seventy sev-enty men and twelve officers, sank off Charleston late today, according to a report tonight from Captain Hunt of the tuff Vigilant, which tried to go to the Hector's assistance. Ho was unable un-able to say whether those aboard escaped. es-caped. The steamer Alamo had been standing by the collier today, having responded to her calls when she was disabled some sixty miles off shore in last night's hurricane. Static conditions condi-tions were such that no wireless report re-port could be obtained from the Alamo tonight. The sea still was running high. The Hector left Port Eoyal for Santo Domingo yesterday. She attempted to put into port here when the storm disabled dis-abled her, but, according to Captain Hunt, went down about nine and a half miles from the Charleston lightship. Captain Hunt raid part of tho collier's super-structure remained above water. The Hector displaced 11,200 tons, was 384 feet long and was built in 1908. NORFOLK, Va., July 14. Officers of the Hector are: Joseph Newell, master, Portsmouth, Va.; Earl O. Coffey, first officer, Wash-ougal, Wash-ougal, Wash.; Norman L. Devine, second sec-ond officer, Philadelphia; J. A. .Mad-dock, .Mad-dock, third officer, Newburyport, ilass.; Edward A. Mercer, chief engiueer, Eock- land, Mass.; Arthur G. Burbank, first assistant engineer, Plymouth, Mass.; George L. Lockbart, second assistant engineer, en-gineer, Wakefield, Miss.; L. W. Brick-house, Brick-house, third assistant engineer, Capa Charles, Va.; Vernon H. Brown, radio electrician, New York; Elmer J. Green, radio electrician, Brooklyn; Valentine J. Connelly, Portsmouth, Va. WASHINGTON, July 14 The detachment' de-tachment' of marines aboard the Hector was commanded by First Lieutenant Eobert E. Adams. Other officers were 6ergean't John Allen and Corporal William Wil-liam F. Kennedy. NAVAL OFFICIALS HOPE FOR SAFETY OF HECTOR'S CREW WASHINGTON, July 14. Up to a late hour tonight all efforts of the navy wireless wire-less to ascertain whether there had been loss of life in the sinking of the naval collier Hector off Charleston had been unavailing. A series of calls for help from the collier, stopping abruptly at 4 p. m., save rise to grave fears for the safety of those aboard, but officials believed be-lieved there still was a possibility that they had escaped. Five brief messages, all Indicating that the collier was in a serious plight, reached the navy department during the afternoon. after-noon. After the last of them came, at 4 o'clock, saying that the vessel had settled set-tled to the bottom and was breaking up, and making an urgent appeal for help, the department was unable to re-establish communication with Charleston. S. O. S. Sent Out. The first word came from the Hector at 2:05 p. m. It gave her position aa fourteen four-teen miles south of Charleston, and said she had a starboard list of 10 degrees-Twenty degrees-Twenty minutes later she sent out an S. O. S. call and added to the distress cipher: "Believe we are sinking." At 2:20 p. m. tho S. O. S. call again was picked up, and the Hector's master said his ship was In a sinking condition. "Crew to leave; send help." the message said. No further word came until 3 o'clock, when the following was received: Hector aground ten miles southeast of (Continued on Page Thirtoen.) 1 111 COLLIER GOES (Continued from Page One.) Charleston light sliip. Breaking in two. Rush help." The last message, ten minutes later, aid simply: "Send help at once." It was addressed to the steamer Alamo, which was standing by. As soon as the first call for help, relayed re-layed bv the Charleston navy yard wireless, wire-less, readied tiie navy department, the big station at Arlington sent broadcast an appeal asking any vessel in the vi-rdnitv vi-rdnitv to go to i lie Hector's assistance. Tonight, after the last wireless message had been' received. Secretary Daniels went to the department and supplemented supplement-ed tiie efforts of the radio officials by trying try-ing to reach Charleston yard by telephone. tele-phone. No sort of communication, however, how-ever, was established. ! Whether the wind conditions off Charleston were such as would permit the collier's boats to live, was unknown here tonight. Hope was expressed, however, thai if those aboard were not able to get to the Alamo they might have succeeded in keeping atloat to be picked up later or to make their way ashore unaided. The Hector, built in 1 90S. was one of the drst of the new type of naval fuel vessels to be completed. She was 3S:i.9 j feet long, 52.5 feet broad and had a draft ' of 24.5 feet. Her speed was twelve knots an hour and her carrying capacity S 12S tons. Some concern was expressed by navy officials tonight for the safety of the destroyer de-stroyer Terry, which was off Charleston when the storm broke, in tow of the tug Relief, which was bringing her north for repairs. She recently grounded in Haitian Hai-tian waters. |