Salt Lake Telegram | 1931-11-12 | Page 1 | Flier Tells of Victims' Fight Adrift on Sea

FLIER FUER TELLS OF FIGHT ADRIFT ON SEA Describes How Castaways Castaway Waved Frantically for Help From Plane I EDITORS EDITOR'S NOTE NOTE S. S. S F. F Christy a passenger on the Pan-American Pan Airways plane piloted by Frank Ormsbee which sighted the shipwrecked shipwrecked ship ship- wrecked castaways drifting in the Caribbean Monday who were rescued rescued rescued res res- res- res cued today gives in hi the following story written for the United Press an eyewitness description of ot their plight Christ Christy a son of the former former for for- mer American consul to Cuba made the trip by air from Cristobal Cristobal Cristobal Cristo Cristo- bal to Miami By S S. S F. F CHRISTY Copyright 1931 by United Press MIAMI Fla Fin Nov 12 12 I 1 sighted th the wreckage at nt p. p In m. Monday Our Ou plane sent sett out an au SOS at p. p m ni to shore stations which broadcast tb the niC C message to n nearby arby shippers I saw 10 men in one lifeboat one on e man and a woman woman on a hatch batch cover cove r and one man clinging to a gasoline drum drifting in the rough sea sen The Theman man on the drum was naked and the waves from 10 to 15 feet high played havoc with him I saw him thrown Into the sea every time a wave struck the drum but he always re regained regained regained re- re gained the drum I thought it would be DC just a matter of time before he would be forced to let go for tor good There were approximately drums floating around All the survivors survivors survivors sur sur- sur- sur waved frantically to us us using torn tom parts of their clothing to attract our attention One man waved an oar high in the air with his shirt tail attached I saw laW one young boy whom 1 I judged to be 10 years of age among those in the boat We circled the wreckage several times but it was impossible to land The survivors were having a difficult difficult cult time keeping their boat headed into the wind The inside of the boat appeared to be bc nearly filled ruled with water As we circled within 12 feet of the rough seas I could see sec sharks swirlIng swirlIng swirling swirl swirl- ing around in the water Pilot Ormsbee finding a landing impossible ImpoSible decided to speed toward the coast and urge assistance by boats To my mind there wasn't much chance for their being rescued It appeared that the wreck of their ship had occurred a short time before we wes s sighted them