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Show 29 DROWN WHEN NAVY TUG SINKS ON EAST COAST Phlhladelphla, Feb. 28. -Twenty-'.nine officers and men arc believed to have lost their lives yesterday when the seagoing naval tug Cherokee Chero-kee foundered In a severe gale fifteen fif-teen miles off tho Maryland coast. Ten survivors and the bodies of eight other members of the crew of thirty-nine were brought hero today on, two British rescue ships and then landed at the Philadelphia navy yard. No -trace of the remaining members of tho crow was found. Among thosn missing is Junior Lieut. Edward D. Npwell, the commander of the tug. Ordinarily the Cherokee carried a crew of forty, but one man was not aboard. t According to the captain of one of the rescue ships, tho primary cause of tho disaster was the breaking break-ing of the steering gear. A fifty mllo northwest gale was blowing at the time, and tho little vessel was at tho mercy of mountainous seas. Tho tug was thrown broadside to tho wavos and wallowed In the turbulont seas until her hatches were battered in. In tho meantime two rafts were launched and the crow abandoned tho ship a3 she was about to founder. "I saw wreckage about six miles .from the sceno of tho disaster," said tho captain, "Later I found an upturned up-turned boat and then wo sighted a raft, on which thero were twelve men. Wo took them all aboard and two died from exposure. "I saw six bodies and summoned another vessel to pick them up, as I wanted to give assistance to tho living liv-ing men." "Virtually all of the twelvo men on the raft were unconscious when picked up. There wero four men on tho second rnft. Two wero washed overboard and the other two died. . The wireless man aboard the Cherokee Cher-okee stuck to his post to the end. Tho wireless operator at tho navat reservo station at Capo May, N. J., picked up tho first call from tho tug at 7:G5 a. in. yesterday. Word was relayed to the naval const patrol at Lowes. Del., fifteen miles across Delaware bay, and n cutter was sent In search of the, distressed tug. Tho Capo May wireless was In touch with tho Cherokee operator for some tlmo after the first call, which was cloar and distinct but did not state tho cause of tho tug's plight. Later tho Cherokeo's signals becamo Indistinct and by 0 a. in. they had ceased. |
