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NO TEN ae eS AS t : Re : -sighting the fire, January, 1910 "TAE MARINE REVIEW THE STEAMER L. C. HAnNa TAKING OFF THE CREW OF THE BuRNING STEAMER CLARION NEAR SoutH-EAst SHOAL ON THE NIGHT risk of collision and of fire, marks the absolutely finished workman. he steamer. Josiah. ©. Munro, bound up, loaded, was about 3 miles westward of the lightship when the flames broke out through the Clar- ion's (decks, and. Capt. Sayre. on immediately put about and headed for it. The Clarion was at that time drifting over the shoals to the north of the lightship, but the lights of the latter were not visible in the dense vapor hanging low over the water, and it appears that the crew of the lightship sighted the fire about the same time and commenced to blow alarm signals, thus' indicating to .Capt.. Sayre her position, and the latter, finding him- self close to the shoals, put his wheel aport, intending to go around the lightvessel, but unfortunately stranded in 17% ft. chiefly on account of the low water caused.by the westerly yale, and was thus robbed of the oppor- tunity of giving assistance. As _ this was nearly half an hour before the Hanna reached the scene, it is cer- tain that had Capt. Sayre a few mo- ments' earlier indication of the position of the lightship, he would have been able to rescue all hands. Capt. Sayre deserves full credit for his efforts; he did all that could 'be done, and as the result shows, imperilled his own ship and crew in the attempt. Capt. oF Dec. 8. Sayre says the night was one of the wildest he has ever seen and the dense vapor coming off the water shut out everything but masthead lights, and those of the lightship being relatively low and invisible, her whistle should have been kept going. The following day, Dec. 9, witnessed another rescue under different cir- cumstances but calling for not less skillful work. The steamer W. A. Paine, 500 ft. long, 52 ft. beam, loaded with 9,530 tons of flaxseed, had, dur- ing the entire day of Dec. 8, been running down Lake Erie, bound for Buffalo, before the W, S. W. gale, and as every seaman will realize, with consequent severe duty to the steer- ing gear. By the time the lower end of the lake was reached the gear had become so slack that Capt. Detlefs decided not to attempt to enter Buf- falo until the gear had been over- hauled and came to anchor as shown in the diagram Fig. 3, with both an- chors down. During the night of Dec. 8, the steamer W. C. Richardson, also bound for Buffalo with 6,200 tons of flaxseed, attempted to round to off Pt. Abino, 14 miles from Buffalo, to await the blowing out of the gale and in doing so shifted her cargo and the seas breaking over her filled her engine and boiler rooms and left her helpless. In this condition she drifted down the lake, settling by the stern, and grounded aft in about 30 ft. of water about a mile off the breakwater, and perhaps one and a half miles to leeward of the Paine at anchor, with the seas breaking all over her and her crew crowded in the quarters forward. Capt. Detlefs of the Paine resolved to make an effort at rescue but there was imminent danger to his own ship and crew in an effort to go to leeward of the Richardson on account of the heavy seas and the currents setting towards the head of Niagara river, and the proximity of the breakwall. Capt. Detlefs therefore hove up one anchor and allowed his ship to drift until she was somewhat to leeward of the Richardson, as indicated by Fig. 4, then giving both anchors 50 fath- oms of chain he drove his engines at full speed ahead, dragging both an- chors and heading for the Richard- son's bow, over which, when he had approached within a few feet, he threw a ladder and took all hands off though it was necessary to put heav- ing lines on some of the crew and pull them aboard. By this maneuver he retained full control of hisown ship at every instant and heading always to windward, whereas had he attempted to bring her round with the wheel' only he would almost certainly have wrecked his own ship also. It was a beautiful piece of work, well planned and brilliantly executed under condi- »