SUR LE CANAL LACHINE FouMixrfSSi ¦ 15 REACH SAFETY Woman Among Victims —Boats and Plane Begin Search. Special to The Mail and Empire. Port Colbprne, Oct. 5. — The freighter John J. Boland, Jr., owned by the Sarnia Steamship Company of Port Colborne, foundered this afternoon in Lake Erie near Erie, Penn.. according to advices received at the office of the company here from Capt. Edward Hawman, who with 15 members of his crew landed at Stiff Neck near Westfield, Penn. Four other members of the crew were missing and were to-night believed drowned. Those missing are Miss J. Mclntyre, 24, assistant stewardess, 128 River Road, Welland; G. Keary, 598 Gage Avenue, Hamilton, fireman; H. Jobes, 23'/2 Academy Street, St. Catharines, oiler; S. Brooks, 848 Pierre Avenue, Windsor, oiler. Those rescued are: Captain E. C. Hawman, Sarnia: First Mate M. Smith, Windsor; Second Mate A. Bur-t.enshaw, Milleroehes, Ont.; Chief Engineer William Byers, St. Catharines: Assistant Engineer G. Irwin, St. Catharines; Stewardess Mrs. E. Smith, Watford, Ont.; Wheelsman C. Hender. Parry Sound, and the following deck hands: C. Vennard, Port Elgin, Ont.; R. MacLeod, Windsor; R. Scott. Tillsonburg; F. Hagen, Thessalon. Ont.: J. Campbell, Port Dalhousie: G. Bennett, R.R No. 3, St. Catharines; A Venr.ard, F< rt Elgin; E. Goodler, St. Catharines. Scene Is Searched. Only meagre details of the sinking of the 252-foot, 1,939-ton freighter were available here to-day, but an exhaustive search of waters around the spot where she sank was being conducted by United States Coastguard vessels and small craft of Erie, Penn. Survivors of the disaster, who landed at Westfield, state that the accident which caused the craft to sink happened so suddenly that they were struggling, in the water before they knew what had happened. The ship's yawl was floating nearby and several, climbing into it, pulled others in until 15 members of the crew were rescued. The others were not to be seen. Some clirried that the rudder of the vesel had been disabled and the craft had foundered when struck by a heavy sea. Three coastguard vtss-'s were dispatched to the scene from Erie, Penn. »nt a bascule, leve pour laisser passer les vaisseaux des grands lacs. Limited, Montreal). — (Photo Associated Sci Teen News, and from the Buffalo post of the coastguard, a seaplane was sent to search" the waters for the remaining four members of the crew. Four Years Old. The John J. Boland, Jr., was a vessel of 252 feet in length, four | years old. She was used largely in " freight service between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario via the Welland Canal,-and was owned by the Sarnia Steamship Company. The John J. Boland left Port Colborne for Erie on Tuesday. There during the night she took on a cargo II of coal, leaving during the early morning for the Welland Canal. She was making what is known as "Pratt's Crossing in Lake Erie when she foundered. The vessel was in command of Captain Edward C. Hawman of Sarnia. She was built by the Swan Hunter Company, Limited, England, in 1928 at their shipyards in Newcastle-on-Tyne. She was valued at $200,000, and had a cargo capacity of 3,500 tons. Lost in Same Area. On July 2, 1930. the sand boat George J. Whelan sank off Erie. Penn. The wreckage of the Whelan was not found, and a search for the victims proved fruitless. Six years ago the sand sucker, H. S. Gerkin, sank In Lake Erie off Barcelona in the vicinity of the spot where the John J. Boland, Jr., went down to-day. Three men drowned. Capt. Scott Misener, president and general manager of the Sarnia Steamships Company, was in Montreal today but left this afternoon for Port Colborne. Captain's Story Buffalo. N.Y., Oct. 5.—(AP)—Fifteen survivors of the S.S. .John J. Boland, Jr., saved by taking to the lifeboats as the vessel went down, rowed to the mainland and were recovering from ¦ exposure to-night at Stiff Neck, near Westfield. The survivors said the accident happened so. quickly they were in the water before they realized it. They said the lifeboats, torn from their fastening by the waves, remained afloat and the first ten men to reach them aided in pulling the remaining survivors from the water, A rudder broke and the ship wallowed after leaving Erie at 3 a.mv with a cargo of coal. The captain, E. C. Hawman of Sarnia told Dr. Carlton A. Hest in his office at Westfield, N.Y., that he and three others narrowly escaped death as their lifeboat was bounded against rocks on their way to shore. 1 Htf ~Boi~*N6 S/)«* /jy FREIGHTER FOUNDERS; FOUR DROWN Four of her crew of 19 were drowned when the canal freighter J. J. Boland, Jr., foundered in Lake Erie, off Westport, yesterday. The ship entered the lake service in. 1928.