Epic Struggle

Over the North Atlantic last week raged the year's worst storm. Ships wallowed in gigantic waves whipped to fury by a 100-m.p.h. hurricane. When the storm subsided and the ships counted their dead 38 men were missing, drowned or crushed to death.

Lost with all hands was the French freighter Schiaffine 24, unreported since leaving Marseille last fortnight. Only clue to the fate of her crew of 21 was a lifebelt and parts of the ship washed up along the French coast.

En route from Montreal to Cobh with a cargo of coal and crew of 26, the British freighter Usworth was foundering fast when her SOS reached the Cunard-White Star liner Ascania. By the time the Ascania reached her side seven hours later the Usworth was listing 25, her rudder gone, her bridge swept away, her bulkheads and hatches stove in, her boats smashed and her decks awash.

Round & round the Usworth steamed the Ascania and the Belgian freighter Jean Jadot, pouring tons of fuel oil on the mountainous seas. So exhausted were the crew of the Usworth and so violent the pounding of the waves against her sides that she could not secure the hawsers tossed by the Jean Jadot. Finally the Jean Jadot, with great difficulty, got a boat lowered with ten volunteers. Pitching & tossing on a sea black with oil, the lifeboat reached the Usworth's side, took off 14 British seamen who slid one by one down a rope. Hardly had the rescue boat pulled away when a huge breaker capsized her, spilled all 24 men into the sea. Ten were rescued, the rest, twelve from the Usworth, two from the Jean Jadot were drowned or choked to death by fuel oil.

Three more from the Usworth were drowned when they jumped into the icy sea to reach a lifeboat from the Ascania. The nine still on board, including the captain, waited until the lifeboat got alongside, then jumped together, holding hands. The Usworth, a sinking derelict, drifted away in the fog. Of her ship's company of 26, eleven had been saved in what the Ascania's Captain Bisset described as an "epic struggle."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.