Two Freighters Sinking. Boats Standing by Helpless in Heavy Storm.
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK. January 27.—The fate of 54 men, members of the crews of the British freighters Antinoe and Laristan, which have been in distress in a storm at sea for three days, was still In doubt today.
Six men of the were rescued yesterday by the German liner Bremen, leaving 24 aboard. The United States liner President Roosevelt, which has lost two of its crew in efforts to aid the Antinoe, was still standing by today.
Five of the dozen passenger liners that have been battling toward Atlantic ports front one to two days late in the teeth of the storm reached port yesterday. They were the Transylvania, Duilio, Giuseppe Verdi, Mount Royal and Regina.
leviathan Due Today.
The Leviathan and Columbus are due today and the Aquitania and France tomorrow.
The President Roosevelt sent word yesterday the condition of the Antinoe was serious and its ability to keep afloat doubtful. The Roosevelt has been standing by the freighter in a snowstorm since Sunday.
The Bremen, which answered the Laristan’s SOS Monday night, sent a radio to Halifax last night announcing the rescue of six of the 30 men of the Laristan.
Further assistance was hampered by huge seas.
The Canadian government steamer Reindeer is ready at Halifax to go to the aid of the Laristan, a storm outside Halifax preventing her leaving the harbor last night.
Freighters Heavy Laden.
The Laristan, with coal, was bound from Swansea to New York. The Antinoe was carrying wheat from New York to Queenstown.
Capt. Fried of the President Roosevelt sent a message by radio, in which he told of vainly maneuvering his ship throughout the day in snow, rain and sleet squalls and in high seas to get into favorable position for a rescue. The sea was too rough to get a line aboard the Antinoe. An empty lifeboat was launched and it drifted alongside the Antinoe, but members of the crew were unable to reach it, and later it capsized.
Capt. Fried described the Antinoe as riding sluggish, with the lee rail rolling under and engine room reported flooded.
He said he looked for improvement of the weather today.
The Evening Star, Washington, DC, January 27, 1926