DISTRESS CALL BROUGHT TEN SHIPS TO SCENE
Leinster Leader 15th November 1913
In October 1913 the passenger liner the Volturno, sailing from Rotterdam to Halifax and New York, caught fire in the mid-Atlantic. Her distress call brought ten ships to the scene; 523 people were rescued, but 131 perished. [note J. Durney]
Among the passengers on board the liner Carmania on the recent memorable trip in which the vessel went to the assistance of the burning Volturno in mid-ocean was Mr Wm Clarke, C.P.S., Carbury, who was returning from spending holidays with his brother in the United States, and who witnessed from the deck of the Cunarder the dramatic scenes already fully described in the daily Press. Mr Clarke says he retired to his bunk at midnight when the first efforts to save the Volturno’s passengers had failed, and not wishing to be an eyewitness to the destruction of the vessel and its human freight which was expected at any moment. At five the next morning he was surprised to see the Volturno still over water, and preparations being made for the rescue of the remaining passengers, which was soon after successfully carried out. The sight of the nine big liners surrounding the Volturno Mr Clarke describes as one of extreme grandeur.
The Leinster Leader of November 1913 reports that in October 1913 the passenger liner the Volturno, sailing from Rotterdam to Halifax and New York, caught fire in the mid-Atlantic. Our thanks to James Durney…
