Couple Describe Miraculous Rescue of 60 Persons From
Sinking Freighter in Storm-Tossed Gulf of Alaska
By MURLIN SPENCER
SEATTLE, (jD—“There were
three sharp cracks—crack, crack
crack, just like that. And then the
general .alarm rang. I rushed out
of my cabin and there was the
bow of the ship streaking by in
the other direction.
"It was a sight that will be.
burned in my memory forever. I
thought—this is it!”
That, in the words of Mrs. Ver
non Lester of West Vancouver,
B.C., is the way the freighter
Washington Mail broke in two in
the storm-swept Gulf of Alaska at
1:15 p.m. last Saturday.
That was the start of an after
noon of what could have been
“sheer terror—if it hadn’t been
for those wonderful American
seamen.”
It was the beginning of a saga
of the seas, climaxed by an al
most miraculous rescue of 60
crewmen and passengers by the
U.S. Navy troopship Gen. H. B.
Freeman.
“There was no sign of anything
wrong,’’ said Mr. Lester. “It was
after lunch, and we had gone to
our cabin to rest. We had had
rough weather, yes, but the sailors
said: ‘It’s nothing to worry about.
It can get much worse out here.’
And then there were the three
tremendous crashes.”
“We thought we had hit some
thing,” his wife said. “When the
general alarm rang, we put on our
life belts. Vern told me to put on
a pair of his trousers over my
slacks. My suit coat and skirt I
wrapped around my head and
shoulders for warmth. And I
grabbed a coat, too.
“Our cabin was right next to
the lifeboats and as I rushed out
on deck there was the bow of the
ship rushing by in the other di
rection. That was when I thought,
‘This is it’.”
“Yes,” interrupted her husband,
“but think of what the two priests
saw. They had the cabin just
ahead of us. When they looked out
there was no ship in front of them
at all. It had been torn loose just
in front of the superstructure.”
Members of the crew came
down at this point to tell them
there was no immediate danger.
The after section would stay afloat
indefinitely.
“They told us they had sent out
SOS immediately, but I guess they
didn’t get it out right away,” re
lated Mrs. Lester. “We watched a
seaman trying to climb a spar to
get an antenna up. If you could
only have seen him. It was in
credible.
The portion of the ship torn
away carried the regular radio
antennas. It was only after an
emergency antenna was installed
that the SOS went out, to be heard
faintly by the Freeman, 65 miles
away.
“That was the rough time,” said
Mrs. Lester of the order to aban
don ship. “It was nearly dark by
then, and snowing and the waves
were 40 feet high.
“I had put on my husband’s
trousers over my slacks and as I
started up the deck I almost stum
bled. The darned trousers had
slipped down to my ankles. But it
broke the tension for everyone. It
made them laugh.”
The Lesters and a number of
others moved toward the lifeboat
hanging from davits. As the life
boat swung in toward the ship the
women were lifted and tossed in
side. The men waited and one by
one jumped into the swinging
boat.
“And that Freeman—that won
derful, wonderful Freeman," in
terposed her husband. “We could
see her lights—they were like the
-----'I
most wonderful Christmas tree
anyone ever saw.”
Two lifeboats were lowered,
filled with the 60 crewmen and
passengers. They made for the
Freeman, about 1,000 yards away.
The Washington Mail sank i
about 12 minutes after the second
lifeboat pulled away. The Lesters ,
couldn’t see it—their eyes were
strained tow’ard the Freeman.
When the lifeboats pulled
alongside the Freeman, the crew
of the troopship dropped cradles
and lines to take the passengers
aboard.
“It was a miracle that we made
it without a serious accident,” '
said Lester.
“But that man Kodoszenski
(John Kodoszenski, 36, a Los An- ,
geles civil engineer) had the most
wonderful escape. He was lifted ,
40 feet up in a sling w’hen it broke. |
Our boat was right alongside the I
Freeman, and it swung aside just j
as he came down. He dropped into
the water, with the life line still
around him. Two crewmen in our
boat grabbed the line and pulled
him up.”
The 60 persons were transferred
safely from the two lifeboats and
the Freeman moved off to take,
them to the nearest port, Kodiak. '
“We’re mighty thankful to God 1
that we’re here tonight,” said 1
Mrs. Lester. “There were miracles!
all the way. Our ship was late I
leaving (Seattle last Wednesday), j
The Freeman was late leaving. It
put the two of us close together 1
when the crucial hour came.
The trip was to have been a '
second honeymoon for the Lesters. |
They left their four daughters— j
18, 15, 11 and 5— at home and.
took the Washington Mail for To- j
kyo. As the Constellation pulled .
into the ramp at Seattle, a crowd I
of relatives and friends raised a i
loud cheer. They shouted as each
survivor came down, some of
them carrying the orange lifebelts
they wore when they left the ship.
I
Conservationists
Study How to
Coordinate Efforts
NEW ORLEANS, UP>—How to;
coordinate conservation efforts
topped the agenda at the North ;
American Wildlife Confenence
yesterday.
Speakers included ernest Wohl- 1
e‘z, dean of the college of forestry
at the University of Idaho, and
Harry S. Hale, chairman of the ;
committee on public lands for the
National Assn, of Soil Conserva- j
tion districts.
At Monday’s session, Dr. Ira N. j
Gabrielson, president of the Na
tional Wildlife Management Insti
tute, accused the Department of
Interior of changing the Fish and
Wildlife Service from a scientific
carreer service into a political
agency.
Gabrielson said “there are now
four political appointments in the
‘top echelon’ of the Fish and Wild
life Service.”
He said such natural resources
as forests, wildlife, soils and wat
ers must be managed on a long
term basis.
Gabrielson said one of the most
serious setbacks that conservation
forces received was the Depart
ment of Interior’s action in invit
ing oil and gas leases on “all but
a very limited number of national
wildlife refuges.”
E. L. Peterson, assistant secre-;
tary of the Agriculture Depart
ment, called on state and federal
agencies to work closer together;
on conservation program. He said
many of the problems of conser
vation result from lack of under
standing on the local level.
More than 900 conservationists
from throughout the nation, Al
aska, Canada and Mexico are at
tending the threc-day conference.
Penguins can progress either by
walking upright or flat on their
s'omachs, kicking with their legs.
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