Still Missing: Rethinking the D.B. Cooper Case and Other Mysterious Unsolved Disappearances (22 page)

As a citizen observed last night in telephoning his appreciation of the enterprise of
The Daily Tribune
, it was the first extra issued here since the war, at least, and was the only one ever delivered on the regular routes. The issue was not of course a business one but an act dictated by the sense of responsibility
The Daily Tribune
feels to adequately serve the community in proper protection on major news events.

George Van Hall, well known fisherman of this city brought definite proof of the loss of the steamship
Andaste
today about 14 miles South and West of Holland after running to lift his nets there in his tug the
Bertha G.
of this port.

He brought a door, pieces of wreckage from the inside of the cabin, one piece with a clothes hook on it, which were definitely identified by officers of the Construction Materials Co. and men who had sailed on the
Andaste
and were familiar with the color of the door.

Splintered and battered, it bore evidence of a terrific struggle made in the terror of that wild night which added another tragedy to the long list of Lake Michigan.

With Capt. Van Hall were Vernon King, engineer, Grand Haven; John Anderson, formerly of Milwaukee, now living here, who has been working on the
Bertha G
, for some time; Henry Swatosh, Spring Lake, and George Ziel, Holland.

In telling the story Mr. Van Hall said he left Holland at 6:25 a.m. steaming southwest by west for one hour and 35 minutes, or about 12 miles. He noticed the door and almost ran over it. Alert as the crew was for wreckage, they slowed down and brought it in the run. There was quite a quantity of wreckage on all sides as he ran for 15 minutes farther South. The crew searched hard for any signs of bodies but were not able to find any.

Van Hall turned his course and went north 15 minutes where he found his nets. The crew raised them and the wreckage was quite thick. The men saw part of a stairway, a portion of the rail, a bracket that held a water tank. In resetting the nets the wreckage was so thick it had to be cleared to set the nets properly.

A strongback four by six and about 10 feet long with a becket on either end used to close the hatches was picked up. A boat load could easily have been picked up, continued the captain. Before leaving the spot every man went to the roof of the cabin and scanned and scanned the waters to see if there was any sign of a body. They did not see anything to resemble one.

Van Hall then ran five minutes south and returned to Holland, east by south, arriving there about 1:00 p.m. he reported to the Coast Guard station immediately. They were sent out by Com. W.M. Wolff to search for bodies. There was a big swell on the lake all day and picking up the wreckage was more or less difficult.

There was a good southwest wind running all day. Van Hall and his crew have been fishing off Holland for the past three days. Each day since it became known the
Andaste
was overdue, the men have been on the lookout for signs Although Thursday was a much better day to see, they found no trace. The wreckage evidently had not broken away from the vessel until early this morning.

The tugs
Liberty
and
Freedom
have been cruising north all day. Saturday they will go to the spot where the wreckage was found and do all possible to find bodies. The water is deep where the boat went down and some of the bodies may never come up. Opinion differs as to whether any will be recovered.

The
Andaste
left this port Monday and cleared the pier here at 9:03 p.m. People undoubtedly saw her about 11:00p.m. headed toward Chicago. A boy living at Ottawa Beach said he is certain he saw the boat about midnight south of the Holland pier off on the horizon. Van Hall believes she foundered near South Haven.

Later the same day, the following report appeared in a late addition of the paper. Grand Haven was abuzz with activity and people seeking information regarding the disaster. The information starved people of Grand Haven grabbed newspapers from the newsstand almost as fast as they were displayed:

NO SIGNS OF 25 MEMBERS OF BOAT CREW

BOYS FIND
ANDASTE
LIFE PRESERVER ON BEACH NEAR SAUGATUCK

MUCH DEBRIS ALONG SHORE

FRAGMENTS ALSO REPORTED DISCOVERED OFF OTTAWA BEACH

Saugatuck, Sept. 14---A life preserver from the gravel freighter
Andaste
, bearing the name of the vessel, was found along the beach at Camp Gray, a mile west of here late Saturday morning by four local boys. The youths reported much wreckage along the shore.

The quartet was comprised of Keith Kelly, George Kelly, Ned Edgecomb and Donald Bird.

Clyde Kibby, engineer of the ill-fated vessel, was a former resident of this city, having been engineer for a number of years on the
Anna C. Wilson
.

WEATHER HANDICAPS

Grand Haven. Sept. 14---Heavy weather Saturday held searchers in the harbor here from a wreckage-strewn spot, about 14 miles out from Ottawa Beach, west of Holland, where the 37-year old freighter,
Andaste
, is believed to have gone down in last Monday night’s storm, carrying to death its crew, 24 men and a boy.

Unable to set out in the face of the rough water Saturday were two tugs, the
Liberty
and the
Freedom
, of the Chicago Materials Co. in whose service the
Andaste
was when it left here Monday night for Chicago with a heavy cargo of gravel aboard. Officials of the company said the moment the weather relented the tugs would start for the wreckage-strewn area, where late Friday a fishing tug captain found pieces of the freighter, to aid in a search for the bodies which the
Andaste
, apparently breaking up, is hoped to release.

WRECKAGE IDENTIFIED

Capt. George Van Hall of the
Bertha G
., a fish tug, late Friday came upon pieces of wreckage that were identified as those from the
Andaste
, missing since it set out of here a few hours before a 60-mile gale.

HEAVY WINDS BALK SEARCH FOR
LAKE BODIES

COAST GUARD DOUBTS ANY WILL RISE IN 50 FATHOMS OF WATER

PRESTON BACK LAST NIGHT

Heavy weather outside on Lake Michigan is preventing further search for the bodies of those who lost their lives on the ill-fated steamer
Andaste
sometime during Monday night although the Holland and South Haven Coast Guard crews undoubtedly will get out sometime during the day.

Capt. William Preston of the local station arrived here Friday at 9:00 p.m. after being on the lake since Wednesday. The local crew skirted the east shore to Gary and up to Kenosha then zig-zagged across the lake but found nothing of the wreckage.

In the opinion of Capt. Preston there will be few bodies recovered as the boat, he believes, is in 50 fathoms of water and unless the men had time to grab life preservers, the weight of the water will hold them down. There is no possibility of dragging, said Con. W. M. Wolf, even if it were certain where the boat went down.

The tugs
Liberty
and
Freedom
, owned by the Construction Materials Co., were to have left early this morning to search the wreckage for bodies but are being held in by the heavy weather.

Capt. Anderson, 64, has been sailing the great lakes for 45 years and has held a master’s license for more than 30 years.

The probabilities are that Capt. Anderson and the men aboard had no opportunity to escape. The boat carried two metal life boats, each with a capacity of 36, and 29 life preservers, according to the federal inspection report on file at the government inspection bureau office here. The crew undoubtedly had no chance to put this life saving equipment in use.

Now that quite definite proof has come to the families of the missing men, there is relief in a way that the terrible uncertainty is over, although on the other hand the apparent deaths deepen grief.

Mrs. Charles Brown, widow of the first mate, is prostrated over the tragedy and is in a serious nervous condition. Besides the widow there are two step sons surviving, Russel and August Swanson.

Fred Nienhouse, 27, who was a member of the ship’s crew for nearly a year, is unmarried, but has several brothers and sisters, besides his parents, Mr. And Mrs. Louis Nienhouse, with whom he made his home on US-31 about three miles north of Ferrysburg. They are Tracy and Fred Nienhouse living at home, Sabe Nienhouse and Mrs. Fred Dobb of Muskegon, Barry and Richard Nienhouse of Spring Lake, Mrs. John Vincent of Grand Rapids and Mrs. Gerrit VanderPloeg of Chicago.

Frank Kasperson is survived by three brothers, Ernie of this city, George on the steamer
City of Grand Rapids
and
Julian of Milwaukee
.

Earl Zietlow, youngest lad in the crew, is survived by his father, William Zietlow, 820 Colfax street, and mother, Mrs. J. J. Parker, 600 Sheldon Road, who were divorced several years ago.

George Watts, 60 years old, has no relatives that have been located. He was unmarried.

MAY HAVE SEEN BOAT

Holland, Sept. 14---A hint of the last desperate attempt of the crew of the sand ship
Andaste
to bring the vessel to port in the face of a 60 mile an hour gale Monday night on Lake Michigan was believed to have been conveyed to a watcher on the shore near Holland.

Carl Harrington, a cottager at Gerdeau Beach, saw a flickering light on the lake. The light shifted several times, and finally appeared to be directed on a course aimed at the Holland harbor. A few minutes later he lost sight of the light, and it is believed the ship may have foundered then.

On advices reported by the fishing tug
Bertha G.
at Grand Haven, Capt. Samuel Taft and a Coast Guard crew located wreckage of the lost boat 12 miles due southwest of the Holland harbor. The pilot house steps and a screen off the port light were picked up, but no bodies were found.

Capt. Taft said that his crew would go out again to renew the search. It is believed bodies of the men will come to the surface now that the craft has been broken up, marine men declare.

A statement that he had seen a ship in mid-lake Tuesday night with lights resembling the missing
Andaste
, was made Thursday by Joseph Dunlevy, first officer of the steamer City of Grand Rapids.

MORE WRECKAGE

Holland, Sept. 14---Wreckage identified as from the freighter
Andaste
, which left Grand Haven Monday evening was picked up 12 miles west of this harbor Friday afternoon.

A cabin door, loose planking and part of a fresh water tank were discovered by George Van Hall of Grand Haven while operating his fishing tug
Bertha G.

Two steps leading to the pilot house, two stanchions and a port screen were picked up by a cost guard crew under Capt. S.J. Taft. He said the wreckage was widely scattered. No life preservers were found.

John Vaningen of the coast guard, who was a sailor on the
Andaste
until July 1, identified the stanchions and the cabin door as those of the
Andaste
.

Coast guards expect to find more wreckage on shore between here and Saugatuck.

DOG STILL WAITS

Chicago, Sept. 14---While wreckage has been found off Holland which indicates the
Andaste
sank, there have been no bodies found yet. The ship’s mascot, at least, still holds hope, she still waits on the local dock of the gravel company for the missing steamer.

The Airedale mascot, Queenie, had been left behind when Captain Albert Anderson took the
Andaste
on the trip to Grand Haven last week. Queenie seldom went out with the boat but of the scores of ships that came past the docks every day she never failed to recognize the toot of the
Andaste
.

She has been the mascot of the
Andaste
and the pet of all the workmen at the Construction Materials company yards for many months, and since the ship’s disappearance she has paced the dock faithfully awaiting the return of her pals.

SAILOR’S VIEW

Chicago, Sept. 14---Louis Broucek, a Chicago sailor who was a deckhand on the
Andaste
last season, said the vessel always had difficulty recruiting a full crew.

“She used to pitch and roll so much,” he said, “that it was hard to get a crew for her. Seaworthy and all that, but still the boys were afraid of her.”

“There’s another thing about that boat—she used to shift her cargo. That means that when she rolled about the gravel or rocks would slide to one side. Many times the crew would have to go down and trim the load even.”

“I think that is what happened Tuesday night. Her cargo probably shifted and she turned upside down. If that happened the boys didn’t have a chance. They were inside and would not have been able to get to the lifeboats because the
Andaste
, with a heavy load, would go down in a few seconds.”