Guy E. Andrews helped to save Thomas F. Murphy and four others from burning or drowning, Bay Ridge, Maryland, September 17, 1939. At night a cruiser, on which Murphy, 44, clerk, and four other men were riding on Chesapeake Bay, caught fire a mile from shore; and the flames spread rapidly. A tank containing 100 gallons of gasoline was aboard. Two of the men got into the water and drifted away from the cruiser. There was wind of 30 m.p.h., and rough waves were five to eight feet high. Andrews, 32, second mate, and Edward A. Warner took a tender from a yacht 2,700 feet to the cruiser, they having been warned to beware of an explosion. After much careful maneuvering, they rescued Murphy and two other men. Fearing an explosion was imminent, Andrews drove the tender away from the cruiser, risking entanglement with a fish-net that was close by and near the surface. When the tender was 15 feet away, the cruiser’s tank exploded. The tender was not damaged, and Andrews stopped it and pulled another man into it. The remaining man, who had drifted to a point much farther from the cruiser, was then rescued. Andrews drove the tender 2,400 feet to the yacht, but because of the rough water no attempt was made to hoist the tender on board, and Andrews drove three and a half miles farther to calm water. Three of the men had sustained slight injuries. 37996-3169
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