Volunteers from the SS "Philadelphia", take crew from sinking ship in raging sea. LAMP FLASHES CALL HELP Rescuing Boats Barely Miss Being Smashed. Despite Oil poured Upon the Waves. By Marconi "Wireless to the New York Times". ON BOARD S.S. "PHILADELPHIA", at Sea, Monday, Feb. 8. By splendid seamanship and under the most adverse conditions, the "Philadelphia" rescued Capt. Segebarth and the crew of thirty-two men of the American Petroleum Company's tank steamer "Chester" on Friday last, in mid-ocean. She expects to land them in New York tomorrow. Their vessel was left sinking. On Thursday morning at 1:30, ship's time, Capt. Mills, on the bridge of the "Philadelphia", telephoned to Jones, the wireless operator, to establish communications with a vessel off, to port. Jones threw in his wireless and gave several calls, but received no answer. The Captain then telephoned to Jones to come to the bridge. There he saw that the vessel, which was almost hidden in the dark, was signaling with lamps, using the Morse code. Signal lamps were brought to the bridge and Jones soon established communication. The "Philadelphia" asked, "What  is the matter?" and the answer came back in flashes: "We are wrecked !", "We are sinking", "and our boats are useless!" "Do you want to be taken off?" the Philadelphia asked, and the answer came back quickly, "Yes, yes, we are-sinking." Capt. Mills, with the sea running high and a storm about to break, refused to order boats to the rescue. He decided that  if the crew of the vessel were to be saved it must be done by volunteers. Every man Voluniteers. The officers and crew of the "Phlladelphia" were all on deck, and the Captain asked who wanted to go. All the offic-ers, and every man came forward. With great difficulty, owing to the rolling of the ship, the port emergency life-boat was swung over with Chief Officer Candy and six sailors. For a time the waves threatened to smash the boat against the side of the "Philadelphia", but the vessel worked forward and the boat got clear, and disappeared in the mist astern. Two hours later. Chief Officer Candy hailed the "Philadelphia", and by daring work got under the lee of the vessel and was hoisted aboard, with twenty-two of the crew of the sinking "Chester" and his boat half full of water. He told Capt. Mills that there were others, including Capt. Segebarth and officers on the wrecked ship, and prepara-tions were made to send another boat. The men of the first boat wanted to go back, but they were too nearly ex-hausted, and another boat, with First Officer Lyons and seven men, was lowered. Just as the boat touched the water, a wave broke against the side of the "Philadelphia" and half filled it. It seemed fool-hardy to go on, but before the boat could be recalled, it had been lost in the gloom. The "Philadelphia" steamed as near to the "" as possible and for a time it was thought that the First Officer Chester and his men were lost. It was just before the dawn, and nothing could be seen, but the Morse flashes of the lamp of the sinking tanker. Preparations were being made to send another boat, but as it grew lighter the lifeboat was seen alongside the Chester. Jump for Life Into Sea. One by one the remaining men were seen to go overboard from the "Chester", and as the lifeboat rose on the wav-es its crew could be seen dragging them out of the water. Four hours after starting First Officer Lyons returned with the Captain, officers, and engineers of the doomed tanker, and they were swung on board without mishap. At 7:30 A.M; (ship's time) the "Philadelphia" veered to her course again and started for New York, leaving the "Chester"  very low in the water, with the waves breaking over her. She was last seen in latitude 47.6 and longitude 32.53, which is just a little nearer to New York than the middle of the Atlantic. All the officers and crew, thirty-three in number, were saved, Capt. Segebarth reported that they had encountered verv heavy weather and that two davs be-fore the bridge und chartroom had been swept overboard and the boats smashed. The vessel's steering gear was carried away and for forty-eight hours she had been helpless. The "Philadelphia" was the first vessel sighted, and the "Chester", carrying no wireless, was unable to call for help. Capt. Segebarth said he had almost given up hope of rescue, as his vessel was on the northern route, which is used by few ships at this time of year. The "Philadelphia" was on that route in the hopes of avoiding the weather that was reported on the southern route. Before quitting his ship Capt. Segebarth set the wreck afire. She carried 1,830,000 gallons of oil. "While standing by the "Philadelphia" poured oil on the waves, which made it possible to launch the lifeboats. The seas breaking over the "Chester" rendered the rescues very difficult, as it was impossible to bring the boats along-side, and the men had to jump into the sea. The "Philadelphia" experienced such bad weather on Saturday that the day's run was only sixty-six miles. The "Chester" was a steel vessel of 2,568 tons and was launched in 1888. She was built by Russell & Co. at Greenock, England, and carried petroleum in bulk and plied between New York and Rotterdam. The "Philadelphia", with the "Chester's" crew aboard, arrived at Quarantine late last night. Revenue officers boarded the "Philadelphia" off Quarantine upon her arrival and arrested the third-class steward and his assistant. It is charged that they had fifty cans of opium said to be, worth $ 2.000.