Complex sentence: One of "Gneisenau" s officers who lived had been the sole survivor on three different guns but was pulled from the water saying he was a first cousin of the British commander (Stoddart).
Split into simpler sentences: One of "Gneisenau" s officers who lived had been the sole survivor on three different guns. He was pulled from the water saying he was a first cousin of the British commander (Stoddart).