When the two 500 lb. I sensed the Pringle was severely damaged and tried to get off the Bridge through the Starboard door, but the door was jammed and access ladder was blown away. I managed to bend the door from the top and slide out onto the open bridge area. I looked toward the stem and the ship was a burning hulk with men stumbling dazed and bleeding from the flying debris, smoke and flames. I looked forward and saw men going over the side.
People can do strange things when in a stressful circumstance.
I put on my life jacket, the type that inflates with a rubber tube and prepared to go over the side. But when crawling off the Bridge I forgot my tin helmet so went back to the Chart House to get it. While searching for my helmet I saw more men going overboard and without thinking dove into the water and swam away from the ship as fast as I could. I don't know how far I swam, but it seemed like several hundred yards before stopping to look back and see the Pringle engulfed in flames, broken in half sinking amidships. The bow and stem were pointed sharply upward and I heard screams as she slipped under the water and disappeared.