The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1914-11-12
Residents of Deal, England,
Startled When Torpedo
Hits the Niger
BIG CROWDS SEE
VESSEL GO DOWN
Sailors Leaped Into the Water and
Nearly ALI Were Rescued by Boats
from the shore-capt. Little Last
to Leave Doomed Craft.

DEAL, England, Nov. by the
destruction Of the British torpedo gun
boat Niger, which was toFpedoed and
sunk by submarine in the Downs yes
terday afternoon, the realities of war
were brought home to the inhabitants
of Deal and Walmer.
A loud explosion was heard from the.
gunboat as she lay off the Deal pier.
and great volumes of smoke enveloped
the vessel. When the smoke cleared,
the Niger was observed to be settling
down forward. Men, women ano
children rushed TO the sea front, ex-
claiming that the vessel had been tor
pedoed or mined. They soon realized
that the Niger was doomed. The Deaf
and Kingsdown lifeboats, as well as
boats from other parts of the beach,
were launched in an effort to save the
sailors.
CONSERVATION and almost panic pre-
vailed among the hundreds who stood
watching the CHASTITY sight from the
beach Fortunately the North Deal
galley Hope commanded by Capt. John
Budd, lay at anchor near the spot
waiting to land the pilot from a Lon
don steamer which was going down
the channel When the boatmen real
lied that the Niger had been hit by a
| submarine or mine, TO use their own
expression, they rowed like the very
devil.
Gallant Rescues by Boatmen.
/ eve saw the sailors, said Capt
Budd, jumping from the vessel S side
| in dozens. As we neared the fast dis
appearing vessel we came upon swarms
of men struggling in the sea and he
roieally helping to support each other
Some were fully dressed, others only
partly so. They were elinging t.
! pieces of wreckage and deck furniture
and some were in lifeboats.
i 1t was a heartrending spectacle
/ The men were so thick in the wate1
that they grasped at our oars as W.
i dipped them in the sea. We rescued
iso many and our own boat got s,
i choked that we could not move. Will
our own gunwale only just out of tn
water, we were in danger of sinking
ourselves.
1--WE called to the men that w
could take no more in or we shoult
sink ourselves, but they continued I
pour over the sides, and some hung {
the stern of our boat We had abou
80 on board Never had there bee
so many in the boat before. One burl
sailor, whom we told to wait until tn
t next boat came along, laughingly re
? marked while he was in the water
{ L All right, Coeky, / viii hold on b
my eyebrows, and he drifted t
: to another galley Another Deal boa
then came along and relieved us Q
some of our men.
Captain Last to Leave Her
Suddenly we heard shout an,
looking around, saw the commander {
the Niger waving and reckoning to /
, from the stern of the sinking shil
E We could not go to him because OF
craft was so heavily laden. AnothC
: galley then came along, and, aftt
n taking out some of our men, togeth,
:; with those who were hanging on |
. our sides, we went closer TO the sinl
h ing gunboat and took off some MOI
i men, and at the Captain s special T
quest we waited until he took q fin
: look around to see if there were an
more men left on board the vessel.
."By this time the ship was vel
nearly under water, and we shoutt
4 to him to hurry up as the Niger hi
III turned over on her side and was like
II to go down at any moment. TIL
II brave Captain only just managed
II jump in time when the gunboat ga
II a mrch and sank on her side in eigl
ii fathoms of water. We were proud
II rescue that Captain. for he was a tr1
III sailor -