South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-09-24
NEARLY HALF Of
OFFICERS DROWN
WITH 8 CRUISERS
British Press Bureau Report
Shows ST Naval Command
ers Went Down and 90 Were
Saved After Attack.
BY HERBERT TEMPLE.

LONDON, Sept. 24.-Nearly half OF
the officers aboard the cruisers Aoou-
kir. Cressy and Hogue, when they
were sunk by German submarine at
tack i'm the North Sea, lost their lives.
This was revealed today when the
government press bureau issued a
summary of the losses among the
naval officers. 1t showed that 0f hau
been killed and 90 rescued.
Twenty-one officers of the Aboukir
were killed and II saved. The Cressy
lost 25 officers, only "A being rescued.
OF the 40 officers OF the Hogue. IL
were killed and % rescued.
Reports OF the rescue of more
members of the crews of the three
cruisers had reduced the estimates of
the dead today to about 1,lOO, but
the exact number of saved and lost
will not be learned until the official
reports have all been received at the
admiralty.
Stories Are Conflicting.
Stories told by the survivors of the
disaster have failed to clear up many
of the conflicting points. The an
nOunGGIlGnl
ships were sunk by one submarine is
contradicted by the story told by AL
bert Dougherty, chief gunner OF the
Cressy, who was rescued and taken to
Chatham. Dougherty declares he saw
five submarines, and that he shatter-
ed the coming tower of one of them.
In the dispatch from Chatham the
correspondent of the Chronicle quotes
Dougherty thus:
suddenly / heard a great crash
and. looking in the direction of it, L
saw the Aboukir heeling over and go
ing down rapidly. We came TO the
conclusion that she had been struck
by torpedo, and kept sharp look
out for these crafts while steaming to
the assistance Of the Aboukir.
Run Into Submarine.
''The Hogue was also closing up to-
ward the sinking ship with the object
of assisting the crew who were drop
ping into the water when we heard a
second crash. AS the Hogue began 10
settle we knew that she also had been
tOrpedoed.
we drew near and at that momehI
some one shouted:
Look out, sir. there's a submarine
on your port beam.
i saw her. She was about 400
yards away. Only her periscope show
ed above the water. / took careIUl
aim at her with a 12-pound shot, but
it went over her by about two yards
That gave me the range.
Il fired again and hit the pericope.
Then the submarine disappeared. Up
she came again, and this time her
coming tower was visible, so I fired
my third shot and smashed in her
coming tower.
Submarine Sinks.
The men standing by shouted,
she's hit. sir. and then they let out
a great cheer as the submarine sank,
and. while she was going down two
Germans fioated up from her, both
swimming. We saw another submarine
on our starboard side and we made
a desperate effort 10 get her. We
failed and her torpedo got us in our
engine room.
Then the Cressy began 10 turn
over. our captain was on the bridge,
and in those critical moments he
spoke some words OF advice 10 the
crew.
Keep cool. my lads. keep cool,
he said in a steady voice. Pick up
a spar. my lads. and put IL under your
arm. That will help 10 keep you
sfoat until the destroyers pick you
up.
That was the last j saw of Capt.
Johnson.