Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-09-10
SHIP PLUNGEs TO BOTTOM NEAR
SCENE OF ATTACK TAKING
WITH HER 3,545 BAGS
OF MAIL.
PASSENGERS DECLARE
NO WARNING WAS GIVEN
Consul Is Unable to Learn of More
Than TWO Americans Who
Were on Steamer, Both
Members of Crew. and
Both Saved.

HN1SLSTudEfly Sept. Os-1STIIdEJ Will
dIsavow the attack on the Hesperian,
If English reports Of the circumstances
are fully corroborated by her subma-
rine commander, according to a dis
patch from Berlin. Germany's explain
alton, the dispatch stated, will be that
if a submarine torpedoed the liner
without warning it was because the
U-boat had left its base before the
new instructions were issued through
the admiralty.
London, Sept. 8.---According to the
Daily Mail, Mrs. Chantham OF Mon
treaI, one of the survivors of the Hes
perian says she saw a torpedo COM
ing as she leaned over the ships side.
London, Sept. Z. The Allan line
steamer Hesperian with $50 passen-
gers and crew of 300 aboard, bound
from Liverpool for Montreal, was at
tackled without warning by a German
subp arine off the Irish coast just as
darkness was falling.
Too Dark to Observe Torpedo.
No submarine was seen and probab-
Iy it was too dark to observe the wake
of a torpedo, but all the passengers
and members Of the crew who arrived
at Queenstown in the rescue steamers
agree that the attack was made by
a German undersea boat, basing their
opinion On the force Of the shock and
the great volume of water thrown in
to the air. This dropped back on the
deck drenching the passengers who
were taking an after-dinner pr0men-
ade, feeling quite safe in the belief
that they has passed the submarine
danger zone.
Confusion Prevails in Darkness.
About 80 Canadian soldiers who had
been wounded in battle in Flanders,
were going home to recuperate. Most
of the other passengers were Cana
dams returning from a visit to Eng
land, or English people on their way
to Canada to settle.
The torpedo struck the Hesperian in
the forward engine room and the ship
Immediately began to settle by the
sengers and crew into the boats but
with his officers remained on the
bridge
Queenstown, Sept. Z. - Six second
cabin passengers, six third cabin pas
sengers and 10 of the crew of the
steamer Hesperian, torpedoed $50
miles off Queenstown are unaccounted
for according to the revised official fig
ures issued by the Allan line. This
brings the probable death list, includ-
ing Miss Carberry, of st. Louis, N. F.,
whose body is here, up to 26.
The captain of the stricken liner re-
manned by his ship until it sank He
declined to comment on the disaster
for publication, hence the official
statement as to whether he believes
his ship was the victim of torpedo
or mine must come from the admir-
atty, although the captain is quoted
as having told an Allan line official
that the Hesperian was torpedoed
Most of the survivors, passengers
and crew. will leave Queenstown by
special train and boat for Liverpool
Ship PIunges to Bottom.
Captain Main and the officers who
remained aboard the steamer while eff
forts were being made to tow the lin
er to port were able to save some Of
their effects before the ship plunged
to the bottom, IS miles southwest of
Fastnet, not far from the scene of the
attack, taking with her 3,545 bags of
mall much of it originating in neutral
countries.
The flooding of the forward compart-
ments, which caused the Hesperian to
sink so much by the head as to throw
the propellers out of the water, made
the task CT towing the liner to Queens
town impossible in the rough sea.
The names of the missing second
cabin passengers follow:
Miss Bannister, Mrs. Fisher, Joseph
Fowler, Mrs. Hannah Fowler, Maria
Jenkins and Miss Murray.
The Hesperian sank at GAS o'clock
in the morning within a few miles
of Queenstown, after Captain Main
and volunteer rescue crew of Is had
A~-~-~~~~~~~1~~~-~~~.~~-
Hesperian Attack Surprises Paris.
Paris, Sept. 7.-Great prominence
is given by the papers to the tor
pedoing of the Hesperian. All de-
clare themselves at a loss to find a
theory to account for such a proceed
ing by a German submarine six days
Mt a CT RI g
solemn assurances to the United
States that no more liners would be
torpedoed unless they tried to ram
the underwater craft or attempted to
escape, neither of which the Hesper-
ian appears to have done.