Evening star., 1915-07-01
LeyIand Liner Stopped by
Shell Dropped Into Her
Engine Room.
SHE TRIES TO ESCAPE.
BUT PLUNGER is TOO FAST
Boatload Of Men Leaving Ship
Knocked Into Water by Projec-
tile From U-38.

MONMOUTH, England, July
1, IL :26 p.m-There were eleven
Americans among the nineteen
members of the crew who lost
their lives in the sinking of the
Leyland line freight steamer Ar
menian by the German submarine
U-38 off Trevose Head, Cornwall,
Monday. Some members of the
crew were killed outright when
the German torpedo struck the
ship.
When sunk by the German
submarine the Armenian was car
rying a cargo of 1,422 mules from
Newport News to Avonmouth,
the animals to be used by the
French armies in Belgium and
France. The vessel had crew
of seventy-two men, and carried
ninety-six men as mule tenders.
The submarine first was sighted
by the man at the wheel, and
though the ship was pushed to the
limit, the mosquito craft rapidly
overhau1ed her and commenced
shelling. The Armenian's efforts
to keep her stern to the subma-
rine were futile.
Drops Shell Into Engine Room.
The faster vessel circled the freighter
and the German commander, speaking
through a megaphone. ordered the Ar
menian's captain to surrender, or he
would sink the ship. The skipper of
the Leyland liner struggled hard to
evade the undersea boat, but the latter
dropped a shell through skylight
into the steamers engine room. put
ting the engines out of action. The
Armenian then surrendered.
LifebOats were lowered and the crew
and some seventy mule tenders. nearly
all Americans, scrambled into them.
shell from the submarine cut the
falls of the boat.
Spilled Into the Ocean.
The occupants were spilled into the
water and presumably were drowned.
Five boats loaded with survivors got
away. The submarine then fired two
torpedoes into the Armenian and the
vessel sank within thirty minutes.
The survivors rowed around in the
boats till Tuesday morning, when a
steam trawler landed them at Avon
mouth.
Say Germans Ignored the Drowning.
CARDIFF. Wales. July 1.-survivors
of the sunken Armenian arriving here
say that the German submarine ran
close to the drowning men who had
been thrown into the water by a cap
sizing boat, but that the crew of the
submarine did not attempt to rescue
any Of them.
Says Hundred Shells Were Fired.
Joseph Carter, a colored muleteer of
Norfolk. Va. one of those rescued
after the lifeboat was swamped, said
that his friends. King. Cakes. Speed.
Small and Foreman Sedden, all were
drowned. Carter said:
The submarine chased the ship for
two hours and fired about 100 shells.
twenty-five of them striking the ship.
I was in the boat with thirty ell 6 hit
others when it fell into the water. I
was swimming nearly an hour before
| was picked up.
"Twenty-eight men were rescued
crew died in the boat. A part Of the
head Of one of them had been blown
away Another had lost both legs. One
man had been blown to pieces by a
| shell.
"I owe my life to Muleteer Johnson,
, who knocked me down just IN time to
avoid being hit by a shell. Capt.
! Trickey was the last man to leave the
ship.
Declared a Peaceful Merchant Ship.
NEW YORK. July Wv. w. Jerries.
| general manager of the Mercantile Ma
rine Company, says that the steamship
Armenian was not under charter to the
| British government and that she was
peaceful merchantmen. The Arme-
nian. he added. was making the voyage
| under the operation of the Leyland
! line and she carried a general cargo of
American origin.
b., 1t was said that the exact compost
tion Of the cargo Of the Armenian was
a part of her cargo was contraband
| Miscellaneous supplies, the officials of
the line said they believed made up a
considerable portion Of the cargo.
Some Of Those on Board.
! HARRISBURG. Pa. July 1.-The car
! penter named Brown mentioned in the
list of missing from the Armenian is
| believed to have been William e.
Brown, a seafaring carpenter of Mid
| dletown, a village nine miles from here
| NEW ORLEANS. July IL. NJ. Nom
/ roe, reported among the missing on the
| steamship Armenian. was a native of
| Perth, Scotland, but had made this
, country his home for many years. J.
| b. McCool was an assistant foreman of
muleteers and had been engaged on
| stock transports since the beginning of
the European conflict. 3.
| RICHMOND, Va, July IL. s. vivo,
! reported among those on the steamer
| Armenian, was student at the Medical
College of Virginia here. He was a
native of Porto Rico.
Call Picked UP by British Ship.
PLYMOUTH, England, July The
IS. o. s.," or call for help. sent out by
wireless telegraphy by the LeyIand liner
Armenian before she was sunk by the
German submarine U-3S, was picked up
iby the British steamship TarQuah.