West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1915-09-09
LINER HESPERIAN GOES TO
BOTTOM OFF IRISH COAST
Steamer Struek After Dark and
About Twenty People Perish
No American Lives Lost--Causc
OF Disaster Has Not Been Ascer-
tanned

QUEENSTOWN. Sept. 5.-Tho AllaI
liner liesporian. of 1920 tons. boun,
from Liverpool to Montreal, with SO,
persons on board. had n narrow cscap,
from destruction by an explosion. ap
parenuy OF either mino or torpedo
about hundred miles southwest o
Fastnet. at S:29 o'clock last night.
The ship did not sink. and ls now
being towed TO Queenstown. 1t IL re.
ported that eight lives were lost. and
twenty injured already have been land
cd here
III the llosperian was attacked by a
submarine the attack appears To have
been made entirely without warning
SO far. however. among those OF tho
500 passengers who have been landed
here, no evidence has been obtainablc
TO show that either submarine or tho
wake OF torpedo was scon
Major J. s. Barres of the Fourteenth
Canadian Battalion. wounded officer.
on his way home on furlough. is quot
ed as saying that one OF the ships OIL
GERS told him the ship had been tor
pedoed by n German submarine. Ma
jor Barres himself. however. saw moth
Ing, and as the officers and crew are
still on board the liner. IL has so far
been impossible 10 determine what
may have been seen from the bridge.
only two Americans on board the Hes
perian. both employed as ships stew
ards. Both were saved. one of them.
named Dolan, from Pittsburgh. said
that no submarine was sighted. and
that the first sign OF trouble was the
explosion
a number OF Canadian officers. the
moment the explosion occurred. ran
below to assist the engine room force
in closing the water tight doors. and
to the quick work I'm this respect the
tact that the liner remained anoat is
attributed. The ship finally noated
about thirty-hve feet down by the
head
One Of the Canadian officers said
that the wireless was damaged by the
explosion, but that one of the ship's
officers climbed the mast and repaired
IT. so that calls could be sent out for
help.
~ Royle. n Canadian bugler. was in
the saloon, where "A concert WAS po-
ing on, when the explosion came. He
ran out on deck, he says, and saw a
boat hanging from the dayits by one
fall. It's stern trailing I'm the water. In
the boat, under the seat. was a baby.
which he rescued. The boat I'm which
he put away ON the ship picked up
two women and two men who had been
thrown into the sea
Another point that may prove high
ly important. should ii be proved that
the Hesperlan was torpedoed without
warning, and that there were Ameri-
cans on board, is furnished by the
statement OF some of the passengers
that the liner carried a naval AZ inch
raDid-iire gun, mounted in conspic-
uous place on her after deck. Under
United States state department reg
ulation such a gun is permissible for
defensive purposes)
The Hesperian was more than n
hundred miles west OF Queenstown
and well cleared OF Fastnet when the
explosion occurred. Many OF the pas
sengers were congratulating them
selves on getting clear OF the danger
zone unharmed. when there came
terrific detonation, and huge col
umn of water thrown aloft fell across
the decks.