Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1915-05-13

6AhU. 3.-AAEhEU
sons were carried down at once by
the suction of the big vessel. About
100 persons jumped overheard and
chung to floating wreckage or upturned
boats which were blown off the ship
by the explosion"
Boy Saw Torpedo Coming.
w G. E. Meyers of Stratford. Ont,
a boy sixteen years old. who was on
his way to join the British navy as
cadet. said:
Il had just gone to the uppen deck
after lunch to play game of quoits
with two other boys One of them.
looking over the side saw a white
There's torpedo. coming straight at
us We watched it until it struck US.
with an awful explosion Then We
rushed to the boat deck. Just as we
got there huge quantity of wood
splinters and great masses of wafer
flew all around us
"A second torpedo struck us four
L
to get life belt and met a woman
who was frenzied with fear ] tried
to calm her and helped her into boat
Then ] saw boat which was nearly
swamped l got into it and with other
men bailed it out Then crowd of
men clambered into it and nearly
swamped it,
Watched Vessel Go Down.
I'VE got only 200 yards away when
the Lusitania sank, bow first Many
persons sank with it, drawn down by
the suction Their shrieks were ap-
palling. We had to pull hard to get
away, and as it was we were almost
dragged down. We saved all the
women and children we could, but a
great many of them went down"
William Brown of Alaska another
survivor, said he decided not to Join
the rush for the boats.
81 came to the conclusion that life
belt was the thing for me-" he said
$50 | went to my cabin and secured
one. With it on, | slid down a long
rope into the water Subsequently
got into a boat"
H. Smethurst, steerage passenger
was saved in the same way He had
put his wife into life boat, and in
spite of her urging he refused to &C
company her. saying the women and
children must go first After the boat
with his wife in it had pulled away
the husband put on life belt slipped
into the water, and fioated until he
was picked up.
Says Excitement Was Small.
I Clinton Bernard of New York City
had this to say of his experiences:
/ although it was tremendous
shock to everybody, there was not as
much excitement as one would expect
/ 1t occurred so suddenly we had moi
much time to realize what was hap
| pening When saw the ship was
sinking jumped overheard had nc
life belt. but picked up a bit of tlot
sam. Finally ] got to an upturenet
boat and chung to that Later. witt
some others who had swan to thi:
boat, we managed to right it. Ther
we climbed in and started to rescue a.
many as we could reach"
Captain Turner Rescued.
Captain Turner remained on the
Lusitania's bridge until the structur,
was submerged. and then climbed VI
ladder, as would diver from tank
When he reached the surface h'
grasped an oar and then a chair HI
chung to the chair for nearly two hour.
and finally when the chair turned owe
he flung up gold braided arm. This
was seen by member of the crew il
| one of the boats, and thus the com
mander was saved. He was terribl.
| broken down when he landed. bu
after strong cup of tea and a shor
rest he seemed to recover and nov
appears to be nearly normal.
None of the survivors had any com
plant to make regarding the actions
of the crew All agree that everythin.
] possible was done under the circum
stances.
Passengers say that for some tim
] before the first torpedo was fired tn
Lusitania had altered it's course IN,