The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-09
Little Panic Accompanied Sinking of the Lusitania. Many Have Thrilling Ex- periences-knew of Risk They Ran

queenstown. Eng, May S.-Clnton Der nard of New York. first cabin survivor of the Lusitania. said of his experiences, ''Although it was a tremendous shock to everybody, there was not as much ex- citement as one would expect in such catastrophe It occurred so suddenly we had not much time to realize what was happening.
 When I saw the ship was sinking l jumped overheard, just as I was. I had no life belt, but picked up bit of lot- sam. Finally I got to an upturned boat and clung to that. Later, with some others who had swan to this boat we managed to right 1t. Then we climbed in and started to rescue as many people as we could reach.
 sThe German submarine made no at- tempt to save anybody We saw it for moment. just before 1t dove.
 The first torpedo struck us between the first and second tunnels. The Lusitania shook and settled down bit. Two other torpedoes quickly followed and soon fin- ished our ship. Four or five of our life boats went down with her and the tre- mendous suction as the liner was en- gulfed dragged many people down also.
 ''rhe noise of the explosion was not very great. no llTbI toi ptou pbiSi Nitia big thud, and we knew that we were doomed.
 We had floated about two hours in our smallboat before the first rescue steamers arrived. Previous to this time some small shore boats and fishing smacks came along and helped us."
 Hoisted Signal
 The Rev. H. W. Simpson, passenger in the second cabin. saved himself b5 clinging to an upturned boat.
 After a struggle we filled this boat witf all we could rescue" Dr. Simpson said to- day. we tied a pair of trousers to al oar and hosted it as signal of distress.
 "A big trawler came along and took Ill aboard.
 .'When we were struck I was in tho saloon. Life belts were handed around but the people did not want to put then on and they rushed off to the deck just as they were"
 A cabin steward gave the following ac count:
 The passengers, A large number ol whom were seriously injured by the ex- poson and by splinters from the wreck age were all at luncheon. The weather was beautifully clear and calm. We were going at about Is knots and were seven or eight miles south of Gallowhead when we were struck by one torpedo and in a minute or TWO Dy lNo iic iitSt tN7 plosion staggered us and the others fin ished us. shattering the gigantic ship. The Lusitania disappeared in 20 minutes after the first torpedo struck.
 Terrible Sight
 "It was a terrible sight, but the pas sengers were surprisingly cool. We did not get a moments notice from the sub marine It appeared suddenly above the surface on our starboard bow. It dis appeared as suddenly as 1t came into view and was not seen again. It did not attempt to save men, women pr chil- dren, but left them to drown like hap less rats in a trap when the great snip sank like a stone.
 "The scene was frightful as the ship went down. A great many persons were carried down in the vortex at once. About 100 jumped overheard and clung to floating wrec<age or upturned boats, blown off the ship by the explosion"
 W. c. E. Meyers of Stratford, Ontario a lad of 1s. on his way to Join the British navy as a cadet. said:
 'I had just gone to the upper deck after lunch to play game of quoits with two other boys. One of them looking over the side, saw a white streak in the water and shouted:
 "'There's torpedo. coming straight at us We watched until it struck us with a awful explosion. Then we rushed to the boats decks below. Just as we got there huge quantity of wood splinters and great masses of water flew all around us A second torpedo struck us about four minutes later. went be- low to get a lifebelt and met a woman who was frenzied with fear. tried to calm her and helped her into a boat Then I saw a boat which was nearly swamped. l got into 1t and with other men baled 1t out. Then a crowd of men clambered into 1t and nearly swamped 1t.
 Many Co Down
 We got only 200 yards away be- fore the Lusitania sank. her bow first. Many persons sank with her. drawn down by the suction Their shrieks were appalling. We had to pull hard to get away. and as 1t was, we were almost dragged down by the ninth deck We saved all the women and children we could. but great many of them went down."
 William Brown of Alaska, another survivor. said he decided not to join the candidates for the boats
 T came to the conclusion that a life