The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1915-11-17
HOW SUB Sank ship
PANDEMONIUM SEIZED PASSEN,
GERS ON BOARD ANC0NA
u, S. AWAITS ALL FACTS

Captain Says His Ship Was Given Nc
Warning bnt That Shot Grazed
Ship Before He Saw Undersea Boat
Survivors Who Land at Malta Tel
Different Story.
Official reports describing exact
ly how the Italian liner Aneona
was destroyed ssin are unavailable
and in consequence Secretary Lon
sing refrained from expressing any
opinion as to the attitude OF the
United States.
=: Press reports indicating that the
:Ancona YVES given warning but that
many passengers were lost IS a re-
suit OF shots fred by the attacking
submarine after the liner came 20 q
halt, were read with great interest
High officials Of the American COY
ernment hold that when needing
warning a belhgerent merchantmen
is entitled to sufficient tire to place
non-comhatants in e place OF safety
end the fact that vessel previously
attempted to escape does not tnVah-
date that right
Many phases Of the question were
discussed informally by Officials out
With the reservation that fcrmai
comment or action necessarily must
await detailed reports from Amoas-
sador Page at Rome and American
consnls in Italy and North Africa,
who have been Instructed 70 ootain y
asfdavits from survivors. so 1ar Il
has been impossible to ascertain Den
nitely the number OF Am"rlcan clti-
zens lost.
All of the reports do not agree. For
example a Stefani News Agency DIS
match from Tunis says: The com,
mander of the Ancona, who reacneo
here Thursday, declares the suonsr
rine gave his vessel no siSnM 10
sfop. The first sign Of the presence
of the submarine was q snot- Ircm
. a distance Of i've miles, which grazeo
tbe steamer. The Ancon2 stopped
dead.
subsequently shells hit the boats
which were being made ready, Ior
launching, and many passengers were
f;IIed or wounded on the deck ano
IN the boats. Some Of tie passengers
Who had been thrown into the water
snnroached the submarine, but were
renelled and derided. Finally shehs
and torpedoes were fred ct the An
coma from a distance Of 800 yards.
London Reports
Tho italian steamer Anccna was
not sunk without warning, accord
ing to, Information obtained 1rom
survivors landed ct Malta oy the
Reuter- correspondent and caoieo TO
the Continent.
The Reuter- dispatch. which con
fains the first connected story OF tne
SINGING of the Ancona Monday after-
noon twenty hours after she had leIt
Mesina, Sicily, follows:
eve left Naples with fairly large
number Of passengers, intending 10
s-il direct to New York, but soon
after leaving port received wireless
message directing US to stop q.
Messina for more passengers anu
cargc. The people aboard were
mostly Greeks and Italians with large
families on their way 70 tne .t5. onissu
States te settle there. ine maJofi.s'
therefore, were women anu chllofen'
eve left Messina at P: M. me
nresence of enemy submarines, tooK
ali possible precautions. AT eAactl!
O'Clock Monday afternoon we saSno-
ed a submarine at great distance.
She came to the surface and mace
SnIl speed in our direction firing as
she did so a. shot which went wac
across our bow. We took this TO De
a warning to halt.
.sImmediately there was the "No-
eSt manic aboard, not only among
the women and children, but the
me, as well. Women screamed
and children chung desperately 20
their mothers. Meanwhile the sub
pnsrine continued to shell Us, gam
inc rapidly The first shot carried
away the chart house.
"The engines then were stopped
and the Ancona came slowly 70 q
standstiu. The Submarine, winch
we could now see plainly was an AUS
frssn. came along. We heard Tue
Commando talking to our captain.
In somewhat curt manner we were
told the Austrian had given US Few
minutes to abandon-the ship mean y.
while the submarine wlthcre" a NJ.
tie distance.
..We turned to the boats which be.
ean to be lowered without loss o.
time, but the passengers were IN :
nandemonium. Men, women aho
rh;Idren seemed to lose their hea6
coRnpleteIy. The submarine, presum-
.hIy To accelerate our departure
c,rinued to Gre around the vessel
There WIS rush for the hrst ooats
lowered and in the confusion tnest
we're overturned before they Were
free from the davits, the occupant:
falling into the water. many "e''
drowned before our eyes.
.sThe shrieks Of women cniioe
and struggling men rent the af: gu
II seemed no help could DO gwen
Every one was trying to act lot Hlu-
self. The heart-rending screams were
punctuated with shot after shot oe.
liyered almost mechanically 1ron
the dect a'as~earine, AIDING s, &c
the nan1c aboard. Had it not been
for these shots it might have been
1,oss;ble to restore a sembiance Oh
order. The conduct of the suoma-
r;ne was incomprehensible. Not one
shot was directed at the ship, ou,
thev we're fred all around the Vesse!
- 70 create as much terror as
possible.
about eight boats got ava!
clear, ONE with a fair complement
aboard; others half empty. All drlft'
ed from each other.
zone of the survivors in descrlo,
ing his experience said: The boa!
in which found myself contained
30 members of the crew and three
passengers, an Italian woman ane
her child besides myself. l am Ger