The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1915-05-11
Cunard Officials Also of
Opinion That Several Law
in Wait for Liner.
MANY DEEDS OF HEROISM
Naval Officers at Queenstown
Say Wireless Orders Were
Sent Vessel to Take
Middle Channel.

Middle Channel.
Queenstown. May 9.-A smear oy
hotsam on the face of a calm SO,
tWenty-three miles from this MORT
marks the grave of the Cunarder
Lusitania. victim OF a German sub-
marine
one hunderd ava forty-l;nc IF the
Loo person who perisheo fifth the
liher lie III improved marxucs in old
buildings that line the Queenstown
haroor. They either were picked I'm
d"ad or succubed after landing
The 645 survivors of the disasier
mere are quartered in hotels, resi-
oents and hospitals, some too badly
hurt TO be moved. Two groups left
saturday afternoon and evening clad
IN misfit clothing for Dublin b., rail
and thence by boat to Eolv Hoad
me injuries of some a.e soserious
'hat addintional deaths arc eXpected
and nearly all are too dazcd 70 IN
der stan1 fully what has happened.
me survivors do no. agree os N
whether the submarine fired one or
TWO torepdoes. \ few say thev saw
the periscope and many attest to
tracing the wake of foam as a pro-
Jectile raced toward the vessel
Inc only points in which all COM
cur is that the torpedo struck the
'eSsel vital spot amidship. Causlng
her to list almost Immediately to the
. Il
starboard. In this careening fashion
she ploughed forward some :istance-
smashing the lifeboats deylts as she
ana so and making the Launching of
poats well-nigh impossible until
headway had ceased.
FIRST BOAT LAUNCHED
HOW lar the Lusitania struggled
forward after being struck and how
long 1t was before she disappeared
beneath the waves are points nm
which few passengers agree. esti-
mates of the time she remained afloat
ranging from 8 to 20 minutes. The
list to starboard so elevated life
boats on the port side as to render
them useless and it is said only two
The first of these, according to the
custom of the sea, was filled with
women and children. 1t struck the
water unevenly, captsizing and
throwing its sixty occupants into the
sea. The Lusitania even then was
making considerable headway and
the women and children were swepr
to death in spite of the attempts of
two stokers TO rescue them. These
heroic men. according to passengers,
were drowned.
After that several boats were
launched successfully, but the steam
er's list grew more perilous, the
decks slanting to such an angle that
it was imperative for all to cling to
the starboard rail. Many by this
time had donned lifebelts and Jump
ed Several lifeboats broke adrift
unoccupied and the sea became a
froth of oars, chairs, debris and hu-
man bodies.
RESCUED BY STOKERS.
Two stokers seeing drifting boat
diVed overheard, recovered it and
pulled in nearly forty persons, most
ly women. The Lusitania's crew.
meanwhile adhered to the letter to
instructions and the discipline was
rigid, although one or two subordi-
nate officers are said to have told a
group of passengers who had climbed
into a boat, that there was no inn
mediate danger and advised them to
remain on deck a while longer.
whether this was due to the fact
| that the subordinate lost their heads,
or to their conviction that the ships
| bulkheads would save her, never will
be determined.
All day yesterday in hotel corri-
dors, halls and reception rooms sur
vivors sat listlessly, still too dazed to
discuss what had occurred. They
were dressed in variety of gar
| ments. Some were crying, some
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