New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-12
Wild Panic on Liner
While Submarine
Kept Up Fire.
SAY RAIDER
WAS GERMAN
Naples Reports Tell How
U-Craft Have Shifted
Flags Before.
WOMEN LEAP INTO SEA
Boats Overturned In Rush Of
TerrOr-U-BOat's Crew De.
rided Drowning.
lBy Cable TO Tho Tribune.l

[By Cable to Tho TrbuneI
London, Nov. 1.-THE only warn
ing the Ancona got was volley Of
deadly shells.
That is the statement of Captain
Massardo, commander Of the Italian
liner sunk by a submarine in the
Mediterranean. The undersea boat
gave the steamer no signal to stop.
The first sign of her presence was
the bombardment. When the fire Of
the raiders guns grazed the Ancona
the vessel came to a dead stop, says
the captain.
The lifeboats were then made
ready. But before they could be
launched, Captain Massardo de-
clares, the submarine opened fire
again. Many passengers, says tho
captain, were killed or wounded on
the deck and in the boats. Some Of
the passengers who were thrown
into the water during the panic that
followed the bombardment swan
toward the U-craft, but the raiders
crew repelled and derided them.
Shells Cause a Panic.
Stories of other survivors back up
these assertions of the Ancona's COM
mander. Whether there was a long
chase is not yet known. But that
the submarine continued to shell the
steamer while passengers were being
loaded into the lifeboats is well
established.
The panic that this bombardment
caused is described by the survivors
as pandemonium. Many Of the pas
sengers were women and children,
and under the rain Of shells which
poured around the liner order in fill
ing the boats was impossible.
Losing their heads completely, the
passengers rushed for the boats.
Several of the small craft, over
whelmed by the rush, were over
turned before they could be lowered.
Many passengers who had taken
their places were dumped into the
sea and drowned. This wild confu-
sion caused the loss of many lives.
Scared on Rescue Ship.
One Of the officers Of the Ancona
says that eight boats filled with sur
vivors were finally put off. They
steered on a southerly course and after
some time sighted a ship with her
lights out. To attract the attention Of
this vessel they lighted fares and the
ship drew nearer. Then, says this off,
GER, the submarine turned her search
lights on the vessel, which abruptly
changed her course and vanished In
the distance.
There is increasing evidence that the
submarine was German, and not Aus
trian. despite the fact that she few
the Austrian colors. AS proof, the case
of the Italian cargo boat Cyrene is
cited. When the Cyrene was attacked
by a submarine, the U-craft was flying
a German flag. The Cyrene hoisted
Italian colors and then the submarine
changed to the Austrian flag and
promptly torpedoed her.
Suspect German U-Boat.
The port authorities at Naples hsys
learned that last week a submarine
flying the German colors stopped .
boat and asked for information about
the passage of steamers from Naples.
Several survivors insist that. although
the undersea boat which torpedoed the
Ancona few the Austrian flag when she
was first sighted the flag was struck
later and replaced by the German
colors.
A Reuter- dispatch, which contains
the first connected story of the sink
ing Of the Ancona on Monday after
noon, twenty hours after she had left
Messina, follows:
I've left Naples with a fairly large
number of passengers, intending TO
sail direct to New York, but soon after
leaving port we received a wireless
message directing US to stop at Mes
sina for more passengers and cargo.
The people aboard were mostly Greeks
and Italians, with large families, on
their way TO the United States to settle
there. The majority. therefore, were
women and children.
ave left Messina at 8 p. m. The
captain, having been warned OF the
nresence of enemy submarines, took
all possible precautions. At exactly !
o'clock Monday afternoon we sighted
an enemy submarine AZ great DIS.
tance. She came to the surface anu
made full speed in our direction. hring
a, she did SO u shot whi-h went wide