The sun., 1916-10-10
Ship Was All AglOw With
Lights When 1871 Passen-
gers and Crew Left.
SURE U-58 HAS A HELPER
Commanders Of other Torpe-
dOed Vessels Tell Of Raid
ers' Courtesy.

left to-day for New York to report 10
tho owners Of the vessel.
Capt. Smith. a man OF conservative
judgment. impressed interviewer here
with the conviction that the German
submarine U-5S IL not alone In her raid.
ing expedition. He gave the most
specific evidence Of the presence % a
German supply ship of the Atlantic
coast.
The Stephano. with ninety-four pas
n sixty-seven in the crew.
.ploughing along from Halifax to New
York. was three miles east of the Nam
tucket lightship and forty-two miles
from the mainland at 6 o'clock ycster-
DAY evening. The golden haze of dusk
was settling over a seemingly peaceful
ocean. The passengers. due in New
York In the morning, were ready for
dinner. Capt. Smith was on the bridge.
He sighted a submarine. Five minutes
later a gun on the submarines deck
spat forth n shell which passed over the
Stephano's bow.
when l first saw the submarine"
said the captain. cit was lying along
side a large ship which | did not recog-
n.ze and which, In my judgment. was a
German supply ship. II was half a mile
from US.
Three More shells Followed.
The In hrst shot was fred
I knew what II meant. The Stephano
was stopped. The submarine closed In
and sent three more shells over our
bow at one minute intervals. Obviously
they were not aimed to hit us. Not far
away were two United states navy de-
stroyers. They saw everything that
happened-right under their noses you
might say.
Nobody got excited. We were jus,
as calm as the sea. There was no use
Of fussing: we knew We were In for II.
I gave orders to abandon the ship. We
put all our passengers and crew into
six lifeboats and left two boats behind
that weren't needed. Within fifteen
minutes the last of the six boats was
rowing away from the ship"
Darkness settled. Heading for the
American destroyers as a refuge Capt.
Smith. looking back to see what hap
pened to his ship. saw lights alongside
II. Men from the submarine apparently
boarded the derelict.
In a little while the submarine using
only its deck guns. fred two shots into
the hull. Then II drew away. raced a
IlIlc alu u WV war iicA
another ship. which went down in a
hurry after holes were shot In her.
Hard to Sink the ~stepha,o.
While the sailors of the Stephano
rowed steadily toward the destroyers
the passengers strained their eyes to zee
hat the ugly but fascinating German
raider would do next. II submerged and
red near the Stephano.
The Stephano' Capt. Smith said
proudly. was a tough proposition. !
Judge the submarine put thirty shells
into her and stiil she fioatei. Her
dynamo wa going fun speed Inc the
ship was lighted like as for a party.
Against the lights we In the boats
saw the submarine draw away again
n nre n torpedo. Thu torpedo's trai
In the water was plain. II struck th'
Stephano on the starboard side mid
ships. hat did for her. Her light,
went out and she went down in sever
minutes.
Il did not see any of the submarine.
crew, but I judge they boarded the Ste
piano and went all over her.
Capt. Smith was the last to leave hi
ship. When he landed here his mornin
from the United States destroyer E,ricr
son he was Juggling his Scotch COLI
Brownie.
The wireless operator of the StephanC
Oscar Il. Hanson. lives At Broad Brood
Conn. He said the Stephano knew abou
the presence of a German submarine /
these waters. for IL had picked up froi
the Camden the relayed IS o =" nun
out by the West Point. the first OF IN
ships to be blown UP yesterday nlorninl
In fact. he said the distress call KEEP
tossing from ship to ship all day. Ion
"a ~ ~. II. 4.
people saved. He also saw the Kansai
which had turned back from her voyag
TO Boston to succor the West Point.
Thought U-B3 Was American.
W FIRST saw the submarine al a di.
tance." Hanson said. mot far W
were two ships that we made out to h
American destroyers. We thought tn
submarine must be also American. w
thought there was nothing to worr
about, but our IDEAS changed when thos
four shots pumped over U.S."
Up to the time these stories were tol
Newport did not know exactly what ha
happened to no Stephano except tina
she had gone to the bottom and her GREY
and passengers we're safe.
Uncertainty as to the last hours
the Holland-America freighter Blon
mersdyk was ended by the narrative {
Capt. John II. Gunhermohr. He said
I'VE were only about half a mile froi
the Nantucket Lightship when a subms
rinc popped up and fred three warnin
shots. It was n little after 6 o'clock la
night. We had everybody Off before II
submarine came alongside. The Gle,
mans must have been in a hurry or sho,
Of ammunition. for they lost no time
puttfn9 a bomb aboard the Blommersdy
and up she vent. We were picked u
from the boats by the destroyer Bel
ham,"
A. Least Two U Boats O~perattnG.
Both Capt. Smith and Capt. Gunhe
mohr said that after studying the var
ous wireless reports giving the position
of the sunken vessels they felt sure
least two German submersibles were OF
Grating.
Similarly the fate Of the West Point W,
~particularized by job Robertson. ship
carpenter Of the British m%erchRntma
II appeared that the West Point Wi
Nifty miles east of the Nantucket high
ship when she was attacked.
The time was II 10 o'clock yeste
day morning. There were thirty-eig
persons aboard.
"The submarine said Robertso
approached US on the port quarter al
sent two shots over us. We started
lower the boats, The Germans mu
have thought us slow. They put thr
more shells into the air before We Y
away In two boats. Then they start
bombarding. They drove twenty-fo
shells into the West Point. She did
sink until some Of them climbed aboa
and faatenad n bomb To a bOatfall,