Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-10-09

were going to dinner when some one
told them that there were destroyers
all around the steamer and that
submarine was nearby. They thought
all of these were American boats until
the German flag was seen on the un-
dersea ship. Three shots were fired
across the bow of the Stephano, Mrs.
Wilson said. The steamer was stop
ped and all were ordered to take to
the boats. The passengers did not
have time to go to their staterooms
and saved none of their personal be-
longings. The sea was calm and all
were transferred TO the destroyer
Ericsson without difficulty. The
Ericsson, she said, was nearly out of
sight of the Stephano when the liner
sank.
Saw Supply Ship
A member of the destroyer Balch's
crew insisted that he saw a German
supply ship attending the submarines.
Thirty-six men from the Bloom
ersdijk were on board the destroyer
Drayton as were also the captain and
some of the crew of the West Point.
These refugees were taken to the
naval training station where arrange
ments had been made to receive them.
The hospital corps from the naval sta
tlOI was llllSu up Oh the uOCh dS the
destroyerS discharged their passengers
but found nothing to do. The young
est of the shipwrecked crowd was a
baby two months old which was a
passenger with its mother on the
Stephano.
When Captain Bagely OF the Dray-
ton went to the flagship Birmingham
report to Rear Admiral Albert
Gleaves, he was accompanied by the
captain and three officers to the West
Point. Fred Harnden, captain of the
freighter, declined to make any state
ment saying simply: Il will not talk
until l have reported to my home
office"
crew said there were 3S seamen
aboard the ship who lost their all.
They did not abandon her, he said,
until she had been shelled several
times, and after they had cleared the
ship she was bombed twice, he added.
No member of the submarines crew
boarded her at any time according to
the seaman.
Captain M. Grotness, of the Knud-
sen, who was aboard the Drayton,
could speak but little English and
was reticent as to his experiences. He
said that he and his crew were given
about ten minutes in which to quit
the vessel.
Members of the crew of the Bloom
ersdijk, some of whom were on the
Benham and others on the McDougall,
claimed that one of their number
whom they described as an assistant
to the captain was missing. 1t was
said, however, that the man was on
some other destroyer.
The destroyer Jenkins brought in II
survivors.
fnr a,%,
placed small blackmarking buoys
over the spots where the ill-fated
merchantmen were last seen afloat.
Stories told by such members of the
various crews of the Sunken steamers
as could be reached differed widely.
Some declared they had seen as many
as five submarines. In other cases a
seaman was sure that at least two
torpedoes were launched at his ves-
sci before she sank.
From the stories told by these men
there appeared to be little doubt that
there were at least two submarines in
action.
Life preservers and lifeboats from
the Bloom ersdijk and lifeboats from
the Stephano were piled on the decks
of the destroyers when they came in,
the only remaining menientos of the
vessels. Because of limited space on
the destroyers a number of lifeboats
were cast adrift.
The only survivors on board the
destroyer McDougall were six men,
bers of the crew of the BloomersdijK
When the health officer boarded her
he found all of the men sleeping
peacefully, as though nothing unusual
had ocurred. 1t was necessary, how
ever, to awaken them for the purpose
of examination. The cabin boy of
the Bloomersdijk, bright lad of
about IA years, came in on the Ben
ham and clattered across the deck
with his wooden shoes when called
for examination by the physician. He
was the least disturbed of any of the
Benham, for, he explained, this was
the third time he had had the ex-
perience of being aboard a torpedoed
ship.