Evening star., 1916-10-09

marine moved about in no apparent
haste within easy sight of the destroy
! er Ericsson while the latter was pick
| ing up the Stephano's passengers and
crew who were adrift in four boats.
Il. A. Tough oe Ontario. another pas
senger. said the submarine slipped in
between the Ericsson and the Stephano
at one time, and was only twenty-five
| CIR thirty yards from the destroyer.
1t was o'clock Sunday night when
the submarine fired two shots across
| our bows" Capt. Moran said. One was
& blank, I believe, the other a shell.
Capt Smith of the Stephano ordered
decks cleared and lifeboats lowered
and all was placed in readiness with
out undue excitement. We We're given
ample warning for safety, fully fifteen
minutes, l believe.
The passengers were unusually
calm, women and children conducting
themselves splendidly- The men de-
voted themselves to assisting the chill
dren and women down rope ladders
to the boats, and the transfer was
| made without accident. We had drifted
about for d while when the Ericsson
I came up, with the submarine In sight
circiins about. l saw only one sub
marine"
Shots Fired From 100 Yards.
L. A. Tough of Ontario. another pas
senger on the Stephano. said that the
boats were barely 100 yards from the
steamer when the first shot was fired at
her by the submarine Another was dis
charged soon afterward and later a
bomb was fired.
While we were being taken on the
Ericsson" he said. "the submarine came
up within twenty-five or thirty yards of
us, and continued without signal or sa-
lutte. 1t took us fifteen minutes to get
aboard the Ericsson"
After the crews left the Bloomersdijk
and the knudsen, the commander of one
of the German submarines plainly seen
in the moonlight, requested the COM
manders of the destroyers Benham and
McDougall to please give them room to
blow up the ships. according to officers
OF the Benham. This submarine fired
thirty-six shots along the water line of
the Bloomersdijk but failing to sink her
discharged torpedo and the ship
buckled amidships and bow and stern
triangled into the sea.
A member of the DESTROYER Balch's
crew insisted that he saw German sup
ply ship attending the submarine.
Thirty-six men from the Bloomersdijk
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 arrangements had been made to
receive them.
Baby of Two Months Aboard.
The Hospital Corps from the naval sta
tion was lined up on the deck as the de-
stroyers discharged their passengers but
found nothing to do.
The youngest Of the shipwrecked crowd
was a baby two months old, which was a
passenger with its mother on the Ste
piano.
When Capt Bagley of the Drayton went
to the. flagship Birmingham Of the Amer
lean destroyer f1otilla to report to Rear
Admiral Albert Gleaves he was accom-
panied by the captain and three officers
of the West Point Fred Hernden, cap
tain of the freighter declined to make any
statement, saying simply, Il cannot talk
until have reported to my home Office y
One me1lber of the West Points crew
said there were thirty-eight seamen
aboard the ship, who lost their all.
They did not abandon her. he said, un-
til she had been shelled several <imes,
and after they had cleared the ship she
was bombed twice, he added. No mem
Der of the submarines crew boarded
her at any time. according to the sea-
man.
Capt. NJ. Grotness Of the Knudsen.