The sun., 1917-03-24
Captain of Steamer Heald-
ton Tells of His Ships
Destruction.
LIGHTS ON SIDE OF
VESSEL THE TARGET
Two TOrpedOes Fired With
out Warning and Oil
Tanks Set Ablaze.
SURVIVORS SPEND y
HOURS IN LIFEBOATS
Detailed Account of the
Sinking Received by the
State Department.

| ROTTERDAM. via London. March Ga
The seven Americans who perished in
| the sinking OF the Healdton were w.
Chandler. second mate. Brooklyn: Hud-
gins. third mate, Norfolk. Va. Walter
johnson, third engineer. Hoboken. y. j.;
! Heaiey, second messman, San Francisco;
! r. W. Smith, able seaman. Chicago and
John Steiner, able seaman. Pittsburg.
! Capt Charles Christopher reached
here this evening with all the survivors.
who were feeling we'll despite the hard
ships they had undergone. The Amer
leans saved from the Healdton. beside
| Capt. Christopher of brooklyn, are ].
| Caldwell of New York. chief engineer;
! G. W. Embry of New Orleans. first as
sistant engineer: o. o. Willerup. chief
mate: Y. Swenson, second assistant en-
| gineer. and W. o. johnson, third assist
! ant engineer.
In an interview Capt. Christopher
said:
III We had not shown our lights We
might have escaped. Al S 10 o'clock
Wednesday evening. with a moderate
! breeze and choppy sea, ! was in the
cabin when aroused by terrific con-
cussion. All the lights went out and l
rushed on deck in my shirt sleeves to
stop the engines. I found that a torpedo
had gone through amidships at the spot
where the ships name was illuminated
brightly. wrecking the engine room. The
| light clearly served target
| OIL Set Abiaze.
The lifeboats were made ready and
equipped for lowering | rushed back
to the cabin in the dark and was just
able to grab a coat and the seXtant when
a second explosion shook the ship. This
time IL had been torpedoed aft. setting
the tanks ablaze. The burning oil ran
in all directions, necessitating quick
4 getaway. found that my boat. No. l.
apparently having been cut from the tow
line prematurely. had capsized near the
ship and none of its occupants was seen
again.
Meanwhile the Healdton was settling
down fast by the stern. One or two
, poor fellows in the bunkers never came
up. and I expect they were killed there
by the explosion. I just had time to
jump into No. boat
,
, locked at the sinking ship. No signs
, could be seen on the submarine, which
, Immediately d!ved under water again
In twenty minutes it was all over.
Then came twelve hours in oper
, boats, insutficiently clad and exposed to
hitter hail and snow storms. until we
were picked up by the traw!er Java
, There was one Spaniard in my boat
, whose clothes had been burned OFF. He
died Of exposure
According to my calculations. We
were well within the so-called safe chan
mel when be Healdton was torpedoed''
Treachery Charged.
In its account Of the sinking Of the
Healdton the Hdndelsblod Of Amsterd II
says:
THE unreliability OF the German as
suranceS regarding the so-cailed SAFE
: zone is shown by the reports of thu
crew OF the Healdton and the crews Of
: fishing boats.
, '"For safety's sake the Healdton chos'
the northern route. All went well unit
; Wednesday evening at 8 :l5 o'clock. wheI
submarine suddenly made a treacherou,
attack. Without fully emerging and with
out a warning. II fired two torpedoes whicl
hit the steamer amidships so the vessel
because OF the dangerous character of he
cargo and an explosion IN the engin'
room. caught fire at once.
"The crew in three boats tried to ieav,
the ship. Two sloops with thirteen anC
seven men respectively succeeded II
getting away. but the third. conta min.
twenty-one men. capsized and nearly al
were drowned.
"The crew OF a Dutch trawler whycl
observed the fire from a great distance
believed the glow to be that of the auror:
boreals and did not go to the rescue
The next day. however, seeing a slool
under sail. they at once stopped f1shinl
and steamed In the direction OF tn
sloop, whose occupants were so eX
hausted they were unable to man9uvr
| their boat alongside the trawler. TIL
captain Of the trawler finally manage
to approach the sloop and some OF tn
Dutch fishermen jumped into the Graf
and brought II alongside the trawlei
where the shipwrecked men were take
on board, cared for and supplied wit
dry clothes All the property Of tn
crew was lost.
after the attack the submarine n
once submerged and disappeared with
out troubling over the lot OF the ship
wrecked sailors
The Detailed story.
Detailed accounts OF the sinking sho'
that tho Healdton, after conslderab
delay at Halifax on her way to Ro'
terdam, proceeded to Bergen, Norwa!
where sho received orders to resume n
voyage to Rotterdam, Nothing Of espt
oial Import happened until Wednesda
at about s:15 T. NJ. Notwithstandir
the electrically illuminated wore
"Healdton, New York." between Il
Continued on Second Page.