Meade County news., 1917-10-25
AMERICAN Army CARRIER AN
TITLES WAS HoMEWARD
BOUND WHEN SUNK.
ABOUT SEVENTY LIVES LOST
undersea Terror Slipped Past Navy
Patrol and Sent Steel Into Vessels
vitaIs-No Army Unit Was Abroad
Ship Sank In Five Minutes.

lCdu army transport AHIlIlcs1 uOhO
ward bound under convoy, was tor
pedoed and sunk by a German sub
marine in the war zone Wednesday,
About seventy men are missing and
probably lost.
All the army and navy officers
abroad and the ships master were
among the 1877 survivors. The miss
ing are members of the crew, three
civilian engineers, some enlisted men
of the navy and 16. of 33 soldiers re-
turning home for various reasons.
Neither the submarine nor the tor
pedo were seen and the transport, hit
squarely amidships, sank in five min
utes.
This tragedy of the sea, the first in
which an American ship engaged in
war duty has been lost, is the first
of it's magnitude to bring home to
the people of the United States the
rigors of the war in which they have
engaged against Germany. 1t carries
the largest caualty list of the war of
American lives and marks the first
success of German submarine attacks
on American TRANSPORTS.
That the loss of life was not great
er, is due to the safeguards with which
the navy has surrounded the trans
port service and the quick rescue
work of the conveying warships.
Secretary Daniels announced the
disaster tonight in a statement based
upon a brief dispatch from Vice Ad-
miral Sims which gave few details
and did not say whether it was day
or night attack. An accurate list OF
the missing cannot be issued until
General Pershing reports the names
of the army men on the vessel and
the list of the merchant crew
Secretary Daniels carried word OF
the loss of the Antilles to the White
house when he went there late in tho
day with Admiral Mayo, Who made
his report to President Wilson Oh
his visit to England at the direction
of the president. The news added to
the gravity of the hour that the sec
retary and Admiral Mayo spent In
conference with the president.
Quick upon the wave of sorrow at
the news of the loss of the transport,
came feeling of distinct relief be-
cause she had met her fate homeward
bound and not on the way over with
troops. The only soldiers on board
were returning to the hospital or on
special ASSIGNMENT Had the full com
plement of the transport been abroad
tbe loss urdoubtedly would have writ
ten in hundreds as she was struck in
the most vulnerable snot and went
under so swiftly that few could have
escared.
Officials are confident that those
who survived owe their lives to the
careful attention given by the navy
denartment to the enuinning Of trans
ports with life boats and life RATS.
1t is a fived rule that enough boats
and RATS shall be carried to afford
a place for every man abroad, even
though the ship Feel over and nut
half her boats out of commission. The
loss of the shin's enein'er officers in
dicates the probability that no one OF
the engine and fire room forces on
duty escaped Probably most OF
thcm died in the blast of the explo-
sion of the torpedo which tore its
way into the engine room compart-
ments.
The heavy loss among the army en-
listed men indicated cannot be ac-
counted for until further details come
in. Probably they and the navy men
were in their quarters below and
could not make their way on deck
before the ship took her final plume.
The army, navy and ships officers
and the others who were rescued
probably were on deck or in cabins
from which a stem took them to the
deck and had chance for their lives.
A majority of the officers who
would comment thought the transport
and her conveying patrols had run
directly over lurking Submarine
which saw them coming, calculated
the distance and launched her deadly
torpedo without ever showing more
than her reriscope. They regard 1t
as probable that the U-boat command
er picked his place, lay in wait below
the surface until his microphones told
him the patrols had passed and the
transport was upon him, then shot his
periscope above water only long
enough to sight and fire before he
ducked back to safety.