The Washington herald., 1917-04-30
FIRST WAR VICTIM HERO
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

i
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.
several times. using as targets barrels
which we threw overheard.
"As We neared the French coast on
April /, I had not had by clothes off for
days. Every bluejacket In the crew had
slept In his clothing and had his pea
Jacket, pistol and life belt where he could
get to them quickly.
Running I'm Darkness.
That night about $50 I was standing
! on the waste deck. There was a heavy
sea running; the wind was blowing
moderate gale. The sky was overcast
with dark rain clouds. We were running
with no lights at all Every port was
covered.
The chief engineer came up behind
me. As he passed. he said:
=" Mr.. Gresham, this is pretty tick
lish night, isn't it?'
II answered:
"T consider this the most dangerous
night We have had. and II We get by
tonight I feel We will be pretty safe
IT had barely gotten these words out
OF my mouth when there was q flash like
sheet of lightning, with mass OF
water thrown up in the air. The hasn
was followed by a report below and d
| terrific Jolt The ship was lifted upward
and to starboard and then Immediately
settled down with a starboard list. She
began to 60 down by the head so fast
that between the forecastle and the bridge
her well deck was awash In q couple
OF minutes.
wireless Useless.
The explosion put the electric plant
and the wireless out of commission.
making It impossible to send out an
s. o. s. The ship was in utter dark
mass and thAra was n hail souau at the
time.
Tn less time than you can tell It. the
crew were ell out OF their quarters and
up on deck. ordered my men TO man
the guns, but as the forward part OF
the ship was awash, No. crew could
not get to their gun. At No. gun IN
the stern, the crew stood by In mo-
ment
"In the meantime, I went up q ladder
to the top Of the charthouse and began
with my binoculars to search for sub
marine. 1t was raining hard and i could
see nothing. ordered the men TO put
the automatic gun in No. 1 boat ana
stand by to abandon ship.
THE ships crew lowered all three OF
the boats, and the men were already In
them, except the third mate and my
self.
THE boat on the weather side had
been smashed while being lowered.
Engineer sticks to Post.
The third engineer had stuck by his
post in the engine room till the very
last. His name was Herbert Collins, and
he had his nerve right with him. He
stopped the engines and shut on the oil
pump, which at once put the fires out
and prevented the ship from catching
afire He also saw that every man was
safely out Of the engine room. Not un-
tiI then did he come on deck.
THE boatswain of the ship should also
be mentioned. Up in the forecastle'
which was filling fast, he saw that the
men were all out of their quarters be-
fore he left.
Meanwhile, the third mate and I were
eth on the ship. I could now feel th"-
she w's liking fast. could be- sir e
water coming ihs- tbe fire r-~Ih ana siz-
zlIng on the hot boilers.
1.-THE third mate called for me TO leave
the ship and we left.
EOpOIuccI Missing.
In the boat 1 discovered that Eopo-
lucci was missing. but they told me he
had gone in No. boat. So 1 gave the
word to shove OF.
when the rain stopped the Aztec was
no longer in sight, nor could we see any
thing Of the other life boat.
'Our boat was small and heavily load
ed. There were eleven gunners, the cap
tain of the Aztec, the first mate. third
mate, third engineer. boatswain, the
wireless operator. and one messman-
nineteen in all. We were so crowded we
could use only one pair of oars. The sea
was running so high that we nearly cap
sized twice.
1--WE were drenched to the skin and
the wind was so cold that 1t cut. The
captain was suffering from nausea caused
by inhaling gases at the time OF the ex-
plosion. The messman was in his un-
derclothes and the third engineer wore
only the thin overalls he had worn in
the hot engine room.
For three hours we fought out there
in the darkness and cold. but were max
ing no headway. We shipped a lot of
water and II required constant baillng
to keep us afoat.
Finally, a French patrol boat appear
ed in the darkness and we fired our re-
volvers to attract her attention. The
crew picked US up and landed US at