New Britain herald., 1917-05-04

alty reports that the missing boat from the Rockingham,
 with all the fourteen men, has |
 been picked up by . British
 steamer.
 Captain Edwards Believes An on
 Board Are Safe, With Exception of
 Two Men Killed in Engine Room bv
 Explosion of Torpedo.
 Liverpool, May 4.-Captain Charles Edwards of the American steamer Rockingham. in an interview with . correspondent of the Associated Press. said he had no doubt that the fourteen occupants of the missing Rockingham life boat would be safely landed, as the weather had been excellent. This boat contained Third Officer McKenney and thirteen American gunners.
 Captain Edwards said that the sub- marine dived almost as soon as they were observed and that the ship was torpedoed few minutes later while the guns were trained on the spot where the periscopes were expected 10 appear.
 The excellent weather conditions make me certain that the missing boat Is safe somewhere.'' z said Cap tain Edwards. who arrived in Liver pool shortly before noon today with twenty-five men of the crew. .Yf 50. the Rockingham victims are only two. namely. second Engineer Harry Mar gey and Oiler William Winn, who were both killed in the engine room by the explo1lon. We were hit at ? D.. m. on Tuesday, 160 miles from land. was on the bridge at the time,' Captain Edwards continued. Hive minutes before the torpedoing [ nouced. through the haze, two specks on the. horizon, one on the port bow and the other on the star bow. immediately called them to the att tention of the gunners. who were at their posts both fore and aft, and they lat once tIntned their guns In the, dt- fsction ilS4icated. The yisfhdliGy was so bad 1t was Impossible for any of us to say whether they were submarines or small patrol boats.
 While all eyes were straining through ther glasses to penetrate the haze. both the specks disappeared. Then wo knew they were submarines which had been floating along practi- cally awash.
 We were already steering south sea course and the gunners were ready at the sight of any target to turn . nurderous fire on the enemy. Nobody sighted anything, however, and sud- denly there came terrific explosion. the results of which made 1t impos- sible to handle the guns. The tor pedo had hit us In the engine room on the starboarG side. She sank quickly by the stern. going down in less than twenty minutes. One of our lifeboats was shattered. The three others were launched safely.
 Naturally our great regret is that we did not get an opportunity to use our guns. We had picked gun crew who had proved their craftsmanship repeatedly in practice on the way over. There is no doubt we could have sent both the U-boats straight to Davy Jones' locker if we had been able to identify them through the haze. aS
 ''The ships boats kot separated af- ter leaving the scene of the sinking. My boat had been in the water six hours when we were picked up.'
 The accounts of other survivors of the Rockingham agree with that of the captain that the men who were at the stern gun were unable to use 1t, as the force of the explosion ripped up the deck plates. All the men were in boats within i've minutes, excellent order being maintained. The crew lost all their effects.
 The gun crew on the Rockingham was in charge of Chief Petty Officer Arthur Wood.
 Attempt tO Escape Unsuccessful.
 Londonderry, Ireland. May Gap tain Charles Edwards of the Ameri- can steamer Rockingham was bare footed when he arrived here late Wednesday night, and the thirty-two members of his crew who were with him were scantily clad. They were cared for by the American consul.
 Captain Edwards said that he sighted two submarines on Tuesday afternoon at distance of i've miles