The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1918-02-26
Benjamin Nunnery Was Among
Those Saved When the Jacob
Jones Went Down.
GIVES HIS EXPERIENCES
Member of Crew of Ill-Fated De-
strOyer at Home on Fur
Tough Relates Scenes Follow
ing Work of Torpedo.

ROCK Hill, Feb. 25.-The sensa-
ton Of feeling his ship sinking into
the deep waters of the Atlantic as
he stood on the bow firing a four
inch gun, of being af1oat in the water
for practically an hour, later reach
ing an open boat and remaining in
the fragile shell for % hours with
out food or drink, WAS graphically
depicted by Benjamin Nunnery, one
OF the A survivors of the Jacob
Jones, recently sunk by German
submarine.
Coxswain Nunnery, who is on
weeks leave of absence for visit
to his parents, Mr.. and Mrs. F. A.
Nunnery of tEdgmoor was in the
city for a short time and he consent
ed to tell of the occurrence. or
course, there are certain things of
interest in connection with his life
at sea that he is not permitted to
tell and which could not be publish
ed without encroaching upon the
voluntary censorship, but as to the
Jones, no lines appear to have been
| drawn and the details of the disas-
ter are given herewith:
In Boat With BagIey.
The Jacob Jones. which was one
of the United States destroyers.
commanded by Lieut.. David Worth
Bagley, brother-in-law of Secretary
Daniels, was proceeding to the base
in European waters. from a point in
France. On the eighth day out, De-
cember 6. at 1920 in the afternoon.
without warning. a torpedo from n
| German submarine struck the shin
10 the ait OF amidships. 1t was big
torpedo and the gallant vessel was
doomed. 1t remained afloat for
about eight minutes. One of the
| life boats was demolished by the ey-
plosion. Another went down with
the ship. Two were launched. and
the high waves capsized another. So
the only boat to make way was one
III which Nunnery, Lieutenant Bag.
About an hour after firing the shot
the submarine came TO the surface
and picked up two men, but mad A..
no effort to rescue the others. II
remained visible for about two min
| utes.
we had just finished target prac-
tice,' said Mr.. Nunnery. "and with
10 others | was in the wash room,
The explosion in the apartment he-
low threw me against the ceiling of
the room About 25 men in the Iiv-
ing quarters We're killed by the ex-
plosion. Only two of those in tho
wash room escaped / went on dock
ana the ship was already rapidly
SINKING | stood by the bow gun
and not being able to see any sub-
marine | fired about four shots anv-
way in the direction from which
the torpedo had come. On the stern
END OF the torpedo were two deptb
charges and as soon as the stern was
certain depth below the surface
these bombs exploded, literally
blowing the ship to pieces. was
on the bow at the time with one
other man, and the ship sank into
the waves beneath our feet. The
man with me went down.
No Time for Fright.
i can't tell exactly how I felt at
that moment. / was not scared. but
did not feel exactly like was
going to church. In time like this
the man who gets scared Is the one
who Is unable to help himself. You
need every ounce of your strength
10 pull through and realized this.
AS felt the destroyer deck siipping
down, l kicked off a heavy pair of
sea boots / was wearing so I would
not be hampered while in the water
You might think that the suction
from the ship would have pulled me
under, but there was yery little
suction. The destroyer type Is long
and narrow. 1 was in the water for
nearly an hour. After swimming