Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-06-20

/ MSS PaSSShSt4 ana IFelSuI service
boat.
The ship was go feet long. CO.
| foot beam, had six masts. and a
/ carrying capacity OF $4,000 tons
! On recent trip she had practical
/ ly gone this limit. Originally. it
was German boat, built by Har-
I Ian Wolf, Belfast. ireland. and had
been in service since 1907. 1t was
/ taken over by the government in
| 1917, and was used as a transport.
L was on Friday morning.
/ breakfast was over. and practical
! ~ every man was either going to
! MS respective duty. or thinking of
/ the way in which he would snend
{ the time that afternoon. The hour
was sos a. IN.
Suddenly there was a loud re-
: port, and following it the shin
! seemed to rise About L. seconds
later another followed. with the
same sensation l was standing
within the cabin on a level with
the b deck at the time, and upon
starting for the top deck where |
T was to report in case of an occa-
/ sion Of this sort. l heard some one
back Of me eXclaim My God, they
have got us
b One of the requirements on
the ship is drill, that every man
shall know his station. to report
/ there in case OF fire or accident,
and every one was hurrying
TO his respective station. The es-
/ Gaping steam was making a great
noise. and the executive officer
who was giving orders from the
bridge, with The ala OF a mega
phone was having hard work to
make himself heard by the differ
ent division commanders. The sig
nal was given to abandon ship. the
life boats We're lowered. the RATS
were thrown over the sides
had gone two decks below,
where I found l could help in put
ing off the RATS. and after locat-
/ ing one on the water that l knew
! could reach in safety, [ decided
10 stay by the ship longer, giving
what help l could in throwing
over the RATS which require at
least four men TO handle them. Aft.
er about five minutes l realized
the ship was rapidly sinking, near
ly all having left the deck. Hav-
ing gone down the rope l reached
the raft. it having but one other
upon it. We worked hard TO get
away from the side, as we had a
fear there might be a suction that
would pull US down with the ship,
but soon found it pushed us furth-
er away, making us safe. We
were 20 to 25 feet away from the
side when the top side reached the
water.
Well, there we were without
home, the Lincoln completely un-
der, IS minutes after it was tor
pedOed. The day was beautiful
and the pillows far from angry,
they were quite calm which was
something greatly in our favor.
Up TO this time there was no ap-
parent excitement. even among a
few sick ones it was necessary to
carry from the hospital and place
in the life-bOats; not one of these
was lost, which speaks We'll for
the ones responsible for their safe
ty. Although the ones on the
RATS were not as comfortable as
they had been previously, and de
spite the uncertainty OF their fate,
the cheerfuIness of the men was
marked. I will never forget the
spirit of the boys who made up The
crew on the S. S Lincoln. They
talk about the boys that go over
the top coming back with d smile,
l say the boys went down the
sides and onto the RATS with even
more than smile, yea a laugh.
and a song, and could be heard
singing Hale, Hale, the Gangs
All Here" What the H Do We
Care" etc; oh, Boys. Oh Boys,
Where Do We GO From Here?"
and others in keeping with the oc-
casiOn.
Fortunately for US the radio OPP
orator was enabled to send an s.
o. s and the thing for us now
was to wait patiently for help to
come, in the meantime making
ourselves as comfortable as pos
sible, under such conditions.
After we had been in the water
short while some one shouted,
Here comes a destroyer after us
already" and there was a cheer
went up from every one, the
thought being that a destroyer had .
been playing about those parts ana .
Ildu caught TIE lutSCdSC Lbi mel p ]
We did not have to wait long 20 /.
have a different opinion of that /
craft that was approaching us, for (
it was nothing else than the Ger I
man submarine that had torpedOed (
and sunk the President Lincoln. /
Now I really had wanted TO see
one Of those subs, and had a desire
to get just as close as we were
then, but I also had a desire to
view one from a different angle,
to look down upon it if you please,
instead of looking up to it. And
then l preferred to have some one
else commanding il than e German
have had thrills and sensa-
tons before in my life, but none
equal TO the me that came over
me when that sub turned broad
side only a few rods away ana be
gan twisting four-inch gun
around toward US OF course we
all expected to be shelled right
there and then. We were saying
TO ourselves, I'VE will never go I
back to Bhghty" And now that
il is over, Gee but we want to
see Blightyi The sub made cir
Gle around us, stopping and taking
| Cfo- Ff~k:nx E~zoro1 II