The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1918-03-21

side. 1t penetrated TO the engine room
and the explosion was so great that
the whole ship shook. The dynamOs
were destroyed and the lights went out
on the whole ship instantly. My state
room was clear back at the stem end,
and clear back there the old ship
seemed 70 shudder My flash light was
ready and by means of il We got OF
sweaters, OvercOats and hfeuelts.
When got on deck and 10 ny boat my
men were already coming up from be-
low and falling in at their assigned
stations without the slightest evidence
of confusion or excitement. | want TO
tell YOU right here that America wants
to be proad of her soldiers. | never
saw better, finer men in all my life
| than they were. They were men, hon
est-to- goodness men, first 10 last. All
1 they asked was to be told what 10 do.
/ and then they went and did 1t as II
there wasn't any such ship as the Tus-
cania. sinking out there in the middle
/ of the Irish channel. There were sup
/ posed to be six men of the ships crew
to launch and man each lifeboat, but
/ those that were assigned to my two
/ boats, with the exception of one man,
never showed up. If they were all
/ like that one, am glad that they
never did. Finally managed TO get my
/ first boat loaded (had charge of two
boats, as the other three officers that
We're to 90 with those boats never did
show up) and swung over the side.
When We started to lower IT away, the
ships man, who had one of the two
davits, let his end 90. and then that
boat was one end in the water and the
other in the air. and over half of the
men who were in it were thrown out.
Finally got it in the water. sent more
men down the ropes and 1t pulled
away. Had an even worse time with
the second boat, as one of the falls
was broken by that time. but finally
got it launched and loaded and went
down the ropes myself We had hard
time getting the boat away from the
Tuscania but when she went down ~
Just Is minutes to nine we were about
800 yards away from her.
There were some awful scenes on
that sinking ship. Saw boat after
boat smashed before it ever touched
the water. Saw loaded lifeboat fla /
80 feet on top of another loaded boat
that was in the water. and dozens OF
men were killed right there. Saw {
hfeboat run down by destroyer anC
all her men thrown into the water
saw men crushed between the boats
and the sides of the ship, and through
it all those hundreds of men on the
deck of the Tuscania were almost
without exception as calm and cool a:
if they were only on parade. Wher
we would tell them that they were al
right and that the ship would stay ul
for hours they just believed il withou
question. Their faith and trust in tn,
officers was absolute, and Just as grea
as their trust was our helplessness t.
do anything for them. That was th'
hard part of it all, the awful part
About 1900 men got off in the small
boats, and the rest of the 2500 ol
| board were taken off by the destroyer
that, taking big chance of being tor
pedoed themselves, ran up alongside o
the ship. If it had not been for then
\ we would have lost over /, 200 men
\ 1T was inst before six o'clock whel
\ we were struck and it was little af
/ ter seven when my last boat got off
I We picked up several men who We're il
H the water One had his leg crushed ant
H one had been In the ships hospita
II with pneumonia. That man had moth
ing on but palamas and lifebelt
Made them as comfortable as possible
but our boat was from the very begin
ming full of water, clear up over tn
seats, so there was little we could d
for the six sick men we had on board
The boat was so crowded that most 0
the men had to stand up and it wa
almost impossible to row. All W
could do was To keep her head in tn
wind, so that the waves. which Wer
beginning to run high, would not over
turn us. As it was, every few minute
a wave would come in the front end c
the boat, which was all smashed out
? and sweep right down through us.
> figured that if we could stick to ths
boat until morning we would gt
picked up all right, 50 was not Yer
nervous The men behaved just a
finely on the boat as on the ship. keI
0 them as busy as | could rowing an
0 bailing. The water came in faste
than we could dip it out, at that. Br
they were men, every last one of then
There was no whimpering and n
slackers. We saw the Tuscania &
down and just afterward we found
box of flares in our boat. Two de!
troyers passed us at different time
o but paid no attention to the flare
~ / oh, ob IprraI OF both f,n,ao Tho,
a were Y of these lights in the box br
M nine of them were so wet that. the
NJ would not work. About 10 O'Clock tn
. land showed up off our port bow. Th
. wind came up and it was starting {
: rain little A half hour later | coul
. see that we were drifting very rapid!
and what was more, we were gettln
=; in very close to the high, rocky shor,
N We did what we could to keep her of
y but it wasn't long before | could st
3 plainly that it was no use: the wiz
E and the current had the best of US a
right. The last 20 minutes before mic
night was the worst of: :all that nigh
" The men realized by that time ju.
- what was before US, but there We're 4
y howlers or no slackers in that bunci
y We knew we had little chance, bl
W what worried me was what we cou
do with our sick and injured. We g
extra life belts on them, and that ws
II about all we could do. Mighty lit
chance they had. 1t was just init
= night. when we saw the boat tn;
10 picked us up. We had no more flare
,S but had my fashlight and believe MI
it sure winked S. 0. S.. He final
IS saw US and pulled alongside, and W
e got our sick men on board and the
went up ourselves. That trawler w;
the finest ship | ever saw in my life
but | cont believe was ever happi,
than ! was right then. On the lif
boat | got SO seasick couple of tim,
IG that | couldn't stand up. know no
So what it is to be really seasick. Al
70 after | got on the trawler | was Sc,
sick again, The captain and crew {
the trawer were as fine as they cou
No be. They had hot stuff for the men
,a eat and drink, and gave them all tt
:" clothes they had. They picked up fol
= other boats before they saw us, ar
)0 one of them had a medical officer {
N board, so our sick men were fixed