The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1918-02-01
TORPEDOED SHIP
HAS LIVELY TINES
Tn, Armenia Arrives With Hole
in Her Side.
A THRILLING EXPERIENCE
Graphic Description OF the Encounter
Given BY the Commander OF
the Armed ouard-PIucxy
Men Commended.

blown in her side by one torpedo, with
her crews at their guns and ordered to
watch for another torpedo, and with
flour in her hold forming sort Of bulk
head, the steamship Armenia, in MID
night attack, made her way to a point
Of safety and,sayed all her men and the
greater part Of her cargo.
Exciting incidents OF the attack were
made public by Secretary Of the Navy
Daniels, taken from the report of the
commander Of the vessel Chief Boat
SWANS Mate Stief Hamiaw, U. s. N, in
charge of the crew, is commended by
the Secretary for maintained discipline
and devotion to duty.
The Armenia, under convoy, was pro-
ceeding through the war zone, when,
at midnight, the wirelesse brought news
Of the torpedoing Of another vessel in
the zone. The commander of the gun
crew ordered his men to keep sharp
lookout. to avoid the use of speaking
tubes and call to the bridge If "a sub
marine were sighted.
mander Ct the guard reports. Il picked
up light en- the port beam. sang
out to the mate but get no answer l
called a second time. Just as the words
came from my mouth / saw a large
stream Of water and rubbish shoot into
the air, about $50 feet; shot came
forward. | imagined / saw one of our
gun platforms so up into the air and
got to thinking OF the three men on
watch who must have been blown into
the air with it. The first words Igot
out of my mouth were My God; she is
hit!'
The captain of the ship came out
of'the chart house just at this time and
I made rush for the alarm bell after
telling the mate to shut down the
engines All the gun crews were tald
to stick to their guns ard look for a
second torpedo and not to wait for or
lders to fire If anything came in sight
Running down the port ladder l met
enc of the officers Of the ship who ex-
claimed Why does not some me stop
4 the engineer
! at was my intention then to go
down into the engine room myself
when / noticed spot lights thinking
about the decks ard a scramble for
the boats: Only a few were excited. in.
fact, the majority were COOL shouted
to keep the spotlights off or we would
get a seconl torpedo, and also told
them net to mind the boats but save
the ship
"About this time the engine room
force started back below Then the
captain sang out: IF there is no water
in the engine room we can beach the
Ship
''This assured me that everything
was all right and I went to the bridge
to get my pistol and papers. The cap
tain followed me and he telegraphed
full speed ahead, adding that i. was his
belief that we could beach the shin.
Seeing the captain had en- his life pre-
server l threw off my raincoat and
arctics and went to nay room and got
my life pressrver.
Coming back to the bridge we saw
that the men from some OF the lockout
posts were getting ready the boats and
that the armed guards were standing
by their guns. They were furnished
with lights for the boats and lot of
heavy clothing was thrown in. Orders
were given to lower the boats and also
to cast off the life RATS.
after making an inspection OF the
damage went to the captain and again
told him that thought we could
make 1t, If there was no second tor
pedo. The boats by this time had put
off from the ship. Seeing that we were
underway an officer in the boat yelled
to us to throw him line so that he
could come back on board with the
men in the boat. but there was no time
to stop. A destroyer came alongside
and picked up the men. letting the
bats go adrift.
"A collision mat, with. weights and
canvas, had been placed over the tor.
pedoed hole. Flour in the hold had
formed skin, that kept the water from
going forward, though it had flooded
the icebox and storerooms The ex-
plosion had knocked down three of
the lockouts on the gun platform. The
masthead lookouts slid down the back
stays so fast l thought they had
iumDed from the crows nest 4"