The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1918-04-01
U-Boat Victims Lick Boats for
Moisture and Seek Death
in Sea.
TELLsTALEsOF PLUCKY DEEDS
Heroic Acts of officers and Men Be-
longing to All Branches of Sea
Services, Naval and
Mercantile.

dealing with the plucky deeds per-
formed by officers and men belonging
to all branches of the sea services,
naval and mercantile.
The first case is that of passenger
steamer which had been torpedoed on
Monday, without warning, as usual,
| in the Atlantic, 800 miles from land.
The chief officer took charge of No.
lifeboat, which had on board 81 per-
sons, including two women and baby
four months old.
Bad weather prevailed all that day
and throughout the night, increasing
the plight of the miserable people. Pro-
visions, too, were scarce, but what ex-
listed was taken charge of by the chief
officer, who doled out half dipper
(half-pint) of water to each person
night and morning.
They had been barely twenty-four
hours in the boat when the horrors of
the situation were added to by mad
ness. On the Tuesday the cook lost
his reason, and on the Wednesday he
died. That night witnessed the insan-
ity of the storekeeper, who had to be
dashed down. On Thursday he too
died. On Friday an A. b. expired.
Water Begins to Get Low.
The water was now beginning to
give out and the boats company suf-
fered from intense thirst.
A fireman was found dead in the
bottom of the boat ON Saturday morn
ing, and the third-class pantry boy
died during the day.
On Sunday the cattleman tried to
jump overheard three times, and sue
ceeded at the fourth attempt. The sur
vivors were In too feeble state to
save him, although they turned the
boat round and searched for him. The
water gave out on Sunday.
There were occasional showers of
rsin, but everything was saturated
with salt, and the little water they got
was undrinkable. They licked the
woodwork. hoping to gather up the
raindrops
Then they broke up the water key
and licked the inside, which they found
saturated with moisture, and delicious
AT 3 p. m. on Monday land was sighted
but it was long way off, and by the
time they drew near darkness and a
| heavy northerly swell made landing
impossible. They lay to, and during
sQuall their mast carried away at the
heel, but that did not matter much, for
IL QatQd 500 on0hor
At daylight on Tuesday they were
sighted by a couple of fishing boats,
which towed them into port. The baby
| lived for some time after being landed.
The linen keeper died as he was being
lifted from the boat. Two of the crew
refused to leave the boat, having gone
mad. A trimmer died from gangrene
| two weeks later.
The chief officer remarked: II would
like to testify to the excellent behavior
of the boats crew throughout our pc
Rod of eight days hardship and ex-
posure."
The second case deals with Brit.
ish Oil ship which had been torpedoed
without warning. The torpedo struck
it between the two forward tanks, and
it was burning furiously. It's engines
| were still running, because 1t had been
impossible to reach the engine room
| after the explosion on account of the
heat. Visible for miles through the
darkness, it looked like some fiery pen
| nant flung across the face of the night
All the holds had caught and a con-
tinuous stream Of Oil kept feeding the
| fire.
| Crouched up in the peak, which was
the only part not yet alight, were about
thirty Chinese, all who remained of
the crew. Death by fire or by water
was only a matter of time; that seemed
to be certainty. a4
Sighted by Patrol Boat
The lieutenant in command of pa
troll vessel saw ragged sheet Of flame
and altered course forthwith. To ex-
tinguish the flames was impossible,
and the rescue Of the survivors in the
oilers peak, but there was no more life
ties.
He ran his vessel close past the oil
er's stem and as she passed RATS life
boats and lifebuoys were pitched over
board by the crew Of the patrol ship.
The Chinese were told to jump over
board. This was repeated three times.
| BY that time all boats had been low
cred to pick up the men in the water.
There now remained nine men In the
pliers peak, but there was no more life
| saving apparatus on board the patrol
vessel. The lieutenant decided 1t was
necessary to place himself alongside
the ship and take off the remainder of
the crew. A speed of eight knots be-
ing maintained, this was done They
remained alongside, locked to the
steamers windward bow, for period
sufficient for all nine men to lower
themselves on board this ship, which
sustained slight superficial damage to
guard rails and upper-deck fittings.
Ten minutes after clearing the steamer