Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-05
SUBMARINE RAIDERS OFF ATLANTIC COAST
woman recovered. but the Louisianian
still is under the Doctors charge.

still is unoer the doCtorS Cn3rge.
Lieutenant John ]. McLaren, of 442
Sterling place. Brooklyn, chief engi.
neer of the Carolina, brought ashore
the precious load of human freight.
one of the ten that left the liner in
as many boats about sunset on Sun.
day night. Sharing the responsibility
with him was T. a. Mertz, second
purser.
I'VE had just started for dinner"
said Mrs. Westbrook, when shells
screamed a warning across the front
of the ship. I can't describe how
us that we were being attacked with.
out warning by a submarine.
II flung my arms about my daughter
and held her close. All sorts of fears
assailed me. thought Of the women
and children of France and Belgium
and it was maddening.
Then another shell came. Shrapnel,
they said il was. It splintered some.
thing forward.
Our ship had no arms and the cap.
tain ordered the engines stopped.
Something grated along the side. It
was large boat from the submarine
Given Time to Escape
The officer in command spoke very
good English. He told the captain.
who met him at the top Of the ladder,
he would give us time to get off be.
fore he sank the ship. He examined
the ships papers and then waited with
his men, who were heavily armed.
The captain watched while the
boats were being filled and lowered.
There were more than 200 passengers
and more than a hundred in the crew
The women and children. of course,
went first The crew. although many
of them could not speak English, acted
splendidly.
Ten boats were filled and we pulled
away from the shin. I shall never
see anything like it again. Yet, I'm
tensely dramatic as it was. it all
seemed unreal.
"The crew Of our boat pulled clear
and we could see the lights of the
other boats bobbing up and down on
the waves. Every minute we thought
the Germans were going to shell us.
I'VE had got away possibly fifty
Yards when there was binding flash.
I don't know whether they shelled.
bombed or torpedoed the Carolina, but
she went down.
in the night we were separated
from the other boats. Lieutenant Nc.
after us.
Germans got our ship, we have a
Joke on them. On board were a num-
ber of United States army officers.
When they found that a German sub
marine had held us up they hurried
to their staterooms, shook their uni
forms and came up on deck in any
kind of clothes they could find. No
doubt the Germans would have liked
to have them for prisoners That
thought of how they had been fooled
cheered is nightly" Mrs. Westbrook
left her husband in ST. Thomas.
Several of the men wore blue cham
bray shirts like Cinnamon when they
stepped ashore. These shirts came
from a bundle found af1oat on the sea
Sunday morning.
Girl Survivor Penniless
Miss Gertrude Luciano. of San Juan.
landed here penniless. She is on her
way to San Francisco and cannot
speak English. The shore Red Cross
is caring for her.
Mrs Hamilton. wife of Chief Justice
Hamilton, of Porto Rico. took philo-
sophical view of her adventure. She
had recently recovered from an opera
She said
THE officer of the U-boat was as
gentlemanly as one in his position
could be-" said Mrs. Hamilton. He
told us that we did not have to hurry
and no effort was made to hinder our
getting away into lifeboats. We had
had lifeboat drill once on the way up,
and we all knew where we were to go.
We all started for our respective boats,
and while everybody hurried there did
not seem to be any undue confusion.
We got in and the boats were lowered
away.
AS we pushed away from the side
of the ship the U-boat went around
to the other side of the ship. and when
the lifeboats had pulled out Of the
way they began shelling the steamer
| They poured six shots into her side
One of the shells must have been an
explosive. for pretty soon she began
to burn and she was soon roaring,
seething mass of flames. She burned
and renamed afloat for probably an
hour before she went down.
I'VE picked up one Of the boats
which had a motor in 1t and they
towed us for a time. But the rope
broke two or three times and then
they went on and left us. The men
pulleQ StedQliy TlBIit anu udS. we Hdu
no idea of what direction we should
take We had no compass and we
had to steer by the sun by day and
the stars by night.
I'VE saw two or three steamers
lights and we sent up rockets and
shouted ourselves hoarse. but they
soon passed out of sight and our
hearts kind of dropped again. We
saw a submarine chaser early this
morning and one of the women took
off her underskirt and put it aloft on
boat hook. We shouted and shouted,
but they evidently did not see or hear
us, for they soon passed out of sight.
Lights Are Welcome Sight
I'VE sighted land, which later
turned out to be Atlantic City, and
never did I behold a more welcome
sight. We pulled and pulled and
it seemed as though we should never
make the shore. We were all wet and
hungry and pretty fatigued. We had
but little to eat and a limited quan.
tity of water. ana we were all pretty
we'll cramped with twenty-nine per.
sons in that small uuar.
I'VE had a storm Sunday night soon
after we had taken to the boats, and
we We're fearful that we should have
a rough time of 1t, But Monday morn.
| ing dawned clear and warm and, with
|