The daily progressive-miner., 1918-07-24

out of the ship. The order was then given for everyone. including the gun crews. to leave the snip. and the mas ter.at-arms and l then went into the water and swan to life raft.
 Que to the difaculties which gen. eraily exist when boats are hlled with people and lowered quickly in emer- gency. 1t had been previously arranged for everyone to 50 in the water and get on the rafts Only five men and an officer were assigned to the boats to lower them: the boats then to go among the life rafts and pick up the people. This proved to be a very sat isfactory arrangement, as the boats were lowered and got clear of the chip without difficulty. One boat, however. was loaded with the sick before lowering. and all the sick. in- cluding the two paralyzed soldiers, were saved.
 After the ship sank the work of loading the boats to their capacity and securing the rafts together was be- gun, and while this work was under way, about half an hour after the ship sank. the submarine appeared and came near the boats and rafts.
 Took Officer Captive
 The submarine first took one of the sailors, Seamen Anderson, on board and then little later took one of the officers. Lieut.. Isaacs. after which 1t returned the seamen to the boat An derson stated that the submarine com. mander treated him kindly and gave him coffee and cognac
 "The submarine remained in the vicinity of the boats for about an hour and a half It returned in the afternoon about two o'clock. remained near at hand for about an hour, and then left the vicinity and did not re- appear.
 'The work of collecting the boats and rafts together was continued, and by dark we had the rafts tied together and the boats secured to the rafts and to each other; the boats being loaded practically to their carrying capacity there being about 500 men in the boats and about POO on the rafts.
 Lighted lanterns were hoisted on the oars in the boats and Coston flare lights were burned at frequent inter- vals Watches were set and those not on watch were told to go to sleep.
 Water and rations were in the hoats. but were not used. as it was considered advisable to save them un- til they were absolutely required. this being in preparation fof a possible stay of several days in the boats
 At about II p. m.. when it was quite dark. a blinkink white light was sighted and very soon it was found that one of the American destroyers had arrived to our rescue. A rousing cheer was given by the men and the work of embarking on board the des. troyer was begun. About an hour af- forwards anothes destroyer arrived, and by a. n. al the survivors were aboard the destroyers. Af- ter waiting till daylight. when a final search was made for any person who -irht still be adrift, the return trip to France vas begun, where we arrived in due course of time. and very shortly embarked for America on another ship.
 Que to the previous preparation md drills which had been conducted, t was not necessary to give many or iers when the Lincoln was torpedoed, and the men went about their duties in a cool and intelligent manner In fact. the entire lack of fear for per sonal safety on the part of everyone was quite evident.
 Examples of Goodness.
 "At one time it was decided to stop covering the boats, as there appeared to be some possibility of the ship re- afoat. Due to the noise of the escaping steam from the boiler safety valves, it was difficult to make verbal orders understood, but a mot ion c the hand from the commanding ofncer on the bridge was all that was necessary to stop the boats in mid air. and a little bit later, at further motion of the hand, the boats were dropped in to the water. Sings -"Where Wo We Go From Here"
 T was afterwards somewhat amused by description given by by Chief Petty Officer Oulette of some of the things that occurred during the day Ii the raft There were number of of i fcers with the men on the rafts, am. ong whom was the chaplain, and Oul- cite told me that the chaplain very nrOnarIy said nravors fOr tho rpScue