Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-05-02

LOT a CnanC6 TO see II COuIu JUMP Ih7
to the water near some floating OBJ
ject and there in the water | noticed
a number of our boys floundering
and crying for help. l lit cigarette
and walked forward on B. deck to see
if | might find something floating
that | might cling to, as in that criti-
cal moment I thought of you, Father,
and what you had told me once that
if l was ever in the water and could
find any object that floated to take
that and with a very little effort l
could keep my head above water and
that was what was trying for
SAVED BY RAFT
I got as far as the spot marked B
when | heard somewhere overheard
call out" anymore coming DOWN."
| looked down into the water and saw
a raft nearly filled with men. | shout
ed down and asked if there was room
for one more. | was told to come.
The raft was held to the ship by
rope tied to a ring to this deck which
| considered was my last chance.
slid down this rope about 20 or 30
feet and landed square on the raft in
the midst of the bunch there. In
throwing the raft overheard it land
ed up side down therefore, we had no
oars and no way of propelling it, only
the drift of the ocean.
However we waited and called for
more men, but in vain, so we cast
loose and drifted, trusting to chance.
Our main fear was the helplessness
to get away from the ship, which was
sinking fast and might disappear any
moment and the suction draw our
raft down with it. We drifted along
side and clear to the stern which time
seemed to be almost endless. We
finally passed away from the boat and
passing we heard the cries of strugg-
ling men in the water shouting for
help, but not having any oars we were
entirely pOwerless to assist in saving
any of these unfortunate boys. In
some instances it seemed as though
they must have been almost within
reach of our raft, but could not help
them as we could not see them, as be-
fore stated we were in total darkness
This part was certainly heartrending,
and words cannot express the feeling.
There was not a word spoken and
finally the cries and shouting ceased.
By this time we had drifted clear
of the ship and they were firing
danger signals rockets from the boat
continuously while each one of the
rockets would light up the scene for
about two or three seconds.
ARE THROWN A ROPE
The sea was beginning to roll quite
heavily by this time but our raft was
impossible to capsiZe. After drifting
Indefinitely we noticed black hull
loom up ahead of us and wondered
what we were drifting into. After
getting closer and quite close to this
object we heard some one on board
shout to us and asked if we had
rope We did not, in fact, we had
nothing excepting the human cargo.
So we were thrown a rope and all
climbed aboard up the road and found
our rescuer to be a British traWler.
We Immediately went below deck to
warm ourselves by the stove, and the
last glimpse I had of the Tuscanla,
which by that time must have been
nearly a mile away from us, was that
f0 40
we could see in the dim what we
thought was destroyer pulling along
side of her. After that all traces OF
the Tuscania disappeared. By this
time it was about or o'clock p. m.
We stayed in the cabin until more
men were picked up and after no
more could be found our trawler pulled
for Larne, Ireland. There was no
one board this boat that l knew. Pull
ing away from the scene of the wreck
there was not sound from anyone on
; board, and utter silence prevailed.
! No doubt everyone as we'll as myself
was thinking of the fate Of his COM
| rades. After a hard night we landed
at Larne Ireland, at $3.50 on the morn
| ing of February 6.
Now, father, this is my own person
! al experience as I had it, but in fact
my experience was one of the most
| fortunate I am running out of paper,
| father, and will continue this letter
later. I have not received that box
! of cigarettes and items which you
state you have sent me, in letter 5,
but expect them daily.
I send my love to mother and broth
er Lawrence. From your son,
| RANDALL.