Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1918-11-29
CHAPTER xI-continued.

When 1oarQ our TWO l4-pOunQorS go
off almost at the same time. Every
body ran for his station. Going up
the main deck to my turret man told
me it was a sub on the port bow, but
only caught a glimpse of the little
whirlpool where her periscOpe sub
merged. I do not know why she did
not let loose a torpedo at us. The
officers said she was trying to make
the entrance to the Dardanelles and
came up blind among our ships and
was scared off by our guns, but /
thought we had just escaped by the
skin of our teeth. Later on our de-
stroyerS claimed to have sighted her
)ff Gaba Tepe.
At noon we were at mess when one
If the boys yelled, "She's hit" and we
all rushed on deck. There was the
British ship, Triumph. torpedoed and
listing away over to starboard. She
was ready to turn over in a few min
ntes. One battleship is not supposed
to go to the assistance of another one
that has been torpedoed, because the
chances are the sub is still in the
neighborhood laying for the second
ship with another torpedo. But one
Of the British trawlers went to the
assistance of the Triumph to pick up
| the crew.
We could see the crew jumping into
| the water. Then we breezed out
| toward the horizon, full speed ahead.
ALI about the Triumph was cloud of
black smoke, but when we looked
| through the glass we could see she was
going down. Then our guns began to
lombard the Turkish positions and
had to get busy. When I saw the
Triumph again she was bottoms up.
She must have f1oated upside down
for almost half an hour, then she went
down as though there was somebody
On the bottom pulling her.
When she went our Old Man banged
his telephone on the bridge rail and
ywOre at the Huns and Turks and
broke his telescope lens to bits. About
City from the Triumph were lost.
1t was decided that the place was
loose, and when they reported that
afternoon that she was making her
way south from Gaba Tepe to Cape
Helles all of the fleet but the Majestic
got under way, and the Majestic was
the only ship left off the cape.
They said the Majestic was then the
Oldest Of the ships in that campaign,
but she was the pride Of the British
feet just the same. She was torpedoed
off Cape Helles later on, when there
were number of men-of-war off the
cape. The sea was crowded with men
swimming and drowning. I saw life
boat crowded with men and other men
in the water hanging onto her and
there were SO many hanging on that
they started to pull her under. OF
their own accord the men iii the water
let go to save those in the boat. Most
Of them were drowned.
The Majestic listed SO that the men
could not stand on deck, and the sides
were covered with men hanging on
TO ropes and not knowing whether
20 jump into the sea or not. We low
cred all our lifeboats and steam
launches, and so did the Other ships.
We picked up number of the crew
and were pretty close to the Majestic
when she went down like a rock. AS
she went down she turned over and
q garby ran along her side to the ram
at her bow and got on it without even
being wet. A boat picked him up off
the ram, which stuck out of the water
after the ship had ceased to settle.
She had torpedo nets on her sides,
and many Of the crew were unable to
get clear of the nets and went down
with her. Quite lot were caught
below decks and had no possible
chance to escape. There was a big
explosion as she went under--probably
the boilers bursting. Thousands Of
troops on shore and thousands of
sailors on the ships saw the final
plunge, and it was sight to remem-
Der. When the ship started to go, the
Old Man rushed back to his cabin,
rot the signal book and destroyed it,
.lso, he saved the lives of two of his
zen.
We gave dry clothes and brandy and
)ffee to the Limeys we rescued, and
cough they had just come through
melting pretty tough, they were