Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1918-06-06
CAPTAlN'SSTORY
OF CAROLINA; ] \ | } | L
SUNK BY Sub
Thrilling Tale Of Night in Open
Boats and Storm - Rescue
Of Girl clnsing to Drowned
Men.

Men.
Lewes, Del, June 5.-Nineteen
survivors, passengers and. crew, of
the steamship Carolina, sunk by Ger
man submarines, who landed here,
brought narrowing tale of the sea,
the news of the loss of 16 of their
number and remarkable rescue of
a girl while they drifted helplessly
by on the ocean during severe
thunder storm Sunday night.
Ten boats left the Carolina before
she was sunk blythe German subma-
rine U-37, all passed through the
same storm, and the survivors here
said they had felt sure all were lost
They expressed great joy when in
formed that most Of the Cardinals
company had been saved.
The 10 passengers landed here ar
rived on British vessel. They we're
taken in charge$bg the naval author
tiles and cared fof at the station near
Cape Henlopen. They made full
statements to naval officers. None Of
them had any knowledge that the
submarine had shelled the lifeb0ats.
Survivors to New York.
The survivors left late this after
noon for New York One of their
number was detained. He is p Ger
man member of the crew, and will be
held pending Investigation.
According to sthe survivors. the
Carolina was warned late Sunday
fafternoon by wireless to look out for
The steamer was eau
toned MOTTO sho4 lights. At 6 o'clock
Sunday night q. tubmarine appeared
above the surface close to the Caro-
Lima. She was about $50 feet long,
survivors said, aid later was identi-
fed as the U-37.
The submarine signalled some
thing which OUT captain could not
make out, said Sne Of the survivors,
::and then the UJboat raised the Ger
l man flag. We Nsre ordered to heaye
to and the eeptfHa fearing that the
f0WOz1A6E kA0 AWVSkkDNOoAA Cu0 oIe0As&oA ~
heealidn't obey the order, signalled
1.-THE engineer to reverse the engines
and STOP, 's,,g NJ ii
Twenty Minutes to Escape.
A. German officer with an armed
guard came alongside and gave or
Fders to our captain to lower all boats
and leave the ship in 20 minutes.
The sea was smooth and there ap-
lpeared to be few elements of danger.
The German officers appeared to show
consideration to the passengers az
they hurried to leave the steamer.
''Ten boats were lowered and ev-
erybody got in. There was little OF
fno confusion. All the time the sub
marine lay as close as possible, mem
bers Of her crew standing on her
deck watching us or busying them
selves about the boat. After the
lifeboats had swung away from the
Carolina, the German officers aboard
1.-THE abandoned steamer hailed one OF
the lifeboats and ordered her to re-
turn. This frightened many in the
other lifeboats, but after time we
found out the reason for the Ger
mans action. In going through the
steamer he found a fireman who had
been left behind and he had ordered
the lifebOaat to return for him.
when this last boat was clear OF
the ship again the Germans left the
Carolina and in "a few minutes the
Submarine shelled her seven times
Then she burst into flames. Whether
the Germans set her on fire OF
whether the shelling had caused fire
to break out, do not know.
Hope For the Best.
I've drifted, no one knew where.
1.-The sun began to set as the Caro-.
lima slowly went down. Then 1t got
Idark. Fear Overcame many of U.S.
but we hoped for the best. The sea
Twas still smooth and there was NO
danger apparent. We strained out
Ieyes to- see light, but there was
none. All the boats kept as close to-
lgether as possible, everybody that
Twas able taking ia turn at the oars
After we had drifted for do not
know how long, there were faint
dashes of light on the horizon, and
later, when the puffy wind began to
strengthen, we instinctively knew
there was trouble ahead.
The storm came, quicker than
I'VE expected it. The wind blew Hike
q gale and. kicked up q nasty sea.
1.-THE boats pitched and soon became
Iseparated and we, who were in q
Imotor launch, seemed to be alone in
1.-THE storm. The boat rolled and pitch
led. Finally she capsized and all Of
Ithe IS in her were thrown into the
lsea. She was righted and capsized
again, while we chung to her. This
occurred several times. The storm
passed and the sea began to- calm ;
| It was pitch dark. .9s2ss
Iapnch Full ol Water.iS q
me launch was full Of water. We
Iclung % her and bailed out the water