The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-01-31
TORPEDOED SHIP
HAS LIVELY TIMES
The Armenia Arrives With Hole
in Her Side.
A THRILLING EXPERIENCE
Graphic Description OF the Encounter
Given BY the Commander OF
the Armed Guard-Plucky
Men Commended.

Washington.-With great hole
blown in her side by one torpedo, with
her crews at their guns and ordered to
watch for another torpedo, and with
flour in her hold forming sort Of bulk.
head, the steamship Armenia, in mid
night attack, made her way to point
Of safety and saved all her men and the
greater part Of her cargo:
Exciting Incidents of the attack were
made public by Secretary Of the Navy
Daniels, taken from the report Of the
commander OF the vessel. Chief Boat.
swain's Mate Stief Hamiaw, U. s. ~, In
charge Of the crew, is commended by
the Secretary for maintained discipline
and devotion to duty.
The Armenia, under convoy, was pro-
ceeding through the war zone, when,
at midnight, the wirelesse brought news
of the torpedoing Of another vessel In
the zone. The commander Of the gun
crew ordered his men to keep sharp
lookout, to avoid the use Of speaking
tubes and call TO the bridge II a sub
marine were sighted.
with my binoculars" the COM
mander Of the guard reports, II picked
up light on the port beam. sang
out to the mate but got no answer. /
called a second time. Just as the words
from lar
stream Of water and rubbish shoot into
the air, about $50 feet; shot came
forward. imagined l saw one Of our
gun platforms 90 up into the air and
| got to thinking Of the three men on
watch who must have been blown into
the air with 1t. The first words | got
out Of my mouth were My God she is
hit!'
"The captain Of the ship came out
Of the chart house just at this time and
| made a rush for the alarm bell, after
telling the mate to shut down the
engines. All the gun crews were told
to stick to their guns and look for a
second torpedo and not to walt for Or
ders to fire II anything came In sight.
Running down the port ladder / met
one Of the officers Of the ship who ex.
claimed Why does not some one stop
the engine"
at was my intention then to 20
down into the engine room myself
when noticed spot lights blinking
about the decks and scramble for
the boats. Only few were excited, in
fact, the majority were cool. shouted
to keep the spotlights off or we would
get seconl torpedo, and also told
them not to mind the boats but save
the ship.
About this time the engine room
force started back below. Then the
captain sang out: If there is no water
in the engine room We can beach the
ship
This assured me that everything
was all right and | went to the bridge
to get my pistol and papers. The cap
tain followed me and he telegraphed
full speed ahead, adding that 1t was his
belief that we could beach the ship.
Seeing the captain had on his life pre-
server threw off my raincoat and
arctics and went to my room and got
my life preserver.
Coming back to the bridge we saw
that the men from some OF the lookout
posts were getting ready the boats and
that the armed guards were standing
by their guns. They were furnished
with lights for the boats and lot Of
heavy clothing was thrown in. Orders
were given to lower the boats and also
to cast off the life RATS.
After making an inspection OF the
damage l went to the captain and again
told him that I thought we could
make It. II there was no second tor.
pedo. The boats by this time had put
off from the ship. Seeing that we were
underway an officer in the boat yelled
to us to throw him a line so that he
could come back on board with the
men in the boat. but there was no time
to stop. A destroyer came alongside
and picked up the men, letting the
boats go adrift.
"a collision mat, with weights and
canvas, had been placed over the tor
pedoed hole. Flour in the hold had
formed skin, that kept the water from
going forward, though 1t had flooded
the icebox and storerooms. The ex.
plosion had knocked down three OF
the lockouts on the gun platform. The
masthead lookouts slid down the back.
stays so fast thought they had