Daily Kennebec journal., 1918-06-05

| was filled with bathers and thousands
of visitors were strolling the board
walk and sand beach. Willing hands
assisted the nearly exhausted women
and men from the~-battered boat
They We're afioat forty four hours,
during which time they rowed their
craft seventy miles.
Among those rescued were Mrs. J.
F. Hamilton, daughter of Chief JUS
tice Hamilton, of the Porto Rico su-
preme court, and Miss Carlotta Ham
ilton, her daughter. Lieut. McLaren
in charge of the boat said:
we were attacked at 6,12 Sunday
evening about 100 miles south by east
of Atlantic Highlands. The same
submarine that sank the Texel was
our assailant. Several shots were
fired. the first over our bow. We were
told by an officer of the submersible
that no harm was intended the pas
sengers and crew. Proceed to get
into your boats with all possible
speed they said, because it is our in
tention to destroy the ship
I'VE dropped our ten boats and pro-
ceeded to fill them leisurely. There
was nothing like panic. Women
and children behaved admirably.
never saw anything finer.
We were allowed to take q plentt-
full supply of food and water in the
boats so there was no suffering on
this score. The shock, however was
more than some of the women could
stand and we thought some OF them
would die. The sick ones were care
fully attended by the moro hardy
among the women.
''All rejoiced when we encountered
a patrol boat and were told we were
near Atlantic City. Our boat was
lifeboat No. 81
Women and girls among the S5 sur
vivors were unable to stand. Some OF
them were attired in oV rails and
jumpers borrowed from T.-embers OF
the crew. All were bespattered with
salt. The hair streaked across their
faces was plastered down by the mix
ture of salt and water used on their
foreheads in an effort to revive them
when they tainted. They were car
ried into the main beach hospital tent
maintained for bathers.
One frail woman about 80 years old
tainted as a life guard lifted her from
the yawI and entered the tent with her.
Chief Surgeon Bossert of the beach
force brought her a stimulant. At that
moment the notes of The Star Span
gled Banner" foated into the tent and
/ the woman, half rising on her cot, cried
f> % nt ao$
| Then she sank again into unconscious
ness.
! Mrs. c. II. Westbrook OF New York,
who with a 13-year-old girl was among
the rescued passengers, paid high trib-
ute to Lieut.. McLaren and the men of
his crew. Mrs. Westbrook. although
scarcely able to sit up in bed. insisted
on telling the heroic conduct Of the
crew.
+ I'VE had just started for dinner" she
said, when shells screamed n warning
across the front Of the ship. ! can't
describe how fent when the realza-
! ton came upon me that we were being
attacked without warning by a subma-
/ rine.
u flung my arms about my daughter
and held her close. All sorts OF fears
assailed me. 7 thought OF the women
and children of France and Belgium
and It was maddening.
Then another shell came. Shrapnel
they said it was. 1t splintered some
thing forward.
"Our ship held no arms and the cap
tain ordered the engines stopped. Some
thing grated along the side. It was a
large boat from the submarine.
The officer in command spoke very
good English. He told the captain, who
met him at the top of the ladder. he
would give us time to get of before he
sank the ship. He examined the Snip
papers and then waited with his men
who were heavily armed.
The captain watched while the boats
were be'.s filled and lowered. Therl
were more that 300 passengers and more
than a hundred in the crew. The wo.
men and children, Of course. went first
! The crew, although many of them could
not speak English, acted splenddly
"Ten bosts were filled and we pulled
away from the ship. | shall never see
anything like it again Yet, intensely
dramatic as 1t was, 1t az seemed unreal
THE crew of our boat pulled clear
and we could see the lights of the other
boats bobbing up and down on the
waves Every minute we thought the
Germans were going to shell us.
i 1--WE had got away possibly 80 yards
when they was binding fash. dom
l-now whether they shelled, bombed OF
! torpedoed the Carolina, but she went
down.
TN the night we were separated from
the other boats Lieut., McLaren ant
| Chief purser Mertz looked after us won
/ derfully. The men did their best tt
keep our spirits up during those lont
hours at night. They insisted that w
/ eat what little food there was and gave
us most of the water They tot k yer,
! little of the food or water themselves