The Elk Mountain pilot., 1918-07-04

night of March 2O-21 (l91D. The torpedoang of
this hospital ship Ii Included In the list Of achieve
ments claimed by U-boats reported in the Ger
man wireless press message yesterday"
The Asturias didn't sink. although 43 died In
the tragedy including two women. and 80 were
injured The torpedo rendered her helpless. as
her rudder had been carried away. Captain Lawe
drove the sinking ship for shoal water As she
was of the rocky shore of Cornwall. II he did sue
ID in Bleaching her the chances Of saving the ship
would be slight. All Captain Laws thought Of was
to get her somewhere where she wouldn't sink ere
her wounded had been removed.
As luck would have 1t. the Asturias took matters
into her own hands and In the darkness missed a
reef rounded headland and brought up on one
Of the few sandy beaches to be found along the
Cornwall shore line. After three years In com
mand of her. several times week crossing the
Channel and running the risk of mines. well As
seeing the agony Of human beings he transported.
captain Laws. like many other hospital ship skip
pers. collapsed. He's made several attempts to go
to sea again. but his nerve Is gone.
The nation responsible for the murder Of Nurse
Cavell accepted the Asturias incident with COM
posure. II not with satisfaction. For the Germans
stated blandly:
ut would. moreover. be remarkable that the
English in the Of the Asturias should have
abstaned from the customary procedure Of using
hospital ships for the transport Of troops and mu
nitiOns"
The Asturias was returning from France. That
Is sufhcient answer to Germany.
Ten days later the Gloucester Castle was tor
pedOed without warning In midchannel. All the
wounded were successfully removed from the ship
and the casualties were FIVE medical ofacers nine
nursing sisters and 3s Royal Army Medical corps
men, On April IL the Berlin Official wireless again
cynically published notification that the Glouces
ter Castle was tOrpedoed by a U-boat. thus re-
moving any possible doubt in the matter.
Then on April II the hospital ships Donegal and
Lanfranc were sunk by U-boats. The British ad-
miraty announced
1.-THE Donegal Carricd cltvhtIv ,.,o,raoa .....
all British. OF these % men. as well as L. of the
crew. are missing and presumed drowned. The
Lanfranc. In addition to 234 wounded British on.
GERS and men, carried 167 wounded German pris-
oners' medical personnel OF 81 and q crew of
l23. of these the following are missing and pre-
sumed drowned:
Two wounded British officers
Eleven wounded British other ranks
Zone II. A. NJ. G. staff.
"Five crew.
1.-TWO wounded German officers
Thirteen wounded German, other ranks.
zone hundred and ffty-twO wounded German
prisoners were rescued by British patrol boats at
the imminent risk Of being themselves torpedoed."
And then the Goth Of February they sank tie
Glenart Castle bound from France to England.
Yes. she carried troops but they lay In white cots
within the Genart Castles white Sides Nice chap.
Fritz, for he'd agreed to respect hospital ships II
they carried Spanish Officer to guarantee their
Red Cross mission The Glenart had her Spanard
and he too was nearly drowned In the catastrophe.
One pleasing thing about the tragedy was that it
gave an American destroyer. at the risk Of being
herself torpedoed chance to do rescue work
which makes the blood run faster In ones veins
The sea was vile and the destroyer couldnt launch
boat Yet as she passed men clinging to wreck
age-men too weak to catch the lfelines thrown
to them-American seamen Jumped overheard
into Icy wnter. swan to the poor devils and held
them up till they could be rescued. Mr.. Daniels.
I'm glad to say. has httingy rewarded such gal
lantry.
And shortly after the Gienart Castle the big
Llancosey Castle, on mercy bent. was torpedoed.
She also carried Spanish officer have n letter
from an officer on the hospital ship Araguaya
which has been transferred from passenger and
food service to the work of mercy to replace lost
hospital ships and he tells me his ship Is most par
ticular about living up to the Geneva cooventien
No nurses are carried except those who maks-th
round trip between England aud Canada. Fos Il
Canadian nurses worked their psssass home Ger
many might say they were troops