The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-05-26
Former Birmingham Girl Describes Experiences
 Ln Recent ShiplDreck

Conn, formerly Miss Etta whitney of
 Birmingham, was on the steamship City
 of Athens which was recently rammed
 by a French cruiser. Mrs. Levy was
 in. the ocean for over two hours and
 she describes her experiences in the fol-
 lowing interview with Janet Mabie in the Bridgeport Sunday Post:
 Isn't it queer? never in all my life read the directions for putting on
 lifebelts until the night of April 30. when
 l was on board the City of Athens bound
 for my home in the south. have crossed
 twice and have been aboard coastwise
 steamships here in this country and l
 don't know--somehow it never occurred
 to me to read the little placards giv- fng emergency directions. But on this first night out, for some reason l stood
 up there. just before went to bed, and
 read carefully the instructions for ad- justing the lifebeits. 1t was about s o'clock. I had been seasick-another thing that had never happened to me abefore--and I was frightfu1ly tired So T decided to go to bed. I didn't read the card with any particular idea in mind I just read it, in the unaceountable way one has of doing unusual-or un- wwonted-things sometimes And at l So'cocS in them orning our ship was rammed by the French cruiser. It all N 4eyen yet"
 My stateroorn was directly in the cen- ter of the ship and I think I felt the jar less than other passengers. It didn't @seem so very heavy to me, but as soon as the boat came to a standstill l knew, @sof course, that there was something awfully wrong.
 Now that I look back on it marvel at the calm I felt. I did not hurry par stfcularly Every move I made was per- fectly methodical I hoisted my feet over the side of the bed, got into my stock .sings and slippers, picked up heavy steamer coat and went out onto deck There was no one in sight, but presently porter come hurrying around the cor sSner, eyes Staring, face as blanched as \ is imaginable, and yelling at the top of rlsis powerful voice, Get on your life belts The boat is sinking
 2@ssI went back to my stateroom pu' on the lifebelt. In doing that l had to l wrench it loose from an over-secure fas- ] tening and it took several moments of time that I knew were precious. l put F my coat back on over my nlgntdress- for it was all I had on save the belt, slippers and stockings. Then went up on deck.
 CLIMBING UP STEEP HILL
 q found that the water had already reached the level of the promenade sdecked and that already the boat nao listed until it hung at an alarming an Ele The boat gave a terrible lurch ana listed even further and I hurried over Ito the other side of the ship. II was more or less of a problem to get tsefe Sbecause it was like climbing up steep hill The decks were wet and things were in the way As I passed stair sSway in my somewhat hampered prog ress I saw man, crawling toward the deck on his hands and knees or rather on his hafftls and one foot The other foot had been quite cut orr, ne was bleeding profusely, and yelling TOT help in the most agonized way HIS s.ssfla iamas were hanging in streamers and I shall never forget the look on s@fais, face But he managed to make an almost uncanny speed and got into @1ifeboat before 1 did
 as.ss ssSomeone seized me, hurried inc to- Ward the lifeboat to which the posi- stion of my stateroom assigned me. SsBut before the sailors had time to lower away the big boat gave another lurch and we were all spilled out into the water just like eggs out of basket ~It happened, when I got into the lire boat which was swinging perilousiy, ss1 had stuck my foot into crevice Tn the bottom of the boat to help steady fhe noat. When we were spilled out l had pulled my foot loose leaving my ssfipper behind. Had been unable to sS get loose I should have been drowned Without a doubt. That moment when sSwe were all thrown into the sea sz shall never forget. I went down into the sea-it seemed miles. I remember 1T 1Tthinking perfectly clearly that it must be the end. That I was going 10 are. II remember thinking how dreadful water seemed. And I plunged doWnWard through a pathway of arms and legs gof others who were already in the water. M " "Then it was all blank. for I don't ssSknow how long. The next thing l x Knew I was floating on my back-way away from the boat. looked out s2aacross the tossing water and saw the lights playing from the cruiser. The Thought came to me that I was dying and that the sort of landscape | could make out meant that I was just on < inc brink of another world. The lights made it all to weird and eerie. And then, still almost subconsciously. l thought of my family. I floated along on my back, trying always to Keep free of the dreadful timbers and pieces of wreckage that threatened my head. And I discovered that landscape was bobbing bodies of others in the water.
 AFLOAT IN THE OCEAN
 II became aware of the awful weight of the coat I had on and I wrenched my arm out of it That made it bet ter and got on more easily. l closed my eyes and kept on thinking-not historically but perfectly calmly and collectively. sort of subconsciously, i'm agining that I was already in some other world. It was such peculiar feeling.
 Presently man came floating toward me. His voice was low. and strained. He almost whispered Have courage little girl. lifeboat is com