The Washington times., 1920-01-31


Take the case OF the British ship
Wellington abandoned at sea after
she mad been torpedosd. The volun-
teers from our patrol boat Seneca
took Off her crewand then went
aboard Of her and tried TO set her
10 port. Their own ship, the Seneca,
had TO pass on In her convoy DUTY
and so they were left alone on this
ship in the Bay OF Biscay, very well
knowing that a few hours OF bad
weather would be bad business for
them.
That same aiskt ssd weather did
es~e and before .sss.iss she sssk
uaSsp tken.. The last tive ses 90
leave her dove OFF Der propeller tuss
n. she went unaer.. There they were
to..iu. sSout frsa eae ktgh sea 20
another In the darkness, A Destroyer
OF ours csne along sns ~ great work
--fIostias life RATS asa susys sad
.eadIax Saen over the slide With iifs
iiaes around then. sad - ss, nss-
aged to save sose Of them, bSt eseN~H
OF the twesy-one were lest and those
saved were not ssseh Ee~d for . Ioas
tiae after. ] met tive sf then In
Brest five days sitter they were
brought In. Tkey were there In the
Hospital and there the electors ssid
they would have to stay another
while.
ia. As.sIrsI Sins entkxsed In prist
over that little dsedf Net ~ 70 sste.
Take the case OF that volunteer
crew who went aboard the Westward
Ho. Sac had also been abandoned
and torpedoed and was supposed 10
be sinking when her crew abandoned
her. Along came a convoy with some
OF our patrols as escorts. Some hope
full spirits from two OF the escort
asked permission to look the wreck
over. They found her loaded with
a valuable cargo and their commsnd-
ers agreeing, they went aboard to
see could they get her to port
They got up auxiliary steam,
pumped q lot Of water out of her
and got the main engine going Bat
when they tried TO steam aheuS
the old lady refused - 80. All right
try her stern Arst. And stern nrst
they got her into Brest, 3i5 miles
away. Pretty fart q. yes, but
nothinE to whnt-O, you know.
Thrilling Rescue.
There was the Florence II. of the
French coast. She was an ammuni-
tlon ship which caught fire and blew
up. Can you picture her with her
sides blown out, shells flying every
which way, boxes of smokeless pow
der blown clear and floating around
on the water burning. A column OF
flame, described by some as high as
Bunker Hill, was shooting up from
her deck and her crew. to get away
from her, had to take their chance
among the burning stuff in the water.
Along comes the destroyer stewart.
IT II. II a
burning sea and grab off those men
who, when they were not drowning,
were clinging to flaming wreckage
and burning up. Mind you, the de-
stroyer was carrying two racks Of
depth bombs on her deck. A depth
bomb Is 500 pounds of INT. What
do you suppose would happen aboard
her If one of those exploding shells
happened to come aboard and hnd
800 pounds of INT in its way? Well,
what does she do?
All her skipper does is to drive lis
little old nivver into that hery he'll,
tear q lane through II, trusting to bis
prOpeIIers to toss the exploding boxes
Of powder clear Of his ship. And he
comes back and rips another lane
through 1t, and another Then her
volunteers man their little deck bontS,
WOhk umchr WY s"C '"'-e "N~'s
and gan in what were left alive OF
the crew Of the Florence.
| put these three in by way OF
samples because at my left elbow Gs
/ write are copies of the bald official
record of these three cases. / have
names of officers and men and dates
for whoever wishes.
Pretty fair, are they? o. yes, but
not the things to put in Sims book,
that book which Is destined to be
found in our schools and libraries. BY
and by there will be lot of school
children fed up on Sims book.
Praise Only for British.
1t is the best there is, o. indeed.
yes. written by our admiral in COM
mand over there, authoritative and
all that. 1t is standard. praises our
English cousins highly and does much
to dispel that absurd notion that the
American navy ever did anything in
the great war. See-when he wishes
to illustrate the heroic traits he has
to pick out the deeds of English
sailors. As the American admiral in
command over there he would surely
have selected American heroes IL he
could. o, surely. 1t must be that
there were none.
Do you see anything of a motive in
Sims mind when he told the world
through the London press in October.
1918, that tho American navy had
performed poorly, and followed that
up by telling a party of American
Congressmen in Paris that the Amer
lean army had also fallen down?
Is he an American naval officer or
Is he something else? II something
else, then what? And what Is his
ultimate purpose?