The New York herald., 1922-08-06
Adrift in Darkness.

The sub remained near us about
two hours and went away and re-
turned for a short while, hoping
probably that some of the ships
which had been with US might re-
turn and that he would get a shot
at them This delayed our work, and
the boats and RATS became widely
separated. Although this contin-
gency had been foneseen and many
RATS had been dashed together, yet
they had drifted apart in groups,
and II was hard job to tow them
with the boats. which were heavily
loaded with men, and this. with the
choppy sea, made the rowing hard,
and we had great difficulty in as
sembling the boats and RATS.
The danger OF a boat or raft being
separated from the group was the
cause of great anxiety, as in this
case it might drift so far during the
night that it could not be found.
Every one did his best, however. and
when darkness fell We had all the
RATS with people ON them securely
tied together, and the string of
twelve boats was tied 70 the RATS,
so we could then all drift together.
We could do nothing more than wait
and hope that the destroyers would
find rs before our scant supply of
bread and water became exhausted.
Lighted lanterns were suspended
from oars hoisted in the boats, and
"coston flares" were burned every
few minutes, but as we We're so
near the surface of the water these
lights could not be seen more than
two or three miles.
There We're about $50 men in the
boats and $50 on the RATS. 1t was
to change places at day
light so that those ON the RATS could
come into the boats, as they would
be much exhausted after the night
on the RATS.
Men and officers were put on
watch in each boat and the others
told to go to sleep. There was no
moon and it became very dark 1t
was hard TO fully realize. even then.
that there. floating around me on a
few boats and RATS. literally on the
bosom Of the ocean, was that fine
body of officers and men who had
served 50 Loyalty under my COM
mand, and that we were all that
was left of what a few hours before
had been a brave ship doing her ut
most in our country's service. But
l thanked God that l stiil had 50
many Of them with me, as an ap-
proximate muster showed about
or thirty missing out Of
a total OF about 700 on board.
In the blackness and silence of the
night, with the slap" Of the waves
against the boats as We drifted be-
fore the wind, ii was a time TO try
our courage and cheerfulness and the
light from our little flare up" torches
seemed so futile in its effort to pene-
trate the blanket Of darkness which
covered the ocean.
But the motto of the President
Lincoln as printed daily on our little
paper called the RailspHtfcr in affec-
tionate memory Of that great Ameri-
can patriot and President whose
name was borne by our ship. was
Loyalty, Efficiency and Cheerful
ness" and il viii always be my pleas
ure 10 testify that every one meas
ured UP 10 this motto in way that
was truly inspiring. and not a word
Of complaint, sorrow or regret was
by those men as we lay there
in the sea and waited for the hours
to pass. The discipline and willing
ness to obey orders was perfect and
TO officer ever commanded a more
devoted body of men.
About IL O'Clock some one in my
boat thought that he saw a light, but
after looking eagerly for it without
success we were settling down in the
bottom OF the boat again when from
another direction, but almost over Us
there suddenly appeared in that wall
Of darkness a blinking" white light