The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-08-21
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC ,. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, ID. G.
a LUsITANIA sURVIVoR-

| Q
Washington can run a close second to
and often exceed that notable New
York corner in the number OF curious
and interesting visitors.
Only yesterday Fred Gauntlet was
at the Press club. Many people know
Mr.. Gauntlet but not too many. He
is as interesting as almost any private
citizen for many reasons, but for two
in particular which are well worth
mentioning.
Fred Gauntlet is one of the COM
paratively few men who went down on
the Lusitania-and came up again to
tell the tale. Also he is practically
the only man in the world who ever
owned a modern navy as his personal
property.
Both stories deserve reciting.
Mr.. Gauntlet has for years been
Washington representative of the
Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry
dock company. He is an expert in all
matters pertaining to shipbuilding and
as the company with which he is con-
nected is engaged chiefly in construct
ing warships, he is especially an ex-
pert in men o. war. When Germany
was pressing the allies particularly
hard, not many months before the
United States entered the struggle,
Great Britain needed some0 special
advice in the matter of naval arma-
ment. Mr.. Gauntlet, Mr.. Knox, presi-
dent of the New York Shipbuilding
company; Mr.. Ferguson, president of
the Newport Shipbuilding and Dry
dock company, and one or two other
experts were invited to go to London
to discuss naval matters. They sailed
on the Lusitania
Mr.. Gauntlet says he was having
lunch about 2 o'clock in the afternoon
when there was dull thud aft. He
did not know what the cause was. 1t
was so slight he finished his lunch.
In a few minutes he went on deck and
noticed some signs of excitement
among the crew. Discovering that a
torpedo had hit the great liner, he
took stock of the situation. Being an
old shipping man. he knew instinc-
lively what every aspect of such a sit
uatiOn would be. He realized that
theNday being warm, every port was
open. He attempted to get the stew
ards force to assist him in closing
momentarily and he was unsuccessful.
Menace of Open Portfolios.
Long afterwards, in relating the tale
he said it was obvious what was about
to happen. The Lusitania was a tall
ship. She had three tiers of cabin
ports, all open for ventilation. The
torpedo had struck in such a way that
the ship filled on one side and was
listing perceptibly- Mr.t Gauntlet
knew that as soon as the ship had
heeled over sufficiently, the water
would begin to pour into the port
holes. This would accelerate the in
flow of water and hasten the flooding
of the ship. He made hasty mental
calculation and arrived at the conclu-
sion that if the portfolios once started
filling, the ship was lost, because there
were on the listing side of the great
liner more than six hundred such
openings, each of which would admit
large stream. AS the first tier filled,
the ship would list more rapidly; this
soon would bring down the second tier
and shortly after the third. The result
would be a veritable Niagara of water
pouring into the ship.
When it was apparent he could rally
no assistance to close the portfolios he
went on deck. Already the Lusitania
was listing sharply. He took off his
coat. The deck was at an uncomfort-
able angle. He waited. A cry came
from alongside. A woman and child
had slid into the water. with the aid
of sailor he attempted to rescue
themi and did succeed in dragging one
into a life-boat only in time for it to
become fouled and sink. Then came
an especially sharp list and the deck
tilted at such an angle that he could
hold on no longer, and he slid into the
sea.
Mr.. Gauntlet says that the narrow
est escape he ever had in his life came
a moment afterwards. He struck out
from the side of the sinking ship and
thought himself safe when the great
liner took her final plunge. The
great masts slammed over into the
water. Between them was strung the
aerial of the wireless. a complicated
arrangement of strands of wire. AS
they came down into the sea, they
surrounded him, and it was with the
greatest difficulty that he freed him.
self. For half an hour he SWAN
around looking for Mr.. Knox and Mr..
Ferguson but could not find them.
Then he struck out for the shore
eight miles away.
When asked if this was not an ex-
ceptionai exploit for a man of his
As and 50-he said:
Not especially. in view of the fact
that I have a cup for winning a ten
mile swimming race"
Exposes a Fraud.
A curious aftermath of this extra
ordinary experience was the exposure
of fraud by Mr.. Gauntlet on his re-
turn to the United States. Everyone
remembers how the lists of missing
passengers and of survivors were pub
lished by the newspapers.
1t seems an old, retired sea captain,
living in Newfoundland, had conceived
the idea of obtaining money on the
pretence that he had picked up float
ing baggage of persons slost on the
Lusitania. Using the published list of
names of the lost and even of the sur
vivors, he circularized them saying
that their baggage had drifted ashore
and that for a stated sum he would
forward it, 1t was a scheme likely to
attract the next of kin of the drowned
passengers, anxious to have the effects
of their lost friends or relatives, and
also likely to attract survivors who
had lost their baggage. Hundreds of
dollars were sent the old captain, but
there is no record of anyone's having
received any baggage.
Mr. Gauntlet uncovered the fraud
Familiar with the sea and having been
a victim of the Lusitania disaster, he
knew the exact position of the ship
when she sank and knew that the
oceauwcurrentS were such that baggage
never would drift ashore where the
old captain said he had picked up
many trunks Investigating, he con-
firmed his suspicious and, upon pub