Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-08-21

OF cabin ports, all open Tor Ventlia-
ton. The torpedo had struck III
such a way that the ship filled on
one side and was listing p~erceptlply.
Mr.. Gauntlet knew that as soon as
the ship had heeled over sufficiently
the water would begin to pour into
| the portfolios. This would accelerate
the inflow of water and hasten the
flooding of the ship. He made a
hasty mental calculation and arrived
at the conclusion that if the port
holes 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 a large
stream. AS the first tier hlled, the
ship would list more rapidly; this
soon would bring down the 20
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 port
holes he went on deck. Already the
Lusitania was listing sharply. He
took off his coat. The deck was st
an uncomfortable angle. He wait
ed. A cry came from alongside. A
woman and child had slid into the
water. With the aid of a sailor he
attempted to rescue them and did
succeed in dragging n into a life
boat only in time for it to
, 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 mar
rowest escape he ever had in his
life came a moment afterward. He
struck out from the side of the sink
ing ship and thought himself safe
when the great liner took her final
plunge. The great masts slammed
over into the water. Between them
vas strung the aerial of the wire
less, a complicated arrangement of
strands of wire. AS they came down
into the sea they surrounded him
and it was with the greatest diff
Guilty that he freed himself. For
half an hour he swan around look
IL. 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
exceptional exploit for a man of his
years-between forty-1ive and fifty
he said:
!. mot especially, in view Of the
fact that 1 have a cup for winning
a ten-mile swimming race"
Exposes a Fraud
A curious aftermath of this ex-
traordinary experience was the ex-
posture of a fraud by Mr.. Gauntlet
on his return to the United States,
Everyone remembers how the lists
of missing passengers and of sur
vivors were published by the news
papers.
1t seems an old, retired sea cap
tain, living in Newfoundland, had
conceived the idea of obtaining
money on the pretence Thai he had
picked up floating baggage of per-
sons lost on the Lusitania. Using
the published list of names of the
lost and even of the survivors, he
baggage had drifted ashore and
that for a stated sum he would for
ward 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 at
tract 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.
MI. uncovered the
fraud. Familiar with the sea and
having been a victim of the Lusita-
MIA disaster, he knew the exact posi-
ton of the ship when she sank and
knew that the ocean currents were
such that baggage never would drift
ashore where the old captain said
he had picked up many trunks. In
vestigating, he confirmed his sus-
picions and. upon publishing the
facts through the Coast Guard,
saved money for many persons.
Mr.. Gauntlett's ownership of a
modern navy is a story equally fas-
cinating. He learned at a dinner
party in Washington attended by
the Charge d'Affaires of the Greek
Legation that Greece wanted to buy
some battleships. He knew, as a
result of his intimacy with naval
facts. that the United States Navy
was about to retire two fine ships.
He consulted Secretary of the Navy
Daniels and made a deal. He COM
pleted the other end with the Greek
Charge d'Affaires. Then, by dill
gent application. he got a bill
through congress authorizing the
retirement of the warships and their
transfer to Greece.