The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-01-15

/ the foes OF principles Whlcn americans
hold dear.
Captain Leary is a real mixer, an
elderly man who has spent many years
in many different harbors in all parts
OF the world; companionable is. indeed
fitting adjective with which to de-
scribe this old sea captain OF many
years experience. He talks interest
ingly, not only of the Inflated vessel
under his command at the time sshe
was struck by the deadly submarine
torpedo, when four of the crew lost
their lives, but he tells many interest
ing stories of people he has met in
ports In the far-away orient, along the
coasts of the Mediterranean; of the
days when he was a mate aboard sail
ing vessels, when steamships, as are
known in these days, were a novelty
and something to be detested by the
old salts" But proceed with the
story of the Lucia.
Captain Leary had made number
of successful trips across the Atlantic
with supplies and was five days out
from New York on his fifth voyage,
with a cargo of food products, ammu-
milton, etc. 81
He had aboard over 1000 tons of
shrapnel alone.
Everything went along very well
during the first Ave days, and nothing
in the way of a German submarine had
been encountered, but at about $3.50
o'clock Thursday afternoon, October
II, 1918, a torpedo from the dreaded
U-boat found it's mark in the hull of
the Lucia. Captain Leary said it was
along about supper time, and four men
had been sent in the engine room to
relieve the regular crew so they could
have supper; he was standing on the
upper deck to the fore CT the boat,
when all of sudden there was ter
rifle impact, the> Luica quivered; the
torpedo had pierced the hull at its
weakest spot--the engine room. The
suspense was short. A second elapsed
and the huge shell exploded, tearing
out through the huh. The four relief
men were killed instantly. The cap
tain went down into the engine room
as far as he could go, but nowhere
could he see even the mangled re-
mains Of the men.
1t might be we'll to say here that
large amount of machinery In the
engine room, it had been impossible
to place the air tanks along the insides
of the hull as was done in the other
sections of the craft. Either by fate
or coincidence, the topedo struck in
this weak spot, and the approximate
sum of s250.OOo that had been ex-
pended in attempting to make the Lu-
ella unsuitable was of no avail, for 1t
was now only a question of few
hours before she would be filled with
water and would sink down into
'Davy Jones' locker"
At the time of the disaster there
were 90 men aboard the vessel, and
there were six lifeboats, with capac-
ity of 10 men each. Another distressing
feature of the disaster was that the
lifeboats were hanging in the davits,
ready to be lowered at a seconds no.
tice but when the torpedo exploded,
the boat directly above the engine
room was demolished. Four of the 90
men, were dead. This left Sc that must
crowd into the five boats left and trust
to the hand of Providence upon the
1imitless expanses of the broad Allan
tic.
The vessel was struck by the tor
pedo Thursday afternoon at O'Clock,
but she did not sink until 3:15 o'clock
Friday afternoon. Captain Leary was
the last man to get into a lifeboat
before she went to the bottom. A
meagre portion OF water and provi-
sions had been placed in the lifeboats.
for with the loss of the sixth boat, the
S6 men had to crowd into the five
boats as best they could, which did not
leave much space for provisions.
The captain said that the men had
agreed to keep their boats punched to-
sether as near as possible, hoping in
this way TO all be saved by chance an
other vessel should be spied. He said
that they had been out in the lifeboats
only a short while when someone
lossened the cap to the water container
and allowed all the drinking water to
be spilled in the bottom of the life
boat. Capt. Leary, however. following
a habit that he had learned from an
old sea captain when he was a young
man. had brought on the boat with him
a small sack of Irish potatoes, and he
said that he and the other fellows were
glad to eat those raw potatoes before
they were picked up.
He related TO The Journal reporter
and others quite a story about how
they Jared aboard the little craft be-
fore being picked up by one of Uncle
Sans destroyers. He said that it was
all they could do to keep their boat
lighted. for the weather was getting
choppy, and it took no little skill in
maneuvering the small craft over the
crests of the big swells.
The captain said he was sitting at
the tiller OF his boat when he saw a
small light in the distance. It was
near to midnight now, and he de-
scribed 1t dark as black cats" AS
soon as he saw the vessel in the dis
lance he Immediately took a large
flashlight that he had the thoughtful
ness to take from the Lucia before she
went down and began signalling in
Morse. Luckily, the man on watch
on the vessel caught the signal and re-
"A fan S.asr flaa