Evening star., 1941-07-20

and came straight for us, from about
half mile away.
That was the worst moment. We
thought maybe they were going to
eXtinguiSh the witnesses of the sink
ing, just as they had wiped out the
Grated cars.
Took Pictures of Victims.
But they only wanted to take our
pictures! Sailors on the subs deck
snapped every lifeboat and its pas
sengers and crew. Then they
headed off, submerged, and were
gone.
We were alone in the South At
lantiC Ocean.
Capt Myers kept US all together
for "a hours, hoping the sub had
sent an SOS and some ship would
come to our rescue. He ordered me
to take charge of No. 3 lifeboat,
which had II of our crew in it. No
passengers. Three of the crew men,
bers in my boat were making this
first voyage at sea. Some introduce
ton to sea life.
The next morning, after confer
ence it was decided to make for St.
Paul Rocks. off the Brazil coast,
about $50 miles away
Progress was slow. The boats kept
together for three days. Then the
officers had another consultation
We were worried about the three
women and baby in one boat, and
figured if we separated there would
be better chance to one of us meet
ing with steamer Second Assist
ant Engineer Phillips was trans
ferred from the captains boat TO
mine and we pulled away.
Rig Pretty Primitive.
The next two weeks proved to me
the worth of the smal-boat sea-
manship they insist on Massa-
chusetts Nautical School cadets
learning. That lfeboat sailing rig
was pretty primitive. There's a
12-foot mast with an 8-foot light
boom with the halliards made fast
in the middle of the boom. You
have to haul up the boom to set sail.
Some days we made less than 20
miles. Other days, with a fresh
breeze, We did $50 miles.
One good thing was that our boat
was not overcrowded. 1t was certi-
fled for 40 persons, and we had only
u. SO took two Of the watertight
airtanks of metal, set under the
gunwales to give buoyancy. With a
hatchet I cut off their heads.
One we lashed to the mast. let
the sail down PARKWAY to make a
funnel, and caught a thankful of
fresh water whenever it rained.
1t rained plenty. We had tropical
rains every night. The worst prob
lem was to keep clothing dry, for We
had no tarpaulins or shelter of any
kind. We used the second airtank
as storage chest. AS soon as it be-
gan to cloud over, I made the fel-
lows strip and put their clothes in
the tank That way we had dry
clothes to put on. That makes a
big difference in health.
The days we're mighty long, We
sang a lot. Singing helps to keep
up your spirits.
The 18th evening out, suddenly
We sighted a sail!
Meet Disappointment.
We broke out the oars and pulled
with will. AS we drew near We
saw it was the No. boat, Capt.
Myers and his passengers. 1t was
good to see them, although disap-
pointing to think neither of us had
sighted any rescue ship.
After dark came on. suddenly we
sighted a red parachute flare!
Again we rowed for dear life to-
ward the spot and found Chief Of
f1cer Mundays boat and passengers
all safe, but also out of luck on see
ing any rescue ship.
All OF us had sent up flares every
night, although until that night we
had been too far apart to see each
others flares. My boat had only
three flares left by that time.
So there were the three boats
reunited again, still out in the mid
Ole OF the ocean. We were bearded.
dirty, sun-bronzed, running low on
provisions and still without hope of
rescue. Once more we parted, to
spread out in the hope of finding
some vessel to save us.
At 10 the next morning we sighted
a steamer T grabbed tho eroptv
Danish butter can, punched holes
IN 1t with the hatchet, stuffed an
undershirt in, soaked it in the storm
Oil from the sea anchor, lashed it
TO the boat hook, and set it afire.