Evening star., 1941-08-16
mania since he lost everything he

mania since he lost everything he
had with him on the Maasdam.
The seventh night out of Hall
fax about II pm. I was sitting
in one of the cabins with three
other people. A steward came to
the door i'll his life jacket. Although
he suffered badly, he said without
fault, Go TO your cabins. One of
the boats has been torpedoed." The
men said. Don't worry. Everything
will be all right"
I found my two cabinmates in
the cabin dressing in their warmest
clothing. They were very excited.
Every one was cautioned TO take
the utmost precaution with the
lights. We sat around in the hall
in our life jackets for about an
hour. We were then dismissed and
told to spend the rest of the night
in our clothes. Not much sleeping
was done. You could tell it by the
long afternoon maps the next day.
Nurses on Torpedoed Ship.
We later learned the ship tor
pedoed that night also carried
American nurses, a group OF 10
destined for the same American
hospital in England for which We
were bound They were not rescued
by the naval escort and with the
crew from the ship drifted about in
the Atlantic for days. Four of these
nurses were picked up by cruising
American destroyer after II days
and II nights at sea. Two arrived
in Ireland after 19 days at sea. Four
have never been heard from and
are considered lost at sea.
Three nurses in one of the cabins
had been packing together a bag
with emergency articles which they
could take in the lifeboat with them
in case the ship was torpedoed
Each day they unpacked, reassem-
bled articles and repacked again
This bag was quite the center of
attention in that cabin. Then when
| the alarm was given out that night
and the girls were faced with the
possibility of leaving ship they de-
cided the bag was nuisance and
they would just leave it behind.
Aware of Constant Danger.
The next day life went on as
usual, but our seventh sense told
us danger was with us the rest
of the way. Nights of restful sleep
we're over and We had yet two weeks
to go. We organized a pingpong
tournament and shuf1eboard meet
as an improvised outlet for appre-
hension. 1t was really surprising
how much it helped. However, We
were constantly aware that we were
now sailing in the danger zone.
The next night was very rough.
This concerned me a great deal. I
knew a lifeboat could never be
launched in such storm. I spoke
to one of the officers about this and
he consoled me some by saying
that submarines could not work
during storms. I hoped he was
right. went to sleep some time
after 2;30 am. About 4;30 am. I
heard the sirens blowing. jumped
out of bed, put on my robe and
slippers and ran out on deck in
my hair curriers'. I was relieved
when I saw that we were in fog
and nothing else was wrong.
Lost Feathers and Peanuts.
had a regular engagement each
evening with one of the officers
when he came of watch. We usually
drank sherry and ate peanuts
during the evening. His supply of
peanuts was fast disappearing. One
Of those last evenings on the boat
we decided to save "a peanuts for
the last night out. Although we
were hungry for peanuts, after that
agreement we didn't cheat. If the
door to his closet did not come open
they are still in there with a box
of caramels and q box of chocolates.
We were constantly talking among
ourselves about taking to the boats.
I don't think any one really Wis