The daily monitor. (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1940-1942, 1942-01-10
Allan


over.
| As the warship dippet
quickly and deeply into tn,
sea on the port side caugh,
hold of the starboard deck rail
dropped my tin helmet, bomb
anti-flash gear and raincoat and
with one hand uncrewed the
nozzle on the lifebelt hose
around my neck.
SHIP FLOPS OVER
! blew into it with all the
breath / could summon, inflat-
ing it just as the cruiser Topped
completely over on her portside
From that moment I went
through the most dangerous and
agonizing experience of my life,
The sharp heeling over OF
the ship flung me sliding down
the starboard side into the sea.
Hundreds of officers and sea.
men plunged into the water
along with me.
Anderson had reached the
starboard railing little to the
right of me when the cruiser
was hurled over.
l heard him shout something
to an officer as I slid into the
sea. I never saw him again.
CA Cairo dispatch on Dec. Ia
announced that Anderson, who
had been through the bombing
of the illustrious with Allen
last January, had been killed
at sea-
could not swim, and was
fearful lest the pressure Of q
deep submersion collapse tn c
old lifebelt which I had retrlev.
ed after the bombing of the ill
ustrious just one year ago to-
day (Jan. 10Y.
AS I slipped under the water
the cruiser disappeared with .
tremendous suction, leaving a
huge lake of oil on the e a.
There was one muffled blast as
she took her death plunge.
I swallowed large quantities
of oily scum and water before
I bobbed the surface. The wa
ter all around was dotted with
the heads of hundreds of sailors.
DRAGGED UNDER
Several sailors had succeed
ed in getting off small motor
oat. Trying to splash toward 1t.
I went under again. My lungs
felt as if they were bursting,
but I came up and sai Tor
helped me aboard the boat.
But a score of others had the
same idea. The boats stern sec
ton rapidly filled with water
as the weight of more and more
men pushed it down.
Finally the motorboat tipped
over, hurting us all into the sea.
l managed to reach the boat
and pull myself into the front
cockpit again. Then the boat
sank.
With a lone sailor I hung to
the tip-most point of the bow
until it slipped beneath the
waves. / even hung on until
it pulled me under and got an
other large dose of oil and wat
err.
4 strained every muscle to
force my head above the sur
face.
From beneath the waves pair
of hands reached up and paved
at my shoulders, then slipped
away.
CLUNG TO SPAR
I collided with small float
ing spar. Desperately l tried
and succeeded in tucking it un-
der my left arm, still carefully
holding up the lifebelt with my
right.
l joined with scores of others
in crying for help, hoping in the
pitch darkness to attract the at
tention of the destroyers. No
one had flashlight, SO it was
difficult for the rescue ships to
find us.
At that moment l saw huge
black silhouette of destroyer
about rs yards ahead.
Help, I'm. drowning" gasp
cd sailor in the water near me-
Keep going" l called weak
ly. Look, there's a destroyer
ahead"
That seemed to give him new
energy. He swan toward the
destroyer. / tried, too, but
couldn't get closer.
The waves seemed TO carry me
farther away as l screamed for
help.
A big wave swampcd me
again with a mouthful of oil
Then, as il miraculously, anoth-
er wave pushed me forward al
most directly under the pro-
pellers of the destroyer Crit
fen.
GRABS LIFELINE
called for help until my
throat felt burned out. Sudden
ly long, oily rope was flung
over the side. | crashed il. but