Evening star., 1942-02-26
Hamilton
Continued From First Paee.)

story Of the attack by an unseen
submarine from their beds in an
Army hospital somewhere in Ice
land. They we're:
1t. r. w. WEIGH of Mount Kisco,
N. Y, and 1t. Allen Smith of New
Smyrna Beach, Fla, and Ensigns
Sidney K. Broussard of Cottonport,
La; James B. Denny of Norfolk,
Va; r. A. KRISTEN Of New York
City, and Lawrence Bradley of Los
Angeles.
No one saw the submarine or tor
pedo. these men said, and there
was no warning Of, the shattering
blast which occurred beneath the
engine room and caused fiery live
steam from broken pipes to squirt
up throughout the midsection of the
vessel.
Most Of the injuries suffered by
the crew resulted from steam and
boiling water. On bed after bed
In the hospital today, I saw men ly-
ing motionless with their faces. arms
and feet mass of raw, ugly burns.
Men Ran TO Stations.
Ensign Broussard, who was acting
as officer Of the deck at the time.
said the explosion occurred on the
starboard side of the ship at lis
pm, shortly after the Hamilton had
cast of from Navy supply ship she
had been towing. The supply YES
sci had been disabled by engine
trouble.
Ensign Broussard, who was on the
port side. said: "All of the men ran
to their battle stations and manned
our guns. We fired two shots from
one gun to attract attention and
sent up flares into the air."
The Hamilton listed badly to
starboard. then sank deeper into
the sea. 1t remained afioat, how
ever. for many hours AS the wrecked
cutter was being towed into port,
she suddenly turned turtle.
A few gunshots from other ships
sent her to the bottom. Although
no one saw a sub nearby, the officers
I interviewed were certain the Ham,
ilton had been struck by a torpedo.
Had it been a mine the vessel hit.
they explained, the blast would have
occurred outside-not inside-the
ship {
Destroyer Saves 101 Men.
There were Is men in the engine
room. The officers said they did
not know how many, If any, of these
men escaped. The blast destroyed
or carried away three of the Ham
ilton's seven lifeboats, so the un-
injured men remained on the ship
some as long as an hour-while the
injured were removed in the boats
One hundred and one men were
taken of by an American destroyer.
which pulled alongside the crippled
Hamilton. This destroyer was one
of two only q few miles away.
'The group I was with was in q
lifeboat only a half hour before we
were picked up by an Icelandic fish,
ing trawler," 1t. Welch related.
Right after we left the cutter we
picked up II men, two of them in
jured badly, out Of the water. And
boy, was that water cold. These
men had been dumped into the sea
when their lifeboat capsized in the
rough sea. The waves were pretty
high.
When we reached shore-we
thought we never would-aboutt 40
Of us were taken to a native Ice
lander's home where we were given
dry clothing, food and first-aid
treatment.
Later we learned our host was
the leading, wealthiest citizen of the
little fishing village to which we
were taken"
Other groups OF survivors taken
to homes Of native fishermen, the
officers said. received similar excel
lent treatment.
Ensign Broussard and Ensign
Bradley said another native fishing
trawler towed their nfeboat to shore.
They were unable to transfer seven
badly injured men into the trawler
because of the wild sea.
Eighty-four men were taken to
the hospital Immediately. All but
the more severely injured were to
be released in q day or so.
Lt.' WEIGH said Seaman Howard
Wolfe Of Wisconsin Cholne town un-
identified) and four other men were
trapped In q closed and darkened
companionway. AL were badly