Evening star., 1944-03-17


Dave Boffey, stretching his 6-foot
7-inch frame in an easy chair in
the Washington home of his buddy
Manning (TimD Clagett.
Mr.. Clagett, untangling his l.
year-old daughters fingers from his
beard, nodded agreement and they
began the story of two former Star
reporters, turned able bodied sea-
men, adrift in lifeboat in the
Arabian Sea.
1--WE got it at 4 o'clock in the
morning" began Mr.. Boffey.
They had almost been expecting
it, they admitted. The previous
day, Third Mate John Hartman had
been taken off the ship for an emer-
gency appendectomy. On four other
occasions, the ships he left were
sunk Immediately afterwards.
When the torpedo struck, Mr.
Clagett ran on deck in his shorts
He'd prepared clothing for just such
an emergency but he couldn't fine
it. He grabbed two old shoes ane
somebody's raincoat and went ovel
the side in a lifeboat.
Goes Down Life Rope.
Mr. Boffey, on duty on the fyine
bridge, was busy carrying out the
shippers orders until the ship was
virtually abandoned. Then he went
down life rope.
There followed agonizing minutes
while the enemy submarine slowly
circled the area, flushing" the
stricken ship. The men in the life
boats could hear the muff1ed beat
of the Diesel engines and smell the
oil fumes.
Il thought of the stories I'd read
about Jap submarines shelling life
boats and I was plenty scared,
said Mr.. Boffey. For the rest of
that first day after the submarine
went away, most of us were busy
being sick. I've heard that's a
nervous reaction.
The first night was sort of an
adventure We spent most of the
night seeing how comfortable we
could make ourselves. They
stretched the oars lengthwise of the
boat and put the life jackets on
top of them. Then the men put
their heads on one gunwale and
their feet on the other. If you're
a Singer midget it works out fine
l sat up all night leaning against
the mast"
Sail Was Intellectual.
The men had rigged a sail, Mr..
Clagett explained, but it wouldn t
allow more than 30 degrees tacking.
When they saw what they thought
was an island to port they started
rowing.
I'VE roWed our CUTS out for an
hour. 1t turned out to be acloud."
THE high lights of the mornings
and evenings were when we had
Water-tWo ounces in the morning
two ounces at night" Mr.. Boffey
said.
But on the second day, the chief
engineer caught a four-fo shark
The waters were full of them. The
chief cook happened to be in the
Boffey-Clagett Ifeboat so they ate
baked shark-cooking the meat in
a pail with the waterproof, waxed
paper from around the blankets for
fuel.
The shark meat was delicious"
reminisced Mr.. Bofey. Mr.. Clagett
just WINGED and said he didn't like
eating minnowS raw, either.
Boys Used Pra5 er Books.
"The second night" continued
Mr.. Boffey, we began to wonder
just how long We would be in that
boat. 1t wasn't depression, but the
boys were making use of the three
prayer books in each boat"
L can understand how even close
friends become bitter enemies in
a lifeboat," one of the men said.
The tension is so great you resent
even the way another fellow lifts
his hand or turns his head"
The men remembered something
special about each day. The third
day was the "day of the plane on
the horizon 1t was a flying boat
on coastal patrol.
I'VE threw everything at them
smoke bombs. Very guns and rock
ets-but they didn't see u.s." Mr..
Claggett said.
On the fourth day, another fly
ing boat showed up in the distance.
Again, they shot off rockets and the
radio operator started sending mes
sages.
Message Gets Through.
"He tried four or five times to
get through to them and finally he
said, Steer southeast" I know it
sounds dramatic. but just at that
moment the radio went dead. 1t
was his last message. Then we saw
the plane coming our way. The
message had gotten through.
"An that day, the plane circled