LINER HESPERIAN

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2577, 27 September 1915, Page 6

LINER HESPERIAN

VESSEL WAS SUBMARINED

STATEMENT-BY,AN EYE-WITNESS. By TcJ^grapl—Piesa Association-Copyright -■ Neii York, Sapteniber 24. < Captain Smellie, ! of "the cargo .steamer Crossby,-saw tho! steamer. Hesperian torpedoed. ■ Thinkingosbo had ■ been. mined, : hei ' .when'itne; Crossby-'changed; ■ A her courso a sub ' luawne .-"xosa ,■ and approached.- _.ine. ■ Crossby-wenfc off-at full speed andzig- : -'.gat'ged.- The ;: her-lor-.hours,' but' she escaped in the darkness. Captain , Smellie, of the British ' stc-aiuer Cro3sby, has filed with tlio Brit- - ''MConsul? ?; the: effect i' - that he--^tiipsße3.''.tii®' : -SJl l ?^®S-®, , ■Allan liner Hesperian-by a. torpedo hred •hy a German submarine. . He says tlie - submarine ohascd tlio Crossbyj* and only■by putting on:.fiill r steam and steering v - u zigzag-course in'the darkness was the. i-te&mer ablo to escape. , Tho statement .will he sent to' the Admiralty rto refute ■tho 'claim made from Beilm that .the Hesperian .was sunk: by a floating mine. Captain Smellie states that ho signtcd the' . Hesperian on, September .4,. saw j lor give; a sudden : jerk,..andstart_-.to . ' oink-uy the hea-d. . 'He 'started to_ her : resistances liut'had boa.t round :ivhea he discovered; a submarine ,' '. uiaking for. him,and < lie was forced /to • "tiim his vessol round. .Ho raiig ior tun -. speed, and kept the Crossbyj. stern to■'i Awards - the submarine.The - Crossby •'escaped'in'.the-darkness; V; ' •• - ... • [Tho ■ Allan ImerHesperian,*, 10,DAI. tons, was proceeduig from Liverpool to ' : .Montreal when sKo 'Was.;iorpedoed''on Saturday night,: September 4'(near Fastnet, off-the south-west coast ot Cork). , She kept aßoat for some time, and then I foundered. '- It- was: stated in the cablo mcssago that- sho was struck near the bows. The submarine v.as reported to :' been'-withiii _200. yards;whai. she;] 'launched': the-; missile'. A Berlin, semi-. ' official , message, published on September ': ■ .15, stated :fhat. it v/as. practically; -lm- '.. .possible i that- a German submarine"..was | responsible, for- the-damage; to'the: Hes--iperian. ; According: to the German war. " mlans no submarine 'wasin that locality 'on-September ; 4;' moreover tho'Bhip was hit close'tb the stern, 'and the inference ' / js that the explosion. was'/du'e to\a, mine and not to a torpedo.]