TRANSPORT SAVED BY A SOLDIER
TOOK THE WHEEL' WHILE SHIP WAS BEING SHELLED. Here is the story of the j)lucky and ■resourceful action of a Lincolnshire trooper, who took a jirominent part in the saving of a transport vessel which was attacked by an enemy submarine. When the transport conveying the Lincolnshire Yeomanry was attacked in the Mediterranean on November 3, a shell swept part of the bridge away, taking with it the steersman. Trooper Edwin Thompson, of Horncastle, rushed forward and took charge of the wheel, although ho had never been on -board a ship before this voyage. lie did not know now to steer, but tho captain, though unable to give verbal instructions, made signals with his arm indicating which way the wheel was to be turned throughout shelling, which lasted for over ail hour. Thompson stuck to his post, though the shells were bursting near him, and it was duo in great measure to his courage that the lives of those on board wero saved. Before the war he was a groom in the service of tho Hon. R. P. Stanhope, at Rcvesby Abbey, Lincolnshire.. His parents, who live at Horncastle, have received tlie following letter from his officer,JCaptain R. Wright: "Your son, ll'y taking the wheel under the orders of (.he captain of the ship, and steering during the greater part of the time that we were being shelled, did a great deal 'towards saving all our Jives. It was a performance of which anyone miglit be proud."
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Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2693, 12 February 1916, Page 13
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252TRANSPORT SAVED BY A SOLDIER Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2693, 12 February 1916, Page 13
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