ESCAPED FROM THE SEA

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2729, 25 March 1916, Page 12

ESCAPED FROM THE SEA

STORY OF A SURVIVOR OF THE PERSIA TOLD BY LORD MONTAGU ("Times". Special Correspondent.) Boauiieu, January 18. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu is back in England. Ho arrived at Southampton this morning, and from there drove to liis beautiul houic'm the New Forest. Ho is. slowly recovering from tho injuries and shock caused when the Persia was sunk in tho Mediterranean by a torpedo from an c-neniy submarine. Somo of the wounds about tho head and left shoulder :ire still painful, and it will be necessary for him to remain quietly at home until these are healed. Lord Montagu gave me this afternoon the full narrative of the sinking of the liner and his own terrible experiences during the 32 hours which passed before lie was rescued from tho sea. They vere'jlmurs during which lie saw many men die,'hours .without water or other food than a sea-soaked biscuit, hours in which hops of rescue faded and his mind turned to thoughts of how best an Englishman might die when there were lascars to watch his end. "I ain' really returned from the grave," he said to me in telling his 6tory. Swept Into the sea. The voyage of the PcVsia, I gathered, had been!>a very successful one up to ■the time'*:when she was torpedoed, and every one on hoard w : as very comfortable and happy. On tho day bofore tho disaster there was boat drill. All the passengers and the crow went to their appointed stations .and -all tho passengers had their lifebelts on., As the ship .was ..not; full there was. ample, accom- ■ modation in -the boats for every one. "About 1.10 p.m. on Thursday,. December 30," Lord Montagu said, "as we wore sitting down to luncheon there was a; terrible explosion just abaft the main saloon! This blew up part of the deck. The' smell of the exlosion at onco told me what had happened. Tjlie passengers, without any sign of panic or fear,' went to get their lifebelts, and then to their appointed stations. When I got'to the station allotted for No. 6 boat on the port aide I saw tho boats being lowered on that side, but as the ship had begun seriously to Jieel over I realised that it would not bo possible to get into them. I then, with great difficulty, climbed up the star-' board side, trying to pull with me my lady secretary, Miss Thornton, who happened to be near. Within three minutes of being struck the ship was oh hor beam ends. She began to sink rapidly by the stern, and I was swept off my feet by the rush of water along the promenade deck. The next moment I was overboard. The ship sank and I was sucked down a long way, striking my head and body against several pieces of wreckage. ' It seemed a very long time I came to the surface again, though I was conscious of rising very rapidly owing to the extreme buoyancy of my Giove waistcoat, which certainly. at that moment saved my life. "Just before the ship foundered there was the usual and inevitable uprush of steam and smoke from the engine-room and stokehold. Four minutes after 'being struck the Persia was below the waves. So far as I am a judge, I am convinced that the commander, the. olß■cers, and the crew did all that was possible to 1)6 done under tlie terrible circumstances, 1 • : /

'' ; An Broken Boat. ha rwoyercd my senses sufficiently; to look /around—for I was very much'out of breath at first owing to the shock of. the submersion—l saw the sea covered with struggling- human beings, but very little wreckage. So tar as I could, make out, there seemed to be only three undamaged boats afloat. I swam towards a signal locker 1 observed near by; but I found the ship s doctor clinging to this. Ho appeared'to be in a stunned! condition, and; his head apparently . was injured, tho looker would not support more than one person/so -I left it to the doctor and made towards a boat floating upside down about 50 yards away. A number of native seamen w : ere clinginnto.her, a larger number than the boat ■.was able to sup-oort. Eventually I managed to climb up and get astride °L el ''I l }' 1 on the extreme end ■ Position I saw a boat only half-filled a short distance from ! lls > j I shouted to them to come and help us, but they rowed- away. As trantic cries for help ivero rising up fiom all sides I make no coiiiplaint about their not heeding my call. Albout an hour after tho disaster there were left on our upturned boat six Europeans and aibout a score of tho native crow. The others had dropped oft as thoy became too weak to hold on. At this time the boat was suddenly righted by a big wave, and with great difficulty we scrambled into her. I then discovered that not only had she a large hole in tho bottom, but that her ; bows were split open as well. She was in a, state: of extreme instability, for some of the air tanks, which showed me that she was one of tlie lifeboats, were smashed and others were perforated. The smallest weight 011 the starboard, side tended to capsize her again. This, indeed, happened many times before p we wero picked up, and added very greatly to our. sufferings. "By sunset most of us were sitting up to our knees in water. When the sun went down on the first day tliero remained of the original party in tho boat 13 native seamen and firemen, two Goanese stewards, an English steward named Martin, ,an Italian second-class passenger, Mr. Alexander Clark (a Scottish second-class passenger), audi myself. If it had not been for Mr. Clark and Martin, the steward, who more than once helped mo to climb back into the boat when she capsizedj should have had little, chance ~ of' survival. Though' thero was not much wind, there was a considerable swell, yearly all tho time the sea was breaking over lis. > ' 15.

> Vain Calls for Kelp, ■''Before the night was half gone several nioro natives died from exhaustion, and as tho bodies wero washed about ill tho boat we madfe efforts to throw thorn overboard. Tho night seemed inteianinable. About 8 p.m. a steamer, '.with her saloon lights all showing, passed about one milo to tho southward. I think sho must have been a neutral boat. We tried to attract her attention by shouting, and the other ship's boat to the eastward burnt two rod Hares; but no notice was taken, a submariuo ruso probably being suspected. "Atdawu next morning there were only 11 all told loft in the boat. About three hours after sunrise. wo saw a two-funnolled and two-inaste<J steamer away to tho southward l , and our hopes were again raised. We hoisted a piece of torn nag on the one oar left in the boat, and tho othir ship's boat which soemed to to floating high and well, also signalled. Tho ship, however passed, : westward hound, about three miles away. For the rest of the day we saw nothing. One of the nativo crow, about jioon, managed to get a tin of biscuits from the locker in the boat under the thwarts, and wo ate a little of this, though it was spoiled by salt water. Wc had then been nearly 30 hours without food or water. I myself had had nothing but a cup of tea and a biscuit since dinner on tho 29th. I felt the heat of the sun a good deal, as I had only a small khaki scarf for protection.

"At sunset on Friday wo lind practically given np all hope of being saved, I.said to,my Scottish frieud that'it was fcka last sunset we should. 1 ever sac, aud

he answered, 'Yes, I'm afraid our number's up. I found it a great struggle to keep awake. 'l'Jie tendency to drowsiness was almost irresistible, but to fall asleep would have meant the end. We capsized once more about 7 p.m., through the Italian turning lightheaded. He had yielded to the temptation to drink salt •water. In this accident wo lost the tin of biscuits and the red flares we had hoped to use during tlie night. Tho Rescue. "Then, about 8 o'clock, we saw tho masthead lights of a stoamer far away to tlie estward. At first I thought it was only a rising star, for there was very clear visibility that evening. Presently I could discern her side lights, which suggested that she was coming pretty nearly straight for us. When sho got closer we started shouting in unison. I led tho men by calling 'One, two, three—shout!' When the ship was half a mile away she ported her holm, stopped -her engines, and appeared to bo listening. We know then that like other ships she expected a ruse and daro not approach until sho had made further investigations. After some time she came nearer and we heard a shout : from lier bridge. Then her steam 1 whistle was blown. I dared to hope, | though hope had almost died within us. We tried to explain, that we were helpless and had no means of getting alongside. Eventually tho captain of this ship—Captain Allen—which proved to be the Alfred Holt steamer Ning Chow, bound from China to London, very cleverly manoeuvred her alongside our wreckage. _ We were by this time like a cracked eggshell. Bow' lines were passed round us by a plucky Kussian and an English quartermaster, and were wera evontually hoisted on board. The captain and his officers did all they could for us.

I should like to mention that it was Mr. Allan Maclean—a Maclean of Duart. Isle of Mull—the third officer of the ship, who was the officer of the watch at the time, and who first ap* pears to have sheard our cries. His alertness and keen sense of hearing were our salvation. ,1 consider that it was a very courageous tiling for the captain to stop for us, as ho and his officers knew the.y were in the danger zone arid ran the risk of being torpedoed themselves while they were helping us. Once on board we began slowly to recover from the exposure and our injuries. We arrived at Malta at dawn -on January 3. The prospect of Death. "I have been asked by many people low long I could have Held on to the boat. That I could not say, but I had made up my mind quite iirmly as to how I would* die. I was not going to be slowly drowned and battered to death by the waves, as'a dozen or 15 men had' died close to me in the boat. I also wanted to show the natives in the boat how a 'sahib' Would; die in these circumstances. I had determined, therefore, when I knew tlie end wa6 certain, to let the air out of my Gieve waistcoat and to slip quietly overboard and drown.

"I would rather not speak about the thoughts which occur to one when facmg death in this way for a long period, but they naturally centred around home and friends. Perhaps I may say that my. knowledge of seamanship and boats and my love of the sea helped mo greatly, and I think I can assert that never through the whole of tho period, from tho blowing up of the ship until the present moment, has niy nerve been in "the least affected. _• AVhen one comes •to think of the circumstances, however, I hold that our'■-being saved at all was a miracle, just as much a miracle as many of those of olden times. We ivere fast approaching the final stage of exhaustion, and the chances of any vessel in the wide Mediterranean passing over a spot so close -to 'us were infinitesimal." ■ In conclusion, Lord Montagu again expressed the opinion that everything possible was done by the commander, officers, and crew of the ship, and that so far as he could see tho ship was in every way well found and the boats in good order and condition up to the time that the vessel was hit.