MARQUETTE DISASTER

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2748, 17 April 1916, Page 6

MARQUETTE DISASTER

BRAVERY. BUT NO MELODRAMA

NURSES AND FIGHTING MEN

: ; Various accounts of the Marquette •disaster have reached New Zealand, and in more than ono of them a. state- ■ raent has beon made that nurses refused to leave the ship until the lighting , men had gone. These stories have not ; the-.merit of truth, whatever other merits they have had, and Lieut.-Col-onel M'Gavin, Commanding No. 1 Now [ Zealand Stationary Hospital, has writ- • ton to the Defence Minister to contradict them. Following is the text of Colonel M'Gavin's letter:— Salonika, January 31, 1915. The Hon. James Allen, Minister of Defence, 'Wellington, New Zealand. .Sir;—l "'hare the honour to enclose a cutting from tho "Evening Post" of November 24, 1915, and also a leading article from the same paper, which appears a fair comment on tho facts stated in the cutting. The cutting purports to be a statement of a nurso of the Now' Zealand Nursing Service attached to No. 1 Stationary Hospital, who was on H.M.T.S., Marquette when she was torpedoed and sunk in the Gulf of Salonika on October 23, 1915. Tho person making the statement does not sign his (or her) name, and does .not more particularly disclose his (or her) identity.' This '.. statement has been published ako in other New Zealand papers, .and apparently been given a good deal of prominence. The statement is inaccurate in ' several details, but the ono which I am chiefly concerned to refute is the following:— , "The nurses . . . refused to go to the boats until most of the soldiers had been saved. The nurses stayed on the decks cheering the 'Tommies', until only a few of the men remained to help the women/into the boats." The implication that the men neglected the' nurses and permitted them to remain on .the ship while endeavouring to save> themselves is in direct opposition of-th'e facts.'Many men imperilled, and some' possibly aotually lost, their lives in gallant .attempts to assist the nurjses; -This'statement has naturally caused no -little : indignation amongst the members of my company. The nurses' did hot refuse, to go-to'the boats. Had they done 50,.. they would, have been placed -in the boats by force. They did-no't.'cheer';.the "Tommies." . I myself.'saw'that; all the nurses were clear of the-'ship, and Jhen signalled to tho Men; of, my> company who were standing aV(.th'eJE/alarnY: 'posts on the forward miring deck;.to'-'come aft<iri the hope that they/ # might:.be able to get into the reuiainihg.boats'; /'■ I then went .down* to the'/hospital "cabins; two decks below, to asoertain that the patients had beon brought up, and that my men posted there : had come on deck. This must have occupied some four or live minutes', t as the great list to port and the downward inclination of the head of the ship, which dived-a few minutes later, rendered descent and ascent of the companionways difficult and slower than . usual. The nurses were, therefore, all off the vessel some little while before she sank.,

In' tHe following particulars also the statement^is incorrect: The periscope was not sighted before the vessel was struck by the torpedo. Those in tho ..water were not piclted up by a hospital s,hip, but-Tjy a British mine-sweeper and a Frencli T.B.D.

In my adiniratiou of the courage and discipline,of tho nurses on this occasion I give way to no one. They fell, in .on their alarm posts rapidly, and put on their -lifebelts''with the assistance, in many'cases,..'oL'several of my officers. They remained quito quiet and calm, and did not cry out. . When told to go to the boats they did so at once and in a perfectly orderly manner. Exactly iii the degree,to which they exhibited this excellent discipline did they assist the rapid evaouation of the ship. I feel_ compelled to make this communication in the interests of the officers' and O:Pv. of my unit, but If eel "confident that it will meet with the approval of those remaining twenty-fivo nursqs, who will properly feel that the calmness and - discipline they showed were of the greatest value in facilitating- the clearing-of the ship, whereas the undisciplined and theatrical exhibit tion alleged in this statement could only have resulted in obstructing this w,ork,'and would, as I have already suggested,, have, necessitated such prompt and forcible suppression as the urgency of our case demanded.

._ I make this communication for your information, and such action, if any, 'as you' may- consider expedient.—' (Signed) DONALD M'GAVIN, ■ Lieut.-Colonel. . 0.0. No. 1. N.Z. Stationary Hospital. ANOTHER ACCOUNT INDIGNATION OF MALE STJRr : v •■.;'■ = VIVOES. Itoferenco to tie Marquette disaster sis made in the "Massoydonian Stretcher" (the official monthly journal of the No. 1 New Zealand Stationary Hospital]), a copy of the first numher of which has just come to hand.. The journal, under the heading of "The Torpedoing.of HiM.T.S. Marquette," gives an account of; the disaster, which differs very materially from the details cabled at the time. After describing how a "terrific explosion followed the torpedoing of the vessel, the narrative describes ' how every one calmly but quickly foil m nt the respective posts allotted, whore lifebelts' were put ;on. The article adds: "The nurses wero next lowered into the boats under tho supervision of those officers detailed for duty. - Shortly after this was carried out. the command camo 'Every man for himself.' Our hoys were paraded witli tbeir, officers on the forward deck, and as no boats were available, immediately swam off in all directions. Some could not swim and simply threw themselves into '■' the water) which was then, hall awash on the parade deck. The commanding officers stuck to their posts bravely, sotting a splendid example, and worts among the last to leave the ship. . . . The most unfortunate and saddest part of tho disaster .was that so many, nurses should have been lost. This was duo to. the faulty lowering of the boats. The boats were lowered in ample time, and had this work been carried out properly they would have been safely clear of tho ship for a considerable distance before the vessel actually sank." Referring editorially to the disaster, the journal says: —"The first reports that reached New Zealand were incorrect in many details. 'We particularly refer to a Pres3 Association' messago from London which appeared in tho principal New. Zealand newspapers. This' was purported to be the statement of a nurse who had been on tho Marquette, but contained so many inaccuracies that it is really hard to bclievo it referred to the Marquette disaster at all. Among its many other inaccuracies this report stated that tho' nurses refused to go to tho boats and actually stood by and cheered tho men while they did so, saying 'Fighting men first.' Poems have been written on this supposed extraordinary achievement, much to the indignation of tho male' survivors of our own and the B.F.A. units. . . . When the disaster occmred all fell in at their respective positions under tho orders of Colonel Cleve. The nurses bore up quite bravely, and before any of the men were thought'of were hurried into the boats without a murmur. Tlio statement that •thoy stood and cheered while the men got into tho boats U absolutely untrue.' 1 . For Children's Hacking Cough, Woods' Great P«ui>eraint Cure.*