GRAPHIC STORY OF THE SUSSEX CRIME

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2773, 17 May 1916, Page 6

GRAPHIC STORY OF THE SUSSEX CRIME

PATHETIC AND TERRIBLE SCENES

-'■ FACING DEATH FOR NINE \.. >:;£■; W-'.V;-;; HOURS .-.. ; 'ißy; One. of. the Survivors, in tho Mel- '■■■ Ky~'.}\ '■-:'■. D °urne"Age") ■■ •.';:%. 'George' M'lver, of Kcnrpiield Station, near Careoar, New South Wales, who , .was<a passenger bj'thc.'Sussex when she :. '.'.was->torpedoed. in.the English Channel, .-. ' arr !. v «l in Melbourne" last .week by the VjJ.%ley-'rHe'describes'the tragedy in ,:,th»-following'statement:—. , many more Australians, I was- • .b-ei- .travelling by. the war, and, having ,iv.ade.a visit to England in the depths cf winter,.was on my. way to catch the . luail-boat to Australia at Naples, when •' P a t >wiul tragedy occurred which prouabjy has few parallels even on tho battle- . -;;.ueld. We left Foikesone at a quarter past 1 the afternoon of March 24 iu tho s.s. Sussex, on our way to Dieppe. Ua- ■ Uer ordinary conditions the journey takes ,Uve hours. Tho Sussex was a French ■•;.,', Khijvflyihg-the French flag, and for some .> lm e*past.:.has.beeii used as a passenger : .-.."'lP::Plying between Folkestone and " 'Though old, she was a fairly .-,._:tast;steamer, of 1353 tons displacement.. : :--j¥° :had.3SG passengers on board, and a V-.srew, of .about'so-total about 480. The ~ ;..,Bhip.was certainly overcrowded. Of the about 70 per cent, wero foreigners, chiefly French and Italians, and ; the balance; English (including a few Aus- '.. 4fftji ans ) ■ *&& Americans. There was an .'.■ltalian operatic company on board, and I -^*J?^ 6 '.been recently advised that the prima- '_,; uonna - and her mother were drowned. :,/After'.leaving Folkestone, there were --Ships. — men-of-war, torpedo- destroyers, . and sailing vessels—on every side. For some time I stayed on deck, : : ;-:; t Wne'. the ship's speed from the indicathe log. ; The Blow. ■•''■''.■ ~.:.,"As the-wind was bittoily, cold, I went "•■ivML the second .deck. to read my 'news...,]>aper, I had only just commenced to ;;,,*ead : an article on the' fair of Von Tirpitz, when there was a tremendous explo. bion. I was sitting, on the port side. :When the ship was struck 1 knew at ... pjicewhat-had.happened. I was thrown ■ .-OTdently forward against. a bench, but ; was not in the least hurt, and, on. lookring round, saw through the port-hole a : -.. ilorumn of water ascending. This column r fell on the upper deck, drenching the \.i .'.passengers, :but ■ I don't think anyone was washed overboard, as some seemed •■I -$Pi.surmise, excepting, of course," those -.'.^1 1 . 0 .: were carried away with-the foreV;.part of the ship by the. explosion. The Bhip was struck with terrific force, the ■fore-part being suddenly raised, and I ..."fcnew that. she had been, pierced. We to' the upper deck, each picking ..: a.life-belt from a spar close by as we „ ; went along. On reaching tho top we were . confronted with a tearful scene. > The . ;Vhole fore-part of the vessel, including - the foremast and wireless; was blown, or .rather cut, away. Men and women hurried astern, with faces, heads, and bodies covered with blood, and groaning in their ,-,Rgony. Women and children were crying '"and'shrieking, and men were on tho verge or collapse. -A panic in an aggravated form at once set in', and men the'boats. Tho. deck was crowd,'i..ed,.and there was a stampede to and fro. ~,The still heaved violently from the shock. She seemed to be sinking, and cveryono expected that all would be.over .t* 1 !! a,few minutes. : Men and women jumped overboard, some of them'even without . life-belts.. Others went-mad, and many wounded. As.l did not once loso vW. presence of- mind, and made no at-' ; tempt'to get into any of the boats, I was • enabled to see from the dook almost the Whole of what happened. ■' ;.:._ "I stuck .to the wreck. On look- ; ■ lng over the starboard . side I saw the'first boat lowered hanging perpendicularly, bows downward, and men and •women struggling in the water, some . holding on to the ropes. The second boat ..ul» capsized, throwing its occupants into '- -tneV water. "I counted seven-men astride von this boat, floating keel upwards. The --■men.afterwards got into the water, righted got into it,' and rescued a few '-of-the swimmers. - In the meantime a —number of those in the water had disappeared. A little distance from the ship :-I;saw a woman'swimming strongly to--'-wards a floating board. She reached it, . and, pushing it before her, continued to Bwim towards Ihe upset boat. She was putting-forth ia tremendous effort for ;rher : life. ' A little distance behind her was a man, also a good swimmer.

Not Enough'. Boats. . :" ,v" I ,7 ent over to the. opposite-side to see the third boat being lowered, and on look, ing round;againneither of them was to be !f el was cv io-ent,. from the outset that,there were not enough boats even ..•had ; they been well managed, .to take linearly half of those on board. There ,-., were. only' five boats in all, one being fe m *!. 1 «' than the others. After some'de- .• Jay the third boat got. away without accident,.- but.- unfortunately-a woman lost vfcer-Jifo-in trying to.get into the fourth. :•• Olive.boats got clear of the ship, but one econ ~-returned in a sinking condition ;»wing-to -making- water faster than it .could be baled out. • The passengers were again taken on board. Another' came alongside half-filled with water. Some of the occupants shouted, 'We are sinking!' .. a.hey TwereTaken on board., Only two boats out of the five were seaworthy The great loss .of life took place during' the hist half-hour. ; Some of the wounded xere dying. Many were in a state of collapse, and those in the water were drowning without anyone being able to give assistance. As-1 saw them disappear I began:to wonder,; like -many others, how minutes would elapse before my ■' own turn came. ■ -.

>x, M' . tlle ? hlp was stru °k no one had the slightest hope that the wreck would ' *omain afloat. The sea was fairly calm; '; put anyone used to swimming knew well that no one could live long in the in- '.'" tejsely cold water. There was not a " smoke on the horizon. We were beyond ."V the line of the congested ships traffic in ;- the English Channel. Some little time before a British airship appeared on the horizon, and rapidly came to . within a ;, few miles of us, then swooped round and .turned back. She was. barely . out of ■ sight when we were struck.

■'■■ - The Groans of the Dying Ship. "The engines stopped at once, and the -. stenuivalve was opened to let the steam :•.- I never .heard a more distressing ' nerve-racking sound in my life-the groan of a dying ship, yet powerful even in its last throes. The whistle was also started • a. he sound produced was weird and melau- • choly. Something between a whistle aud a syren, but not loud enough to be heard ' nny distance. Both sounds painfully emphasised our helpless position. It must Jiot be supposed that all lost their headson the contrary, there were men and' \. women who remained quite cool the whole ; time, and did good work among . their _ distressed and wounded comrades. There 1 was plenty of lifebelts; but unfortunately' . the strings were too short to admit of ... their being tied in front by oneself. They . had to be fastened at the back, and this „ had to bo done by another person . After coming on deck I fastened a few,' and then asked one or two to „ fasten mine; but thoy were either . ; too much distressed or did not un- ,: 'derstand me. Most of the talk was in ..:- French. I then, went up to a foreign offl- . cer—a Belgian, I think. .He fastened my >. belt leisurely. I had previously noticed ... that he was quite calm. I asked him .; ihow ; long:did he think it would take the - ship to sink. He replied, "About an •'• lour."

* "In the meantime a small group had ■:■ gathered to have their lifebelts tied, and ' iwe both set to work. A young English ■ Military officer did good work. He .•• walked-up and down the deck assisting r the injured, and reassuring. the distressed. - I regret I do not know his name. I " asked him if there were many dead 'for- ' ward.' He replied, 'Yes! I have just '. come from there. There is a number '' r dead on the;floor; I did not count them ,- . but if you like I will take you to where '„ they, are." I told him that I was going .-.. below myself to see if the ship was makving water astern. On reaching the sec- . onddeck it was quite dry. The stair- „ case to .the third deck was much longer . i iand< fairly dark. I reached the bottom. :. There was no water. The panic had '-Jiow; subsided; and it was realised that

! if tlie sea kept smooth tho wreck n,vgtit float for several hours. The S.O.S. Call. 1 "The. wireless was restored sufficiently to get an "5.0.5." message out; but tho operator had apparently lost his'hea'd for be gave a.wrong position for the ship. About two hours after being torpedoed a sailing vessel was seen approaching. The wind was against her but she tacked ta within, two or three miies of us, then veered away, and was soon out of sight. They must have noticed that we were in distress and the wreckage in the water. The barometer of hope again went down. The deck gave evidence of the situation. Furs, handbags, parachutes, umbrellas, wats, jackets, books, and many other articles, most of them saturated with sea water, were being trampled under foot in the contusion. The sea was strewn with wreckage from the explosion, and everything movable on deck that would float was thrown overboard to help thosa in the water.

"The wind began to blow stronger, and darkness was closing on the awful scene without'the sign of a steamer on the horizon. While the sea remained calm wo felt fairly safe; but in the English Channel half an hour may make all the difference between a smooth and a rough sea. As the waves began to rise tho wreck 'began to heave and strain ominously, and no ono knew what might happen. When it became sufficiently dark rockets were sent up, and soon afterwards we noticed a light on the horizon. Onr hopes returned. Alter watching it- for some time it was seen to revolve. It proved to be a lighthouse on or near the French coast, and about 15 miles distant, the small boat with four or five of the crew was dispatched. with a message to it; but we knew that it would take at least four hours to reach it. We were again doomed to disappointment. Everyone- watched the horizon. A second li<dit , was discovered on the opposite side, and there was a buzz of cheefy hope. It proved to be a lightship, and hope again faded. Fortunately the eleotr.io light was not extinguished. A large number went down to the second deck to In out of the cold. For a time all was quiet. Many of tho women cither slept or swooned from exhaustion. A rumour went round that a third light had appeared. The ship was all life again in a moment. A couple of rockets, the last I think wo had, were sent up. This time wo noticed .tho green as well as the white light, and we knew that a ship was coming to our rescue. Sho, proved to be the Marie Therese, a French. mine-sweeper. Closo behind her were the lights of another boat—a British'torpedo destroyer. It was now 11 p.m.; and a* we had been struck at 20 minutes to 3. we fared death for nearly nine hours without knowing what tbt> next moment might bring. Gallant Rescue. The 6ea at this time was running high, and three times tho gallant little Marie Therese tried to come alongside, but without success. The fourth time sho succeeded. Our own WTeok was also rolling considerably, and both kept striking eaell other with a crash, and then parting. Hescue work was>at once commenced. Tho women were pushvd through an opening in. the. side, and caught by men at an opening in the Mario Therese whenever the vessels camo near enough. ' For. the men three or four ropes were fastened to the Tailing of the wreck, the other ends being held by men on the Marie Therese, whose deck was some 15ft. or 20ft. below tho railing of our deck. Each man climbed over the railing, got hold of the rope, and let himself slide down till his feet wern within roach of those on the deck below, when he was quickly dragged over the railing. It was fairly dangerous work. If a man lost. his nold of 'the rope and dropped, ho would bo sure to be crushed between the shifting vessels. When some two hundred were' transferred, tho captain of the destroyer, who came on board the wreck, auggested that the Marie Therese hod sufficient, and tha't he would take the remainder on board his ship to Dover. At half-past 11 p.m. the Marie Therese steamed in front of tho wreck, and then, for the first time, were were able to see the full extent of the damage done. The thick iron, plates forming the ship's sides were torn asunder and jagged as if they had been. cardboard. From the first it was Tunurared on beard that the captain had seen the wake of the torpedo, and slowed the ship. Several of the passengers also stated (tat they saw thp""con-ning-tower of the submarine before the torpedo was fired, also the line in its wake. I saw neither. s -

The exact number killed outright ly the explosion can never bo known. One passenger, who was standing in a good position to form an opinion, estimates the number at 30. A few minutes before the explosion the chiof engineer went "forward" to examine the bulkheads. He was not seen again. Amou" the killed was also Prince Bahrain of Persia. . The majority were drowned. The last account I saw placed the number missing at over 100. I saw four boats come back to the (ihip. There was also a large raft full of people. They drifted quito a long distance from the ship, and were quite helyless. I watcher!, them till darkness came on, but.do not know what liecamo of 1 them. After leaving the wreck, the Marie Therese beaded for Boulogne, which we reached at half-past 1 a.m., and at 20' minutes past •(. a.m. a special train left for Pari;, which wo reached at noon.