ANOTHER LINER TORPEDOED.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1443, 7 September 1915, Page 2

ANOTHER LINER TORPEDOED.

PASSKNGKRS AND CREW SAVED. London, Sept. 5. The Allan liner Hesperian (10,920 tons) was torpedoed near Fastnet, off the south-west coast ot Cork. She is still afloat. She was on her way from Liverpool to Montreal, and was torpedoed at 5,;,0 o’clock on Saturday night. It is now believed that the Hesperian earned 30 first-class passengers, Ix 7 second class, and 200 steerage. The steamer is being towed to Queenstown, twenty of the crew remaining aboard. The Hesperian was torpedoed, without warning, near the bows. Her two lorward holds are lull of water. An explosion injured twenty passengers and a number of the crew. The Hesperian was travelling at sixteen knots when struck. Captain Maine sent out the wireless S.O.S. signal, and fired rockets. Three warships responded, lowering boats in the darkness with difficulty. The sea was glass-like, othervyise the loss of life would have been appalling. An elderlylady was picked up dead from shock. While awaiting rescue, the passengers were in the best of spirits. Some sang “Tipperary,” and others “Lead, Kindly Light.” The first warship arrived at 9.30, and took the survivors from the lifeboats, including twelve Canadian officers and thirty-eight wounded soldiers. The American Consul has not traced any United States passengers, though some of the crew were American. The submarine was within two hundred yards when she launched the missile, and missed the engineroom by twenty feet.