On the Sea

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 53, 19 October 1914, Page 5

On the Sea

THE HAWKE DISASTER. 200 ON A RAFT. ENEMY’S TRAWLER USED AS A DECOY. NO TIME TO LAUNCH BOATS. HUNDREDS STRUGGLING IN THE SEA. London,'October 16. The Hawk tsank in five minutes. The survivors', who escaped in one boat, were picked up by a Norwegian steamer and transferred, to a trawler. When war broke out, the Hawke was a sea-training vessel for boys. Most of the crew were very young, and included eight cadets who had only left Dartmouth College in August.

The skipper of the trawler Bensinness ' states that the torpedo struck the Hawke aft of the engine-room at eleven o’clock in the morning. There was only time to launch one or two boats before the vessel turned turtle.

The rescued men, who had been adrift for five hours in ah open boat, told him that they saw hundreds of men struggling in the water, wearing cork jackets, and hanging on to floats and rafts. They could do nothing, as their boat was packed. Other survivors state that the Hawke sighted a foreign trawler. In accordance with instructions, the Hawk approached, with a view to examining the ship. As she neared the trawler an explosion occurred, and the periscope, of a submarine showed above the water. The explosion was so terrible that maimed men were blown into the air, plates twisted, and a gap tom in the side of the Hawke, which canted to starboard with alarming rapidity. The crew attempted to man the guns, but owing to the list it was impossible to train them on the submarine. The Hawk was splendidly equipped with life-saving appaiatus, but it was impossible to get out the boats. About 200 of the crew got away on a ready-made raft. Their fate is unknown, but a steam pinnace, densely packed, was seen tq sink.

Dr. J, H. D. Watson, surgeon on the Hawke, a well-known international, is missing.

STORIES OF SURVIVORS.

London, October 18. Survivors of the Hawke state that the torpedo must have struck the magazine. The fittings were sent flying. The explosion crumpled up the two decks. The Hawke heeled on to her' beam ends, and lowering rafts from the bows was almost impossible, most of them being holed as they swung overboard. The skipper " 11 " on the bridge when the ship was struck. His orders were promptly obeyed, and there was no sign of confusion. It was bitterly cold. After the disaster the periscope of the submarine was again seen, indicating that the Germans were on the lookout for any cruisers coming to the Hawke’s assistance. Rafts freed from the ship gradually drifted apart. A survivor from the engine-room says : “The explosion sent us flying. One cylinder was wrecked, the steam escaping in scalding clouds. The bugles sounded the summons, ‘Everyone remain at his post.’ and the order to abandon the ship quickly followed.”