TORPEDOED FOUR TIMES

Taihape Daily Times, 20 March 1919, Page 3

TORPEDOED FOUR TIMES

'AN ENGINEERS' EXPERIENCE

Some astounding stories of encounters with submarines have been related by survivors, but there have been few more thrilling experiences than those of Gordon King, fourth engineer, who arrived at Freemantlc recently. King, who is barely out of his teens. has been torpedoed on four different occasions. "My first steamer," he said,- "was the Queenswood, and on the first trip from Barry to Rouen, a submarine commenced shelling us, her first shot carrying away the steering gear and the second killing three apprentices and a fireman. We took to the boats. In one there were fifteen of us, and when the Germans sighted another British vessel, which opened fire on them, they took our boat and made it fast to the forepart of the submarine. They used us as a screen. When the British got range the submarine dived, and we would have been carried down only one of our men cut the r.ope.

"A little later the submarine reappeared, and a German officer came into our boat, covering us with a revolver He had bombs with him, and ordered us to pull back to the Queenswood. Just as we were pulling back, however, we noticed three destroyers approaching, aud the German officer hastily rejoined his submarine. The destroyers dropped depth charges, but we never knew the result.'

Then King joined the Goodwood, which was torpedoed a "few hours after leaving Swansea.

A few jnonths later he joined the Troubridgej After meeting with a collision in the Channel and other mishaps, the vessel sailed for Gibraltar in charge of an American convoy, and when off Spain a torpedo struck her coal bunkers, a tremendous explosion resulting. Girabing an overcoat, King jumped into a lifeboat, and as he was being pushed off the ship, which caught fire, listed heavily, and almost dragged the boat out of the water, rendering it necessary to- slash the ropes with an axe.

The men were rowing about a mile in the direction of a lighthouse when a submarine appeared and took the boat in tow r . The captain was politely questioned by the commander of the submarine, and after a few minutes the boat was allowed to proceed. Subsequently joining the transport Harlseywood, King made two trips to Spain. When off the Corinth coast the ship was torpedoed. While the boats were being lowered the crew noticed about half a mile away two other ships which had been torpedoed. It was afterwards learned that on both vessels all the hands had been lost. Seeing that their own ship was remaining afloat, the crew ,of the Hailseywood pulled back and succeeded in beaching her in a sinking condition. The ship w T as ultimately got off the beach, and was being towed towards the Bristol Channel, when it began to sink It was again abandoned, but as the tugs still continued to cling tenaciously to it, several of the crew, including King, returned and managed to run her ashore, and for nearly three weeks these indomitable sailors lived in the upper cabins of a partly submerged vessel.