TORPEDOED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 246, 26 March 1915, Page 6

TORPEDOED.

FATE OF THE TOKOMARU.

SUNK WITHOUT WARNING.

"Our ship'was torpedoed without any warning whatever, and, bo far as- ~.tl»g„ captain and crew of the German submarine knew or cared we might all have been drowned."

<** This was the statement of a mcmher of the crew of the Tokomaru to a London interviewer recently. John Johnston, the ship's carpenter, described the experience. "We were just going into Havre at !) o'clock in the morning when the torpedo struck IB amidships, carrying away the bulwarks and smashing up a part of ethc bridge. The captain and the third officer, who were on the bridge, had seen the periscope of the submarine as she approaelicd, and they saw her wake as she made off, but nobody else on board saw anything of her. I was rip for'ard getting the anchors ready when v I saw the flash | and cloud of yellow smoke. The shin i immediately took a heavy list to pirt, | and we thought at first she was going right over at once. Then she righted herself, and went slowly down by the head.

"We had been just about to lake down the wireless, nwt it was only by luck that we had noe done so. 'i lie S.O.S. was sent out and we got replies from all round. The vowel was a Boulogne trawler, which >vas about two miles away, and half a dozen French torpedo boats came in sight. A reply to our distress signal came I'roni Land's End. We took to the boats at once. They were all provisioned, and were easily launched. "Before the firemen and engines could get out of the stokehole and (lie engine-room, the water was up to their knees. We could see as wo watched the

ship sink that she had been struck under the coal hunkers, and the whirlpool that came from her was black with coal dust. It took an hour and a half for th. l ship to sink. She settled steadily until just before the end, when she heel'i-l, over and plunged head first. We all got aboard a French boat, and were taken into Havre, and came on to London via Southampton."

THE CAPTAIN'S STORY.

Captain Greene, who was in charge of the Tokomaru, when interviewed, said:—

"At the moment when we were struck the ship was almost stationary. At n'rao o'clock I was standing on the bridge "with two of my officers, looking for a pilot, when suddenly there was a lv-r----rific, explosion on the port aid i, and tremendous column of water shot into the air, and the ship immediately listed heavily to port. It was obvious in a moment that- she was doomed. Tlit-re was no time to speculate as to the cause of her destruction, but in the few minutes which elapsed between the explosion and the launching of the boats, both my officers and myself saw the p<niscope of a submarine showing above the surface a little distance away --Ton the port side, so I am perfectly certain that the Tokomaru did not strike a mine, but was sunk by a torpedo iired from a submarine."

In answer to a question as to whether he had received any warning from the attacking submarine, Captain Grcine said:—

"Absolutely none. Not a whisper. Not a sign. Nor did the enemy stand by to render assistance or help in anywf.y to save life. The submarine simply disappeared and left us. There was no panic among the crew," Captain Graene continued, although not one of us knew how long the ship would remain afloat."