THE TORPEDOED TRANSPORT.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 October 1915, Page 8

THE TORPEDOED TRANSPORT.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT. By AjuoeUtion. Auckland, Oct. 20. Further details of the sinking of the Australian transport are contained in a letter received to-day by Mr. R. W. Gallagher, of Auckland, from his son, Private Neil M. Gallagher, a dispatch rider attached to the headquarters staff of the New Zealand Field Artillery, sth Reinforcements. "I have been through the event of my life since my last letter," says the writer. "I am not allowed to mention names, places, or dates, or you would not receive this letter. We left for ten days ago, and when we were within three hours' sail of our destination we were i torpedoed by a submarine. We had a large number of troops on our transport and you can quite imagine what the I scene was like when we were hit. The 1 first torpedo hit us forward and blew that part of the ship to atoms. The second one was fired at us and missed, very luckily for us. We all stood to the lifeboats and the troops were very orderly. Our boat tipped up with all of us in it as it was being lowered, and it landed in the water upside down on top of us. I ended up underneath the boat. I am yinj lucky indeed to be here writing to you to-day. I am perfectly well and have quite recovered from the shock, and have only a few cuts and bruises, which will be well in a few days. A lot of the men were killed and drowned, but I cannot te.ll you the exact number. The headquarters of the N.Z.F.A. were the only New Zealanders on board, and we lost several men. I was in the sea for over an hour and a quarter, and it was only due to the fact that I could swim that I was saved. I was eventually picked up by a raft, and in, a few hours more was on a French torpedo-boat destroyer. The French who rescued us treated us royally. Of course we lost everything but what we stood up in."