THE SUBMARINE CAMPAIGN.
LOSS OF LACONIA. FURTHER DETAILS. London, Feb. 27. The Daily Chronicle states that the latest news about the Laconia is that 13 are missing. The torpedo explosions account for most of the killed and wounded. The engineering stall' and 'liremen underwent an awful ordeal, but wen; mostly picked up. .Father Waring .states that when the ship was torpedoed he went to the lifeboat assigned during boat drills. There was a little confusion owing to the explosion having extinguished the electric lights, and while the boats were being lowered the tackles jammed. Dr. Kennedy, seeing a boat in a very dangerous position, cut the rope, and it reached the water. A similar difficulty occurred with another lifeboat, Some of the occupants of the third lifeboat were thrown into the sea, including two Americans named Mrs. and Miss Hoey. There is grave reason to 'ear they were drowned, as tlicy are missing. At the very moment his lifeboat was being rowed from the sinking ship another explosion was heard, and the big vessel rolled over. There was twenty minutes between the firing of the two 'torpedoes. Captain Irvine now decided to abandon the ship. Tin' wireless operators were meanwhile hard at work sending wireless calls, and got a prompt reply from a warship at Queenstown. Although the night was dark the moon came out occasionally, and enabled them to see the grand spectacle of the noble ship disappearing beneath the waves. They were in the /-Boat from 0.30 until 4 o'clock .in the morning. There was no immediate danger, though there was a heavy Atlantic swell. The women were very ill, but behaved admirably. Fatlier Waring thinks the deaths will not exceed ten. Mrs. Mills, a Toronto saloon passenger, said the experience was a terrible one. The women were in the' drawingroom when the torpedo struck, and instantly knew what had happened. They had had boat drill several times, and were able to utilise their knowledge of getting into the boats. When, the submarine came to the surface to make sure of the Laconia's destruction a man in a boat said to the submarine commander: "Don't you know you have torpedoed a ship containing women and children." The commander replied: "They will be all right for a. few hours. A patrol boat will pick thein up." TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE IN BOATS. London, Feb. 27. Two of the Laconia's boats, containing 14 living and eight dead from exhaustion, have reached Ban try. They had terrible experiences. Fifteen American negro seamen were saved. THREE PASSENGERS DEAD AND THREE MISSING. Reuter Service. * London, Feb. 27. Official.—Three of the Laconia passengers are dead and three are missing. Six. of the crew are missing and six are in hospital. NO WARNING GIVEN. EXCELLENT DISCIPLINE MAINTAINED. SUFFERING OF RESCUED. TWO AMERICAN LADIES DEAD. London, Feb. 27. The Daily Chronicle's Queenstown correspondent states that the Laconia was torpedoed without warning on Sunday night. It was comparatively calm. After the second torpedo struck her ■ the vessel listed and the boats were launched with difficulty. There was no panic, and the small kss of life was due to the excellent discipline. Besides v\") American women, who a;e believe! to have oecn drowned, />ui' othei* America is k-c r^ciied. After a terrible experience in the boats, 207 survivors arrived in Queenscow.i in a iteajur which had nukjd them up from eight boats. Some of the survivors say 'it were drowned; others say the number was only ten. London, Feb. 27. The death of Mrs and Miss Hoey is confirmed. ANGER IN AMERICA. THE PRESIDENT STOLID. IJew York, Feb. 2/. Mr. Lansing went to the White House for a conference with the President this morning'. It is_believcd he took the latest official details of the Laconia disaster. Public opinion is most angry at the deaths of the Hoeys, and would support Mr. Wilson if he decides Jt is an overt but there is no indication of Mr. "Wilson's course. It is expected he will await further details. The London corespondent of the United Press attempted to interview over the telephone Dr. Hoey, who said: "I'm an pld man of 84. H is a terrible blow, my own dear wife and daughter gone." The conversation was broken off suddenly, and servants later said that Dr. Hoey had collapsed completely, and was now in bed. FURTHER SINKINGS. London, Feb. 27. Further vessels sunk are the British vessels Ileadley and Seagull. Twelve survivors of the crew of the Aries have been landed, and also the Falcon's crew. The sinkings include the British steamers Algiers (2301 tons) and Aries (3071 tons).
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19170301.2.27
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taranaki Daily News, 1 March 1917, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
766THE SUBMARINE CAMPAIGN. Taranaki Daily News, 1 March 1917, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.