American Newspaper Man Describes
in 4 parts Sinking of Laconia by Sub
■■■■ ■ 1 "
An American newspaperman,'
Floyd P. Gibbons, was the first cor
respondent to experience the crash ot
war as the result of the submarine
blockade. He was a passenger aboard
the Cunard liner Laconia when it was
torpedoed, resulting in the death of
several Americans, and bis story of
the rush for the boats is intense and j
thrilling. It will be printed in four j
parts.
PART FOUR
A score of hands reached out, and
we were suspended in the husky, tat
tooed arms of those doughty Rritish
jack-tars, looking up into the weath
er-beaten. youthful faces, mumbling
thanks and thankfulness, and reading!
in the gold lettering on their pancakei
hats the legend "H.M.S. Laburnum."
We had been six hours in the open
boats, all of which began coming;
alongside one after another. Wet and
bedraggled survivors were lifted
aboard. Women and children first,
was the rule.
Reunion
The scenes of reunion were heart
gripping. Men who had remained
strangers to one another aboard the
Laconia wrung each other by the
hand, or embraced without shame.
The frail, little wife of a Canadian
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chaplain, who had found one of her
missing children, delivered up from
another boat, smothered the child with
ravenous mother-kisses, while tears
of joy streamed down her face.
Boat after boat came alongside.
The water-logged craft containing
the captain came last. A rousing
cheer went up as he landed his teet
on the deck, one mangled hand hang
ing limp at his side.
The jack tars divested themselves
of outer clothing and passed the gar
ments over to the shivering members
of the Laconia's crew.
The little officers’ quarters under
the quarterdeck were turned over to
the women and children. Two of the
Laconia* stewardesses passed boiling
basins of navy cocoa and aided in the
disentanglement of wetted tresses.
The men grouped themselves near
steam pipes in the petty officers’
quarters or the gratings of the en
gine-rooms, where new life was to be
had fi*om the upward blasts of heated
air that brought with them the smell
of bilge water and oil and sulphur
from the bowels of the vessel.
The Injured
The injured—all minor eases,
sprained back, wrenched legs, or
mashed hands—were put away in
bunks under the care of the ships
doctor.
Dawn was melting the eastern I
ocean gray to pink when the task was i
finished. •
In the officers’ quarters, now in-j
vaded by the men, somebody happen-]
ed to touch a key on the small wooden i
i organ, and this was enough to send
some callous seafaring fingers over;
the keys in a rhythm unquestionably
religious and so irresistible under
the circumstances that, although no
! one knew the words the air was taken
up in a serious humming chant by all |
in the room.
At the last note of amen, little
Father Warcing, his black garb snag-j
gled in places and badly soiled, stood
before the center table and lifted his j
head back until the morning light j
filtering through the open hatch above
him, shone down on his kindly, weary;
face. He recited the lord’s prayer,
an dall present joined the simple, im
pressive service, ended as simply as
it had begun.
Two minutes later I saw the old;
German-Jew traveling man limping
about on one lame leg with a little
boy in his arms, collecting big, round ;
British pennies for the youngster.
Survev
* f
A sui vey and cruise of the nearby
an a revealed no more occupied boats,
and the mine sweeper, with its load of
survivors, numbering 267, steamed
away to the east. A half an hour's
steaming and the vessel stopped with
in hailing distance of two sister ships, j
towards one of which an open boat,:
manned by jackies, was pulled from
the bridge of the Laburnum.
1 saw the hysterical French-Polish j
actress, her hair wet and bedraggled,
lifted out of the boat and handed up
the companionway. Then a little boy,
his fresh, pink face and golden hair
shining in the morning light, was|
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passed upward, followed by some
other survivors, numbering fourteen
in all, who had been found half
drowned and almost dead from ex
posure in a partially-wrecked boat
that was just sinking. This was the
boat in which Mrs* Hoy and her
daughter lost their lives, and in which
Cedric P. Ivatt of New York, who was
the manager of the actress, died. It
has not been ascertained here whether
Mr. Ivatt w’as an American citizen or
a British subject.
One of the survivors of this boat
was Able-bodied Seaman Waller, who
was transferred to the Laburnum.
Boat Smashed
“Our boat—No. 8—was smashed in
lowering,” he said. ”1 was in the
bow, Mrs. Hoy and her daughter were
sitting tow'ard the stern. The boat
filled with water rapidly. It was no
use trying to bail it out—there was a
big hole in the side and it came in too
fast. • It just sunk to the water’s edge
and only stayed up on account of the
tanks in it. It was completely awash.
Every' sw’ell rode clear over us and
wo had to hold our breath until we
came to the surface again. The cold
water just takes the strength out of
you.
“The women got weaker and weak
er, then a wave came and washed both
of them out of the boat. There were
life belts on their bodies and they
floated away, but l believe they w^ere
dead before they were washed over
board.”
With such stories ringing in our
ears, with exchanges of experiences
pathetic and humorous, we came
steaming into Queenstown harbor
shortly after 10 o’clock at night. We
pulled up at the dock lined with am
bulances and khaki-clad men, who
directed the survivors to the various
hotels about the town, where they are
being quartered.
The question being asked of us
Americans on all sides is: “Is it the
casus belli?"
American Consul Wesley Frost is
forwarding all information to Wash
ington with a speed end carefulness
resulting from the experience in han
dling twenty-five previous submarine
NOTICE OF ELECTION
Notice is hereby given that on the
3rd day of April, 1917, there will be
held in the Town Hall in the Town of
Seward, an election for the purpose of
choosing City officials. ,
The polls will be opened at eight
o'clock, a. m. on that day, and will
close at 7 o'clock p. m. on the same
day, and all qualified electors of the
Town of Seward who have registered,
as in this ordinance provided, will be
entitled to vote at said election.
Dated at Seward, Alaska, March
1st, 1917.
0. H. POEHLMANN,
Municipal Clerk.
March 1^ 8,15^ 2
disasters in which the United States
has had an interest, especially in the*
survivors landed at this port.
His best figures on the Laconia
sinking are: Total survivors landed
here, 2G7; landed at Bantry, 14; to-i
tal on board, 294; missing, 13.
The latest information from Ban-i
try, the only other port at which sur
vivors are know n to have been land-;
ed, confirms the report of the death
of Mrs. Hoy and her daughter.
I am leaving on the Alameda on
business. All parties owing me,
please call and settle before the Ala
meda arrives.—Mrs. Jessie Ellsworth.
We carry Symphony Lawn Station-j
ary the Seward Drug Company.
FORFEITURE—NOTICE !
_____ i
To M. IMHOFF, C. J. IMHOFF, A.!
M. IMHOFF, HARRY V. MILLER, H. j
D. THIELE, ESTATE OF H. D.
THIELE, Deceased, and AUGUST
MKLHORN, your respective heirs and
assigns:
You are hereby notified and will
take notice that we, the subscribers,!
H. P. Salisbury and A. A. Hein, have
expended, during the year 1914, the
sum of Three thousand, forty-six dol- j
lars and twenty ($3,046.20) cents,
during the year 1915, the sum of
Six hundred ($600.00) dollars, during
the year 1916, the sum of Two thou
sand, five hundred and sixteen dollars
and seventy (2,516.70) cents in labor
and improvements upon each of the
following described mining claims, to
wit: orara QUARTZ MINING |
CLAIM, COLUMBIA QUARTZ MIN-'
ING CLAIM, BESSY PLACER MIN
ING CLATM, MILL SITE and WA
TER SITE OR LOCATION, all of!
which said claims are situated and lie
in the Moose Pass Mining District,
Kenai Recording District, Third Ju
dicial Division, Territory of Alaska,
Tlie notices of location thereof are of;
record in the office of the United
States Commissioner and District Re- ‘
corder for Kenai Recording Precinct!
and District, at the Town of Seward,
Territtory of Alaska, to which office
reference is hereby made for a more
particular description of said mining
properties. Said expenditures were
made for the purpose of holding pos-:
sessory rights and title to said min
ing claims under the provisions of
section twenty- three hundred and
twenty-four of the Revised Statutes
of the United States and the amend
ments thereto, section one hundred
and thiry-six of the Compiled Laws of
Alaska, 1913, and the Session Laws of
the Territory of Alaska, providing for
the annual labor upon mining claims, i
If you fall and refuse or fail or re
fuse within ninety (90) days from the
personal service of this notice, if per
sonal service be had, or within ninety
(90) duys after the publication of this
notice, to contribute your proportion
of such expenditure as a co-owner,
your respectice interest in and to said
mining claims, and each and every
one of them, will become the property i
of the subscribers, who are your co
owners, and who have made the ex
penditures and improvements as
above-mentioned on said mining
claims, and each and every one of
them, pursuant to the provisions of
the said statute, Compiled Laws and
Sessions Laws.
A. A. HETN
H. P. SALISBURY.
First publication, March ‘21, 1917.
Last publication, May 23, 1917.
1
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