Current History: A Monthly Magazine of the New York Times, May 1918: Vol. VIII, Part I, No. 2Various
History
Current History: A Monthly Magazine of the New York Times, May 1918: Vol. VIII, Part I, No. 2
Various
World War, 1914-1918
_The following story of how the little Mary Rose, a British
destroyer, went down with colors flying, when, in October, 1917,
she fought against overwhelming enemy forces, has been compiled
from official sources:_
The Mary Rose left a Norwegian port in charge of a westbound convoy of
merchant ships in the afternoon of Oct. 16, 1917. At dawn on the 17th
flashes of gunfire were sighted astern. The Captain of the Mary Rose,
Lieut. Commander Charles Fox, who was on the bridge at the time,
remarked that he supposed it was a submarine shelling the convoy, and
promptly turned his ship to investigate. All hands were called to action
stations. The Mary Rose had increased to full speed, and in a short time
three light cruisers were sighted coming toward them at high speed out
of the morning mist. The Mary Rose promptly challenged, and, receiving
no reply, opened fire with every gun that would bear at a range of about
four miles. The German light cruisers appeared to be nonplused by this
determined single-handed onslaught, as they did not return the fire
until the range had closed to three miles.
They then opened fire, and the Mary Rose held gallantly on through a
barrage of bursting shell until only a mile separated her from the
enemy. Up to this point the German marksmanship was poor, but as the
British destroyer turned to bring her torpedo tubes to bear a salvo
struck her, bursting in the engine room and leaving her disabled, a log
on the water. All guns, with the exception of the after one, were out of
action and their crews killed or wounded, but the after gun continued in
action, under the direction of Sub-Lieutenant Marsh, R. N. V. R., as
long as it would bear. The Captain came down from the wrecked bridge and
passed aft, encouraging and cheering his defeated men. He stopped beside
the wrecked remains of the midship gun and shouted to the survivors of
its crew: "God bless my heart, lads, get her going again; we're not
done yet!" The enemy was now pouring a concentrated fire into the
motionless vessel. One of the boilers, struck by a shell, exploded, and
through the inferno of escaping steam, smoke, and the vapor of bursting
shell came that familiar, cheery voice: "We're not done yet."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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