Horrors and Atrocities of the Great War: Including the Tragic Destruction of the LusitaniaMarshall, Logan
History
Horrors and Atrocities of the Great War: Including the Tragic Destruction of the Lusitania
Marshall, Logan
World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities
Dr. J. T. Houghton, of Troy, N. Y., said: “It was believed there was no
reason to fear any danger after the first explosion, as it was said the
vessel would be headed for Queenstown and beached if necessary.
Meanwhile boats were being got ready for any emergency.
“Just then the liner was again struck, evidently in a more vital spot,
for it began to settle rapidly. Orders then came from the bridge to
lower all boats. A near panic took possession of the women. People were
rushed into the boats, some of which were launched successfully, others
not so successfully.”
Oscar F. Grab, of New York, said: “I was able to get hold of a
life-preserver and I remained on the starboard side until the water was
almost at my feet. Then I slid into the sea so easily that I did not
even wet my hair. I was soon picked up by a boat in which were twenty
women and some children.
“We had to keep the women lying in the bottom so as to get room to pull
at the oars. The ship went down, as seen by me from the water, in this
fashion:
“She had settled down well forward. She then listed to starboard, and
rose to a perpendicular until the stern with the propellers was sticking
straight out of the water.
“An explosion then occurred as the water reached the boilers; one of the
funnels was blown clean out, and in half a minute there was nothing
visible of the Lusitania but a lot of wreckage mingled with a number of
dead bodies.”
PATERSON, N. J., GIRLS AMONG RESCUED
The Misses Agnes and Evelyn Wilde, sisters, of Paterson, N. J., were at
lunch when the torpedo struck the vessel. They rushed on deck. Miss
Agnes Wilde said:
“We clung to each other, determined not to be separated, even if we went
to the bottom. We were thrown into a boat, together with thirty-six
others, and after several hours were picked up by a fishing boat, which
towed us for several hours, intending to take us to Kinsale. Before we
arrived, however, a Government boat came along and took us to
Queenstown.
“We were drenched to the skin, cold and penniless. We went into a shop,
where they fitted us out from head to foot without charge. We are only
beginning to realize what we have passed through.”
Mrs. Martha Anna Wyatt, sixty years old, of New Bedford, Mass., said: “I
went down with the ship and spent four hours in a collapsible boat
before being picked up. I was going to England to live.
“While the ship was sinking I found it impossible to get into any of the
life-boats. There seemed no help about. I simply stood still, clinging
to the rail, and went down. I seemed to go to the bottom. When I came to
the surface again I was pulled into the collapsible boat which brought
me to safety.”
Mrs. C. Stewart, who was traveling from Toronto to Glasgow, said:
“I was in my cabin with my eight-months-old baby, who was sleeping in
the berth, when I heard the crash. I snatched my baby up and went on
deck. A man yelled, ‘Come on with the baby.’ I handed him the infant and
he said, ‘Now for yourself.’
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