United States. Navy -- History -- World War, 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- Naval operations, American
Twenty minutes later the submarine appeared, two or three miles
distant, then gradually approached and picked up two men from the
water, Albert De Mello and John F. Murphy, whom she carried to Germany
as prisoners. All the survivors in sight were collected, and rafts and
boats gotten together. The ship's radio had been wrecked, preventing
the sending out of distress signals. Two shots had been fired from
her guns in the hope of attracting some nearby ship, but none was in
hearing. There seemed no prospect of assistance except from shore,
and leaving Lieutenant Richards in charge of the rafts, Lieutenant
Commander Bagley, the ship's commander, and Lieutenant Norman Scott,
the navigating officer, with four men, started to row to the nearest
land to secure assistance.
Night soon came on, and the men on the rafts prepared for a long vigil.
When help would arrive, none could tell. Shivering from cold, shaken
by the experience through which they had passed, the survivors kept up
their courage with the amazing cheerfulness of the sailor in stress
and disaster. Their very lives depending on keeping warm, men who had
thick clothing divided it with those more thinly clad. Officers and men
shared their belongings and worked together for the common safety.
One small raft, which had been separated from the others, was picked up
at 8 p. m. by the steamship _Catalina_. The other survivors remained in
their perilous position all night, and it was not until 8:30 o'clock
next morning when they were discovered and rescued by the British
steamship _Camellia_.
One brave young officer died before relief arrived. Though still
suffering from the effects of the explosion, which had stunned him,
and weakened by his efforts after the ship sank, Lieutenant Kalk swam
from one raft to another to equalize the weight on them. Striving for
the safety of his men, he overtaxed his own strength, and died of
exhaustion and exposure. Men who were on the raft with him said, "He
was game to the last." His courage and self-sacrifice are commemorated
in a destroyer that bears his name.
There was no other serious damage to destroyers until March 19, 1918,
when a British vessel collided with the _Manley_. The collision
exploded the depth-charges on her decks, killing Lieutenant Commander
Richard McC. Elliot, of New York, and 33 enlisted men, and injuring
22 others. The _Manley_, though badly damaged, was gotten to port and
repaired.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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