OCR Text |
Show TRANSPORT SUNK BY GERM U-BOAT SEVENTY SAILORS AND SOLDIERS LOSE THEIR LIVES WHEN TRANSPORT GOES DOWN. Convoys of Vessel Returning to tho United States Rush to Scene of Disaster and Rescue a Number of Drowning Men. Washington. Seventy American .inliors and soldiers lost their lives October Oc-tober 17, when u Gerinuu subninrlno torpedoed tho nrmy transport Antilles. An-tilles. News of this first heavy blow struck ngnlnst America by Germany reached tho nnvy department from Vlco Admiral Ad-miral Sims on October 10. Tho Antilles An-tilles wns torpedoed while returning to this country from France. Sho was under convoy nt tho time, but neither the torpedo which sent her to tho bottom bot-tom nor the destroying subninrlno was sighted. Tho men had no cbanco for their lives. Struck abreast the cngtno room, the Antilles sank like u plummet, going go-ing down hi llvo minutes. There wero nbntit 237 nhoard her und there was llttlo or no chance to tuke to the boats. Of tho 107 saved, many wero reported report-ed to havo been llshed from tlio waters wa-ters hy vessels of the convoy. Three Naval Offl.-.eis Lost. Tho death list includes threo nnvy officers, four sailors and sixteen soldiers. sol-diers. Tho rest of the victims were members of the merchant crew. Coming on the heels of Vice Admiral Ad-miral Sims' report of the torpedoing of an American destroyer, the sinking of tho Antilles caused n distinct shork to tho mllltnry and naval establishments. establish-ments. Tho Sims dispatch reached tho bureau of communications ut tho department de-partment shortly nfter !i o'clock Friday ufternoon, nt u time when the president presi-dent nnd his cabinet were In session nnd discussing, It Is stated, tho report of Admiral Muyo ns to tho real Bltun-Hon Bltun-Hon abroad. In war department circles It wns stated unofficially that Important American officials wero on board tho Ill-fated Antilles, returning from missions mis-sions ot observation nbroad. This may account for the fact that sho was "picked out" by tho subninrlno, but general opinion Is that tho U-bont took a shot In tho dark, trusting to luck to bag ono Americnn ship and not during dur-ing to show herself becnuso of the convoy. Convoys Rush to Rescue. That tho loss of llfo wns not henv-lor, henv-lor, considering the nlmost linmcdlnto sinking of tho Antilles, Is dcclnred by experts to bo duo solely to tho fnet hat sho wnB In a fleet of ships nnd that tho fast convoying destroyers could Immediately rush to the, rescue nnd pick up many of tho men from tho wuter. In enso of such nttnek It Is the navy policy for tho other ships under convoy to scatter as widely as possl-ble, possl-ble, steering r.lgzng in order to biivc themselves. Tho policy hns been established es-tablished as tho only safe ono to pursue, pur-sue, despite tho uppnrent brutality of leaving men to drown. Thero nro many angles vlslblo to glvo bnsls to this belief, nnd official? of standing point them out. They say that Germuns, by sinking n few transports, trans-ports, expect to "sicken" America nnd glvo strength to pnclllsts nnd propagandists propa-gandists In this country thut she can cripple America's war preparations in this way, eauso opposition to furtlu-drafts furtlu-drafts nnd creato generally an antiwar anti-war spirit ln America. They say that the recent falling off ln tho loss of British tonnngo und the Increirlng nttneks on American ves-sels ves-sels Indicates that tho Oermnn ndmlr-nlty, ndmlr-nlty, now that the closo of activities! In the North sen Is neur, has determined deter-mined upon n winter campaign against Americnn transports, and proposes to carry on such n campaign on a lnrge scale. The Antilles, n freight and passenger passen-ger steamship of CS78 tons gross, owned own-ed by tho Southern Puelllc Steamship company (Morgan line) wus ono of the crack American coast liners. She plied between New Orleans nnd New York nnd hnd carried thousands of persons to the Mnrdl Gras celebration In tho southern city. Tho vessel wns taken over by tho government ns u transport curly In tho war. Tho Antilles was built by tho Crumps ut Philadelphia In 1007. Sho was -121 feet long, with a beam of 53 feet and n depth of 37 feet. |