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Show " E 1 '1 fi Magnificent Two-Hour Running Fight Put Up by Crew of the Tanker Moreni Against German Ger-man Submarine; Vessel Ves-sel in Flames When Finally Abandoned. NORWEGIANS LOSE MANY VESSELS British Armed Merchant Cruiser Avenger Torpedoed; Tor-pedoed; All but One of the Crew Saved; French Report Loss of Five Ships During thz Week Ending June 14. LONDON", June 15. The British armed merchant cruiser Avenger was torpedoed and sunlj in the North sea oh Wednesday night. All but one were saved. By Internationa News Pcn-iee. ' 1 WASHINGTON', D. C, Jun8 5 j.V ( Out of the German war zone today cam. the story of the most thrilling sea ;b' of the war. Engaged in it were only-two only-two vessels, but for fury and that pic turesqueness which marks tho traditioi of the sea, it was an epic of blue water One of the ships was tho American. X tanker Moreni; the other a German submarine. sub-marine. The Moreni lobt. Sho was sot aflame by a German shell after a running run-ning battle of two hours and four of her men wero killed. J But she fought gamely against her superior enemy, firing 130 shots to Ih'V-. submarine's 200. After it was all ove and the survivors were pulling aw.T from their ship in tho small .bonta, til submarine drew up alongside the cap tain's boat and the U-boat commando congratulated his adversary on the bal tie he had fought. In the cold, bare words of a stat department announcement the story wa. told this afternoon. Details had boe received in a consular dispatch from th port to which tho survivors of th Moreni had been taken. Thero wcr forty-three of tho crew rescued and th entire naval gun crew. .- Early Morning Battle. . " The battle between the' two vossels began in tho dark hours of the morning morn-ing of June 12. The vessels engaged in a running fight lasting two hours. Tho sun was .iusl beginning to light the sea when the Moreni went down, z" burned tu the water lino. Tho first shot was fired by the submarine. sub-marine. I The IT-boat was within liOnO yards of j the tanker when it sent a shell flyini; 1 across the Moreni 's bow as a signal tr I stop. Tt was more than a signal t f sto": it was a signal to stop and 1" I sunk, and the tanker's captain knew It f The commander of the naval gun crew f called his men fo their posts. Tho 1'- I boat, was hardly visi.hlo against th I slate horizon, but a naval gun jy I trained on the shadow made hy I raider's surerst.ructure and a shell I screaming across the waters. I Striking a 7.iL'-7.ff course to torpedoes, tho -Moroni preceded t I bnttlo to the undersea terror. 350 Shots Exchanged. But the submarine made no effri torpedo the tanker. Instead it '-. firing from both guns. From fwf aft the t;uns of the Moroni spa longe. ImriniT the tT'Vours I battle K.IO shots wr'xclianged. The last shot fr'nm tho s'ihA struck an oil taok and the .Y.I blazed up. The I '-boat rpiit there was no fiirt.lvr need. The Mk reni's crow, seeinir that, further fightiiul was iiseleFs, and imocrillrd Viy the flam l ini oil, tool; to their bo:.ts. I One of the four victims was a' readv dead, lie as Wireless Onerai J I). n. Cnrrnn rif ew York. The e eiteineiit of the battle was too mini for him and he fell victim of heart di j ease. f Kdwnrd Ciinn'ni'dinui. an oiler, fell his death ill the seas while trying to into a life). oat. A. Moustner, a I man. was woniutfd bv particles frol fiormait shell. lie -lied later. T'irci . ("liorsen also was wounded. J Moved ov the Lamenrss of hiy ;; J iCoi.ii.uied oa 1'ago Three.v lERId STEAMER SIM; 4 UVE5 LOST (Continued from Page One.) saries, the submarine captain opened his hospital facilities to them, hut it was too late to save Giersen. He died on board the submarine. The state department depart-ment messages do not record the words which passed between the commander of the submaiine and the commander of the Moroni. But the action of tho U-boat skipper in offering help to the skipper of the tanker is story enough of what he had to say to his victim. The survivors sur-vivors could not have been taken on board the submarine, even as prisoners. But the sea was calm, and a little later a passing steamer picked up the survivors. Six of the crew, who were slightly wounded, were placed in the sick bay. Official Statement. The state department has issued the following statement: The department of state is informed in-formed of the sinking of the American Ameri-can tank steamer Moroni about ci o'clock on the morning of June 12 after a two-hour running fight with a (icrman submarine. The vessel was fired upon first from an estimated distance of 8000 yards at 4 o'clock. The steamer, which was armed and carried a gun crew, returned the shots and attempted at-tempted to escape. There was a light breeze and smooth sea. The submarine was hardly visible. After InO shots in reply to some 200 shots fired by the subma rinef the crew j abandoned the vessel, which was all ablaze, taking to the lifeboats in a fiery sea. Oiler Drowned. An oiler, named Edward Cunningham, Cun-ningham, of Brooklyn, was drowned while ecapinf; to a boat; Wireless Operator G. Curran. Jr., of New York died of heart failure in the lifeboat, and one seaman, E. Mnustner, was injured by ennfiro and died in a lifeboat. Fireman A. Gerien ai?o died of wounds. These last two were treated by the surgeon of the submarine. The German submarine captain congratulated the American captain upon the piemnd fit,' lit he ha' I made. Half ati hour after the vessel ves-sel wa s sunk the c row was H eked up by a nai-sinu steamer. Fortv-tbree Fortv-tbree of the original crew of forty-seven were landed. Six of these were slihtlv hurt and placed in a ; hospital. All t tie gunners were saved. Owned by Standard Oil. NFW YORK, .Inn IS. The Moreni, aj 1 tank steamer of 4 r 4 5 tov.s p: oss, ownr-d i b y the S i a n d a rd Oil rr, p;i n y of Xe w j York. s'i!k'i- frum her May 1 for j:tori Rouge, La., whence she departed May 12 J for Leghorn, Italy. She was last reported passing Gibraltar June 111, t lie dny she was sunk. The Morenf whs commanded by Captain Thomas Thompson. The Moreni was built in Hremerhavpn, Germany. In 1913, was 354 feet long, with a beam of 49 feet. |