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Show BRITISH LINER IS SUNKJBYTORPEDO NEARLY ALL PASSENGERS AND CREW OF VESSEL BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN LOST. Two Americans on Board Ship When It was Attacked by an Austrian Submarine. Crisis May be Renewed Re-newed by Disaster. Loudon. Tho British passenger steamship Persia, with two or moro Americans on board, lias been sunk In tho eastern Mediterranean by n sub marine. Tho full story has not yet been told, but it is feared tho disaster, from a standpoint of loss of life among nonbelligerent voyagers, will rank second only to the sinking of tho Lusltanla. Unofficial figures Indicate that there were nbout 100 passengers on board tho Persia, a vessel of nenrly 8,000 tons, and between 2G0 and 300 members mem-bers of tho crew. Four boats, each capable of carrying carry-ing sixty persons, got away, nnd their occupants were picked up by a steam cr bound for Alexandria. It has not boon established how many were able to disembark In tho small boats, but a mossngo received at Washington from Robert P. Skinner, Amcrlcnn consul general at London, based presumably pre-sumably on tho British admiralty's report, re-port, says that nearly all on board tho Persia perished. Robort McNceley of Monroo, N. C, who was on his way to take office as American consul at Aden, Arabia; Charles Grant of Boston, nnd Edward Rose of Denver sailed on tho Persia. Ono account of tho sinking of the Persia says: "A torpedo struck tho ship on tho port bow at 1:05 o'clock in the afternoon, after-noon, when about forty miles south of the cast end of the Island of Crete. No warning was given, nor uny attempt at-tempt made to assist. Within five minutes tho ship had sunk. "It waB impossible to lower tho starboard boats, owing to the heavy list. Flvo or six boats were lowered on the port side. I didn't see this myself, as 1 was washed overboard when the boat capslvd. "Tho conduct of the passengers and crew was splendid; there was no struggling and no panic. Four boats, after thirty hours at sea, wero picked up by a warship." Washington. Official Washington is anxiously awaiting details of the torpedoing tor-pedoing of the British steamship Per sia, on which American citizens wero knotfn to have embarked. Wlillo It was realized that reports oxpected from consular and diplomatic diploma-tic representatives might show that the submarine commander was Justified Justi-fied in sinking of the vessel, officials were not Inclined to mlnlmlzo the gravity gra-vity of the situation confronting the United States should it develop that there has been a violation of American Ameri-can rights. New dangers, It was admitted, threatened the relations between the United States and the central powers which soemlngly had Just been placed on tho road to satisfactory adjustment adjust-ment by tho assurances contnlned in Austria's reply to the second Ancona note. |