| Show 00 M adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF 1 off kinsale head H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY if you go to see patrick J hanley at his hii homo home at richmond hill N Y T he might show yo you U an old life preserver that he acquired at sea on the afternoon of friday may 7 1915 off the old head of kinsale on the coast afire of ireland and maybe pat will even tell you the story of that tale pat part with that old contraption of cork and canvas for half the wealth of the indies for it carried him safely through his lifes greatest adventure and how great a dan danger gerit it was you will ea easily realize when I 1 tell teli you that teat although pat lived eleven hundred and ninety eight others lost their lives before it was over maybe youve already got a hunch what this story Is going to be about maybe that mention ot of kinsale head has hai struck a responsive chord in your memory then again maybe it its been more than 20 years now anddew and few people remember that the old read head of kinsale was the scene of the greatest of marine disasters the sinking ot of the lusitania I 1 was passenger on the lusannia yes pat hanley was on the lusitania when a german submarine shot a torpedo into its innards and sent it plunging to the bottom batto m the big ship had successfully dodged the U boats aalthe all the way across the tha atlantic she was racing down the home stretch and the pas passengers had forgotten their fears and were beginning to have a good time when suddenly at two in the afternoon there came a loud report pat hanley had shaved and come up on deck about 15 minutes before and he saw it all right from the first A panic started immediately people ran wildly about the ship searching for their friends and children then in less than a minute the ship heran beran I an to list right there says pat was where people started drowning they got on t the e incline and started sliding the deck rail was broken away to starboard and they fell wholesale into the water an officer bellowed through a megaphone that everyone must get on a life iffe preserver but two thirds of the ifie passengers were in such a state sta teof of collapse that you get them to stand still to get a life preserver on them pat found a life preserver and started stripping off his outer clothing A woman ran into him and down he went on the slippery deck WI with difficulty he managed to keep from sliding overboard like many othe others had done buthe but he got to his feet aga again inand and began working his way aft aft only five lifeboats life boats got clear of the ship with passengers A sixth got fouled in the davits and the people in it were dumped into the water they ibey fell like a load of sand says pat and I 1 noticed that not one only five lifeboats got clear of the ship of them thern seemed to survive that upset I 1 taw saw two more boats hurriedly pushed of off so that people in the water could cling to them after that there was no chance to launch any more on either side as the ship was under water to the second deck on the starboard side pat arrived safely at the stern of the ship chip and with about 40 other men made ready to jump we take a chance jumping from the side he says tor for it looked as though the ship might turn over on top of us if we did already the water was full of bobbing heads suddenly a shower of water and soot shot up from the second and third funnels of the ship drenching the afterdeck after deck and turning us all black as ink spots the ship was going down steadily now and we all realized that if we jump soon the suction would carry us down when she went under overboard we went F fishing trawler came caine to rescue by that time an irish fishing trawler the first craft to come to the rescue was just arriving at the scene of disaster pat held up by his life preserver began swimming toward it says he it was a silling sailing vessel equipped with four big oars which the crew pulled like hka trojans already they wera were picking people out of the water by the dozen Lif lifeboats bat were mere rowing out to it unloading their passengers geis and going back to pick up more the small boats made several trips back and forth but they only picked up those who showed signs of life by tho time we reached the thel trawler there were others already on it the time pat spent on that trawler ivas was an adventure all in itself tho the cockpit tho the deck the hold all of them were literally jammed with people up on deck the passengers had to stand close together and hang onto one another dorthey for they were packed right to the edge of the deck and there was no railing to keep them froni from going overboard when the last bit of available space apace was occupied with the lie task of saving a human life the 4 little cratt craft took in three lifeboats filled with more ot of the rescued and started away from the scene s less than were saved pat clung for his life to the roan man next to him now the waters were full ot of other craft steaming rowing sailing to the rescue A large boat hove to and took the crowd off the trawler while the trawler brawler beni wen back to pick up more survivors the big boat with pat aboard it steamed toward queenstown Queens town harbor but the trawler pick up another load like her first for the records show that less than people were saved out of a total of nearly 2000 pat says they met several patrol boats coming to the rescue but they were too lareto late to do anything butnick but pick up the dead the tha boat pat was on landed him in queenstown Queens town at about nine cine thit that night the next morning he was asked to go down to the cunard pier which had been converted into a temporary morgue to see if lie could identify any of the poor souls who had lost their lives pat still has the life preserver he wore when he jumped over tho the stern of the ill fated lusitania a souvenir of a remarkable adventure hell get it out and show it to you and tell you the owr story y of it when you drop over there afan of an evening but forthe for the sake of the people who dont know pat well enough to be dropping in on him im glad hes given us a chance to spin that yarn here in this column copyright MV service |
