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Show MlluriuiRLnn London, Feb. 29, 5-50 p. m. That tho German submarines have been sowing mines off Dover, was the belief be-lief expressed today by Ralph Foster of Kansas, and other survivors of the Maloja disaster, including some of, I the officers of tho ship. The fact that a number of disasters have oc-curred oc-curred in the neighborhood of Dover, during the last two Sundays is considered con-sidered in some quarters in London as possible evidence that German submarines, sub-marines, knowing that a number of boats clear for foreign ports Saturdays, Satur-days, have taken advantage of that fact to creep in as near the coast as possible in the night time and discharge dis-charge cargoes of explosives. In the opinion of Mr. Foster, lifeboats life-boats nre virtually useless where yes-sels yes-sels strike mines, aB tho ships almost Invariably sink quickly, and because the crews are insufficiently drilled for quick nctlon and the boats cannot be lowered when a ship heels over on her side as the Malopa did. .Mr. Foster had a thrilling experience. He was afloat in the icy water on an up turned boat nn hour before he was rescued. "I was promenading the deck well forward about 1:20 o'clock Sunday morning," said Mr. Foster today to the Associated Press correspondent today, "when I heard a slight report. I thought It was a gun firing a blank shot until I saw debris falling. Even then tho concussion had been so slight that T concluded an accident must have happened to some other ship near by. Ship Lists Soon. "I rushed back lmmediatoly toward to-ward the stern of the Maloja, but before be-fore I had taken a dozen steps, tho ship began to list and I started toward to-ward the lifeboat that had been allotted al-lotted to my cabin. It was so full of people, most of them Jascars, that I saw It was likely to be swamped, so I went below for a life belt. I put on my overcoat and the life belt and also took my passport "By this time hardly three minutes min-utes after the explosion the passageways passage-ways below werv. awash. I returned to ho lifeboat and tried help shove It clear. "Everybody then piled out of tho lifeboat," MoBt of them slid across the deck and into the water on the other side. Tho deck was Inclined to such a degreo that wc could not stand. 1 grabbed at an oar and slid down tho deck Into the water. The waves were so strong that I found that I could not swim In thorn and was washed back against tho side of the ship. Washed Off Capsized Boat. "Finally 1 managed to reach a capsized cap-sized boat a few feet away and crawlod onto it. From there I could Bee in the water near me several bodies bod-ies of persons who wero bleeding about the head. One Lascar was being ground between a lifeboat and the ship's aide. A big swell washed me off my insecure perch. I knew what would happen to me if I stayed on tho side of the ship I was on, so I managed to got to the other side and clung to the railing until only the davits were projecting out of the wa ter. I then pushed away from the steamer and swam a few yards to a boat that had five of six Lascars in i it. Vhen I looked around tho Inst davits of the Maloja had disappeared. 1 We had no oars and the waves kept : breaking over the boat. When It be- , gan to sink we swam to another cap- sized boat and clung there until a boat from a destroyer took us off. "The only terror of excitement shown aboard the Maloja while they wero trying to lower the boats was on tho part of Lascars and some children who had become separated from their mothers. One child who was on deck near tho point of the explosion was W blown to pieces, an officer told me." Mr. Foster said he also wns deeply ' impressed by the bravery of the worn. ' en and the white crew of the Haloja, 1 but not by her Lascar crew. : |