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Show i' I m an Open BcSS I T1 ells We rl V? w Sfor Suffering, and s Now Once Again JQrV at Sea Because She I Really Likes the Ocean j I By Helen Hoffman X7 0U might well have thought Theresa Y Edgar would never again be found on an ocean ship. If you had gone through her ordeal you probably would feel that you had a right to a prejudice. And yet she has just "gone back." Perhaps Per-haps the lure of the sea was too strong for any counter prejudice. And besides, there are no more submarines sub-marines ! From behind that gray veil of mystery which throuded life at sea during- the perilous days of war, now and then is revealed recitals of superb heroism which rival the extraordinary deeds of bravery and courage exhibited on the battlefields of Europe. Tales of the Tragic Days One cannot cross the Atlantic today without meeting one or more of the crew of a liner who has experienced the close-to-death sensation on a torpedoed steamer. Many of theso men after having been torpedoed once, and narrowly escaping escap-ing death in a lifeboat tossed on a turbulent sea, merely waited till their clothing had dried out before be-fore shipping again. 1 heard of one British sailor who had 'been torpedoed" seven times, but those "English ducks," as the American doughboy called them, gave not overmuch concern to such occurrences as being dumped out of their berths to shift for themselves in the rouph Atlantic. But of all the thrilling encounters with submarines sub-marines which the war produced, that told by a young English woman who spent eight days in a lifeboat until finally picked up by a British dc-Etroyerf dc-Etroyerf is in some ways most thrilling. One can understand how a seafaring man would have the pride to resent being driven from the sea by a little experience with a submarine which cast him afloat on the broad blue ocean. But this is the story of a little woman, who, lover of the sea, and fearless to the last degree! t has, after those terrible days last year in an open boat, courageously put to sea again as stewardess of the big Cunard liner, the Orduna, which plied continually between American and British ports, and transported thousands of American soldiers and war workers during the entire war period. The Woman Who Goes Back Hardy old captains of the sea who ploughed t their ships through the danger zones scores of I times since 1914, freely spoke their astonishment the other day when they learned that Mrs. i Theresa Edgar had gone to sea again. It was little short of marvellous, remarked j Capt. Taylor of the Orduna, whose ship made more than ninety trips through the submarine waters during the war. I Mrs. Edgar, Nthe young widow of a seafaring man, has a considerable war record herself, for I aside from her terrible experience after being j torpedoed, she has successfully crisscrossed the Atlantic danger zone sixty times. 1 "I was on the Mauritania, a few days out from j England, when war was declared," she said the I ther day in the lounge of the Orduna, while it rested in the port of New York. "We were I ; Mrs. Theresa Edgar, Heroine of a Torpedoed Liner, Who Has Overcome the Resulting Result-ing Horror of the Sea by Shipping Again as a Stewardess. chased by a German raider and ran into Halifax." This was the beginning of Mrs. Edgar's war experiences at sea. Mrs. Edgar says she is certain she has some sort of a protecting spirit watching over her, for, as she points out, she "stopped at home" after making the last round trips that the Lusitania and the Laconia made before they went down under un-der the fire of the German submarines. Mrs. Edgar, an attractive little person, with the fresh coloring of the English woman, and a pretty oval shaped face framed in a tossing mop of auburn hair, was' the stewardess and only woman aboard the ill-fated Ausonia when that ship was 'lost about 900 miles off the Irish coast. Had Stopped Thinking of Danger "I had been through the danger zone so often that about the last thing that I thought of when we sailed on that trip was submarines," she said. "Two other passenger boats accompanied us and we were escorted by six destroyers. "The second day out, while we were at luncheon, lunch-eon, we heard that a submarine had given chase. The destroyers had dropped depth bombs and it was believed that the sub had been sunk. "Whether it was the same submarine that sank our boat two days later we do not know. The following evening, Wednesday, the third day out, the destroyers left us, and we regarded ourselves our-selves in the zone of safety. "Late Thursday afternoon, being very tired and having nothing to do, I lay down in my cabin and was soon fast asleep. A terrible explosion awakened me a little while later. It was about 5 o'clock. Thinking the danger had passed when I lay down, I took off my blue dress and slipped on a kimono. I had my shoes on. "Merely curious, 1 walked out into the alleyway, alley-way, when the chief steward came rushing down the stairs.' 'For God's sake,' he called to me, 'cet on yrour lifebelt! The boat is sinking!' "I hurried on deck and saw that the stern was dipping down into the sea." Then Mrs. Edgar told of an incident i,hat re- EbPSBB ; wmm . If vealed the only hint in that whole terrible experience, experi-ence, of her essentially feminine make-up. "I had just bought a new spring hat in London," Lon-don," she said. "It was a pretty shade of pink. I liked it better than any hat I had ever had. I rushed back and got that hat. That is the only thine; I saved I put it on and wore it for one day when the waves did their worst. I lost all my personal belongings. "The boat? had been quickly lowered and as we carried no passengers the whole crew, with the exception of one-boat load, including the chief officer, physician and about twenty others, was rowinc; away from the sinking ship when I climbed down the rope ladder into the boat. At the same time, on the portside, Capt. Robert Capper, Cap-per, the last to leave, was jumping into a boat to save his life, when it was seen the ship was past saving. "There were seven lifeboats in all. The submarine sub-marine when it saw our men could not operate our ship's guns, came to the surface, and running in between us, fired about forty rounds into the Ausonia. The ship seemed fairly to leap out of the sea, stood for a fleeting minute on her noso, as it were, and dropped into the water. The Germans Standing By "With the Germans standing at their guns, the captain of the submarine whipped out a revolver, re-volver, and pointing it at the men in the different lifeboats ordered them to come alongside. "Covered with the revolver, as one after another an-other drew up before him, he ordered them to throw up their hands, while he questioned them as to the name, destination and mission of the boat. When he spied my pink hat, he seemed surprised, and remarked in perfect English to . his comrades, 'Why, there's a lady in this boat!' "Finally after having questioned the last boatful, boat-ful, to their satisfaction, the crew smiled at us or rather, it was a sarcastic sneer I should say and turned and left us to our fate. "I believe it was Capt Capper's foresight that saved us, for with his wonderful optimism, he ro- TVon spnpcr yculuro Scnlcc. 1919. ay a Terrific Gale Set in id Fearful That the Boats Would )llide We Had to Cut Them Loose." minded us that we were in the wake of steamer with a good chance of being rescued, but he said it may be longer than we think, so we will at once go on rations. "If .we hadn't done that we probably would have starved to death, as we have reason to believe be-lieve the men in two other boats did. "In order to divide the rations so they would last till we could be picked up, we had three tablespoons table-spoons of water three times a day. a half of a biscuit three times a day, and a slice of bullv beef once a day. I didn't eat the beef, because I suffered so from thirst, which the beef seemed to increase, and while the men urged upon me their share of the water, I did not want to accept any undue favors, so that they would regard me as a nuisance. "The weather at the time we were torpedoed was fine but during the night the breeze freshened, fresh-ened, and at daybreak two of the boats were not to be seen. Thsy never enme to shore. "We stretched a rope from boat to boat so that wc could all keep toother, but after th cixth day a terrific gale set in. and fearful that the boats wxmld collide, we had to cut them loose "With sails up. this gale helped us to speed toward land. Waves sprayed us and rains drenched us. I don't know how we managed it hut w all fr'lt somehow that we would be saved and we never gave up hope. During the nights my sensations were sad, I can assure you " "The captain had thrown a bag into his boat nnd this contained a white flannel shirt which he me I think I should have perished without with-out it This with one of the blankets with which the lifeboat's were supplied, kept me from freezing- Terrors of the Nirrht "Wc battled with heavy seas at times, and often during a night when it was as black as pitch, out chances of ever seeing home again seemed small indeed. "On Friday, eight days after we had been torpedoed." tor-pedoed." said Mrs. Edgar "the gale that had helped to speed toward shore died down. Th.s was when the weary sailor men began to show : of tne effects of exposure and lack of food. They had no strength left to pull the oars. For several hours they remained in this plight, and I think the thought pierced every one's mmd sometime some-time during that day. that unless help came very soon we couldn't stick it out much longer Bu. still hoping for the. best, the chief officer stirred us all by declaring that he was sure he had sighted land. "Then at last real hope did come! "There was a Light we saw in the distance Friday night, presumably a lighthouse, and Capt Capper sent up some red flares. Never shall I forget that tiny ray of hope that showed itself in the east, with death staring us all in the face. "That lighthouse was our salvation. It sig nailed a rescuing British war vessel, and about o'clock Saturday this ship bore down upon th most grateful group of people the Atlantic has ever looked upon. "We were a terrible looking lot; the men unshaven un-shaven and wet to their skins; my hair, which hadn't been combed for nine days, blowing every .. which way; and bedraggled and half dead we were pulled aboard the warm, cosey compartments compart-ments of the warship. "None of us will ever forget that wonderful breakfast, which we devoured like hungry wolves, after we had made such toilettes as the accommodations accommo-dations afforded. Landing in Ireland "The ship ran us into Bearhavcn, County Cork. We stayed at the hotel for a few hours and then journeyed on to Dublin, then to Holy head. Crossing Cross-ing the Irish sea, I thought, 'Now I can finally rest,' but no sooner was I resting in my cabin when I was warned of the danger we faced, and : pain we drew in our breaths and steeled ourselves our-selves for an; new experience that might overtake over-take us. All the other boats made land, except the two lost sight of the first night out. One sailor boy, who had his ankles broken by a pieco of wood that fell on him when the explosion oc- j w eurred, we had taken into our boat. He died two 1 f days after reaching the hospital in Liverpool The rest of us suffer at times from rheumatism or from our feet, but otherwise we are no worse for the experience. "I love the sea. I am happier on it than on land. After my husband died I had to cam my living, and I prefer this to anything else. I try not to think of that experience in a lifeboat Per- prt haps if I should dwell on it I should go crazy. I do not deny it was terrifying. Crouched m the Cn bottom of a boat, drenched for days, not knowing what moment would be our last, was not an experience ex-perience to be forgotten in a hurry But why dwell on the past when there is so much worth living for in the future?" Mrs. Edgar and other women of the sea who braved the submarine dangers year in and year m out, viewed their work philosophically and from Uq the high level of patriotic duty, for, as many of Hut, them icmarked: "Our men are in the trenches Jirli braving death. Shouldn't we take equal chances with them ?" Capt. Capper of the Ausonia, who was savei at sea, himself in 1913 saved more than one hun 2ei dred passengers and the crew of the Spanis) steamer Balmes which had taken fire on a voyag from Havana to Cadiz. For this he was rewarde? by the Spanish Life Saving Society with a gob ian medal, and received the official thanks of thi the Spanish government. ir j m |