1939-10-01 — Page 5

ER 1, 1989

OF

R

to the sea by

inking vessei tching pieces fforts to save

ured or scald- een burst by sion.

ort was made

fonts, which d sixty men.

oval lifebelts. ed with cork. the heaviest ges are rope ble distressed. To these floats ing on which h in water.

myself

[o.. 3:

2

and

took

er, as those of to scramble

LTER

LES DEN

vere

carried down with her all the boats and those in them.

As the water closed over her we realised that although we had, at least, escaped that awful death the float on which we were being dung hither and thither, seemed likely at any moment to be smushed by the terrific seas.

There were between thirty and forty men

raft on the circular when the ship went down, but one by one they disappeared.

The water was icy cold and many died from sheer exhaustion from exposure; others were washed paddling away.

ut of the way

2 gave a fear-

d began to go

hall never for- w, when it had

eto lower the

n them as they

́s, thinking that

wn under them

Hampshire gave rning a somer sappeared she

Presently our raft flung against the shore, and smashed, leaving us clinging to the rocks.

Between me and the shore” was a ̈ strip of calmer water, perhaps twelve feet wide, perhaps more. And I could not swim. But I somehow managed to get across It.

I was saved.

How I succeeded in climbing the face of that craggy shore, with the sound of the storm beating below I shall never know. But I event ually clawed

my way to the top, bruised and bleeding.

Crawled To

A House

All around us were floating bod- les: Other men were.. clinging to I remember little more, excepting lifebelts and pieces of wreckage and the final effort to crawl towards a calling for, help. But, it was impos- house that I could see 300 yards in- able to rescue them.

In the distance we could see the rocky Orkney coast, a black

jagged ride against the sky,

and

land, and being met by kindly folk and given food and hot drinks and shelter.

My companions, too, reached the top, and after a few days' conva- An hour passed, two hours, and lascence we were sent back to nearer and nearer to land the storm hospital ship in Scapa Flow. hurled us. Men were still dying in the agony of it all until there were but four of us left alive.

In all there were only twelve survivors out "of the entire crew. Be-

sides. Lord Kitchener and his staff, all officers of the Hampshire per- ished.

The last ploture of Lord Kit- chener, He is seon walking down the gangway from the destroyer Oak to board the Iron Duke to see Admiral Sir John (later, Lord) Jellicos. A fow minutes later he boarded the Hampshire,

That there was a deliberate" plot" to do away with Lord Kitchener has, often been rumoured. It has been said that the Germans were aware of the projected voyage and sent the Hampshire to the bottom, tenable since no one, not even Lord either with a torpedo fired from Kitchener or the Hampshire's cap submarine or by a mine purposely tin, knew until the last minute that laid in its course..

de ship would take the western in- stead of the eastern route.

The Thirteenth

Mino

Moreover, subsequent sweeping, in the vicinity. where the Hampshire went down accounted for, twelve of In any case, the torpedo theory the thirteen mines-known to have can at once be. discounted, for no been laid by the German submarine submarine could possibly have liv- U.175 as a preliminary to the opera ed in such seas. And the deliberate tion of the enemy's fleet at Jutland. mine theory, in my opinion, is un- The thirteenth sank the Hampshire.

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