| [Mr.
Inch] said the catastrophe occured whilst the second sitting of
passengers were at lunch. He and a lady friend were on deck
writing. The ship's paper had been circulated and they were
chatting and joking over the Germans' threats, when suddenly the vessel
was brought round in an arc and immediately afterwards the first
tropedo struck the boilers but without exploding. The ship
immediately began to sink and the unfortunate people in the second
sitting of diners must have been drowned like rats in a sewer.
The crew and passengers, especially the women, behaved with admirable
calmness, coolness and fortitude, the only screaming being that of the
children on board. Many were speechless with fright, others
numbed with fear, bur Mr. Inch, like the majority, hardly realised the
danger, his mind being so fully occupied with doing all that was
humanly possible for the women and children. He said he felt no
fear and repeatedly urged his friend not to worry as he was sure the
vessel would not go down. he went on to say that he owed his
rescue to her appeals. He had put her in the last boat and was
busy getting other ladies and children to safety, when she called to
him to jump. He had previously divested himself of unnecessary
clothing so that when the end came he could make a swim to something --
a boat or piece of wreckage. The boat was now nine to ten feet
away and he successfully jumped without upsetting it or injuring
anyone. It was only by a miracle that the boat escaped
destruction. When the vessel sank, the boat was in between the
masts, and if the Marconi wire had not broken, the boat and its wet,
hungry and exhausted freight would never had escaped [sounds like boat
#15]. There were from 80 to 85 persons in this boat when it was
rescued by a fishing trawler some four hours after the Lusitania [had]
sunk. Those who did not row, rendered great service by reviving
those who were picked up half dead, and did nobly, hampered as they
were by lack of stimulants, etc. Everything that Mr. Inch had,
with the exception of some money which he had in his pocket, was lost,
and his friend, like many others, lost everything. Mr. Inch said that he did not see the submarine, but it rose sufficiently to hoist the German flag [pretty sure that this did not happen], which it kept hoisted for about five minutes. He saw none of the crew. He had only admiration for the way in which both passengers and crew alike did all that was humanly possible to save life. Many lives were lost in the heavy suction when the ship went down, and it was only with great difficulty that boats were able to get clear of the whirlpool. When asked about the alleged warning issued to passengers at New York, Mr. Inch said he saw none. Mr. Inch reached Wembley at 9:30 on Sunday morning [9 May]. |