ANOTHER HIGH SEA CRIME

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2670, 17 January 1916, Page 5

ANOTHER HIGH SEA CRIME

CLAN MACFARLANE ATTACKED WITHOUT WARNING CREW LEFT TO PERISH AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE Bv Telecraph—Press Association—Copyright (Rec. January 16, 5.5 p.m.) London, January 15. The Scottish Clan Liner, Clan Macfarlane (4385 toils), which was reported 'torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean on December 30 last, was attacked without warning. There was a heavy sea at the time, and those on board did not see the attacker until too late. The crew, realising that the ship was doomed, took to the boats. The submarine then appeared on the surface, and the commander asked Captain Swanston the name, nationality,and other details of his vessel. The submarine commander appeared to bo a bundle of nerves, and showed great restlessness and uneasiness whilo the submarine was shelling the Clan Macfarlane, in order to hasten the sinking, and when this was accomplished the submarine disappeared, leaving 74 men to face death. Europeans and Lascars were tightly packed in six boats, which, tied together, battled with the mountainous seas for three days. The rations were reduced to half a biscuit and half a dipper of water twice daily. Two of the boats broke away on January 2 and were not seen again. Some of the Lascars and weaker men were now dying from the effects of their exposure. Captain Swarston's boat broke loose on January 4, and drifted away, sharing the fate of the earlier boats. The three remaining boats, wnier-logged, their occupants nearly dead from exposure and starvation, drifted helplessly for three days and nights, tossed hither and thither in a raging sea. Eleven more Lascars died, and the survivors by then were in ail utter state of collapse. They gave up all hope, but on January 7, after eight days' agony, they attracted a British ship, which brought them to Malta. Tho 24 survivors are now at the Seamen's Rest in Malta, little the worse for their experience.