THE WARILDA DISASTER

Evening Star, Issue 16822, 26 August 1918, Page 8

THE WARILDA DISASTER

SURVIVORS' NARRATIVES. UOUKAGE OF THE WOUNDED. A Melbourne printer, Sergeant A. Svensson, is in a London hospital after his terrible experience in the sinking of the Warilda. Ho was shot in the chest and abdomen at Villers-Bretonneui, on July 4, and (reports a cable message to the Sydney 'Sun'), though the wounds are healing, ho has been unable to move from his bed since. Ho was carried aboard the Warilda, and placed on the lower deck. Telling his story of the tragedy, he said: " I was awakened by the roar of the explosion. The other patients rushed upstairs, leaving two of us helpless In beds Wo waited for what seemed half an hour, but as tho xe&cuers did not arrive, w© decided to try to escape. We got out of bed, and tried to stand, but we both fell on the floor. We crawled to the stairway in the darkness, and dragged ourselves painfully towards the top. Alter many stoppages to recover strength, we mounted 12 or 15 steps, when a ship's officer offered to help us, assuring us that the ship would not sink. I told him to carry the other patient, and we reached the top, where wo lay exhausted on the deck. The vessel was then slanting towards tho stein. An orderly wrapped me in a blanket, and later lowered me in a chair aboard a destroyer. I was placed on a couch in the ward room, the sailors bringing me cocoa and clothing. The destroyer cruised about until daylight, picking up boats and dropping depth bombs. Tins exertion of climbing up the stairs reopened my wounds, but otherwise I am not seriously affected." Private L. Scanlan, of Newtown, Sydney, is in the same hospital. He told a racy story: "I was wounded at Bretonneux, a piece of shell entering my chest within half an inch of my heart." I was lying on my back for 15 days when I was taken on board the Warilda. The torpedoing affected me worse than the German shells. I forgot that I could not walk, and struck out for the stairs, climbing up them quicker than a '.possum. I rolled myself up in a blanket on deck. Then I remembered that 1 had left a bag with my cigarettes below. I felt that I must have a cigarette, .so I climbed down again into the darkness. I got tho bag, and when the destroyer arrived I swung myself aboard on the end of a rope. I was never more active in my life. The destroyer started rushing around, dropping depth bombs, frightening me worse than being torpedoed. A man must be game to take a berth on a destroyer," added Scanlan. " Tho Army will not get me to < cross the Channel again, I wouldn't face I the duck-pond for a fortune." • The majority of Australians lost occu- I pied tho ward wrecked by the explosion. J'ho rescued included strong swimmers, who were immersed for a long time. Charlotte Trowell, a member of the W.A.A.0., who was rescued, stated in an interview that she was pulled aboard the boat by an Australian and an American, who insisted on wrapping her in their blankets. She tried to save a lady passenger, and seized her by the hair, but her feet became entangled in the ropes, and it was impossible to extricate her. The lady collapsed, fell back, and was drowned. The wounded men assisted in saving the girls. Their heroism and self-sacrifice were unforgettable.