THE LAST WE SAW OF KITCHENER

Nelson Evening Mail, 7 August 1916, Page 7

THE LAST WE SAW OF KITCHENER

A SURVIVOR'S STORY

The official version (issued by the Admiralty Board) of the last moments of Lord Kitchener and the other victims on t.M.S. Hampshire, is supplemented by Ihe following narrative, which appeared 'n The Times, from Leading Seaman Charles Walter Rogerson : "I was the last of the survivors to <ee Lord Kitchener before leaving the -hip. In the papers I notice that His Lordship is said to have been drowned by the overturning: of a boat, but this is not correct. Lord Kitchener went down with the ship. He did not leave her. I saw Captain Savill helping his boat's crew to clear a- way to the sjallev. The captain at this time was calling to Lord Kitchener to go t-9 the boat, but owiug to 'the noise of the wind and the sea. Lord: Kitchener apparently could not hear him.

"When the explosion occurred' Lord Kitchener walked calmly from the captain's cabin/ went, up the ladder, and on to the quarter-deck. There I saw him walking quite coolly and collectedly up and down talking to two of his officers. All three were -wearing khaki without overcoats. In fact, they were dressed just as they were when thev boarded the ship. Lord Kitchener did not seem in the least perturbed, but calmlv watched the preparations for abandoning the shin, which were going on in a quiet, steady, and orderly way. The crew went to their stations, obeying orders steadily, and. did their best to ?et out the boats, but that proved im■oossible.

"Owmrr to ffhe ron?h weather no boats 'could be lowered. Those that were j;ot out- were smashed im fit once. No boats 1-oft the ship. What the -people on shore thought to be boats leaving were three rafts. Men did get into the boats = thev lay in their cradles, thinking that is the shin went from under them the boats would float. But the ship sank by the head, and when she did she turned a complete somersault forward, carrying down with her all 1 the boats and' those in them.

"T do not think Lord Kitchener grot into a. boat .it all When. I sprung on to a- raft he was still on the starboard' side of the quarter-deck talking to h.is officers. I won't sav he did not feel the strain of the nerilous situation like tha rest of us, hut he irave no outward skrn of nervousness, and from the little time that elaused' between my leaving the shin and her sinkincr I feel certain that Lord Kitchener went down with her. standi no- on the deck at the time. Of the civilian members of his suite I saw nothing.

"I pot awav on one of the rafts, and we had 'a terrible five hours in the water. It was so rough that the sea. beat down on us. and many men were killed by the buffeting they received. Many others died, fl'om the fearful cold. I was quite benumbed. An almost overpowering desire to sleep oame vraon- us, and to cet over this we thumped ea.oh other on the back, for no mail' who- went to sleen ever woke again . When men died, it was just as though they were falling asleep. One man stood unright for fivo hours on a raft with dead lyinig all round him. Another man died in. my arms. As we got neair t'he shore the situation grew worse. The wind was blowing towards the shore, and the furv of the sea dashed our raft against the rocks with tremendous force. Many were killed, in this way, and one raft was overturned' three times.

"I do not quite know how I got ashoTe. for all feeling had gone out of me. But we were very kindly treated by the people who picked us ito. They said it was the worst storm they had had there for years. Although Ido not reallv know what happened, my belief is that the Hampshire struck a mine, which exploded under her fore part. It could not have been a submarine in such weather. An internal explosion in one of the magazines would have ripped the shin apart! It was hard luck to come to such an end after going through the Horn Reef battle unscathed. In. that battle we led. the Iron 'Bake into action, and' our ' shells sank a German:' ■ light cruiser and two submarines. We did not . have a single casualty in our -ship, although. big shell fairly rained into the water all round us."

First Class Petty 'Officen Wilfred Wesson, who was the first man to scramble aslioro from one of the rafts. says:—

"While our raft was beating towards the shore we picked l iro many men .from the water and dragged them oil 1 to the raft. As you know, there were only 12 survivors f whole ship's company. On my raft there were 43 when we re-ached the shore. Among them were an assistant paymaster, a 'gunner, and a carpenter. On the way we could see men sinking as they were making towards the beach. The place where the ship went down! was about three miles from the shore, and but for the awful weather the whole crew would probably have been saved. The seas were terrible. They overran us and- kept swamping the raft instead of drifting, at along beEore them. When the raft grounded I .lumped tiff, and waited until the. next wave took me further in. Then,, somehow, I scrambled to the top of the cliff. When I tried to stand up there I found rav feet would not'support me, aiidi I fell down: again: .Seeing a house in the distance, I crawled to it, and tried to wake up "the occupants. After shouting about ten! minutes I got a response, but when the people came to nie and I tridd to explain to them what had happened-I could not. They took irie inside, wrapped me. in blankets, and put me in bed with hot-water bottles. Meanwhile I had managed to make them understand something about my companions. Rescue parties' of farmers living . round about 'got ropes and went to the. cliffs and saved all they could 1 find."