THE TORPEDOING OF THE APARIMA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 53, 2 March 1918, Page 7

THE TORPEDOING OF THE APARIMA

FORMER NELSONIAN'S EX- ] PERIEN'CES. The fallowing account of the torpedoing of the New Zealand transport and training ship Aparima in th e English Channel i;j November last is taken, says a Queensland pa.per, from a letter written by Mr Maurice Mayo, who wasan engineer on the ship, to his parents, Mr and Mrs H. A. Mayo, of Mount Morgan. Queeivsland'. (Mr Mayo was former!v in the emplov of the Anchor 'Company. Nelson). Th" letter, which wa§ written in St. Mary's Hospital. Paddington, London, dated 26-11-17. is as follows: We left London for a port the other s-;d'° 0 f on Saturday and were getting along nicely. On Sunday I pnt in both my watches and had just come up from below, several of the boys came into my cabin for a yarn. .About a quarter to 1 -".m. T was talking to tile fourth engineer (t-hn others h<ivi!xr left for bed) when all of a sudden the>> was a fearful crash n= ir another bo?.*. ; had run into us. The poor oM shin : shook from stem to stern. T .cot *nfo i mv nniform. np mv handbag in ; which T ihad ™ v watch, ticket, papers , and inoDev. When I arrived i the ; engine room door everyone come ; up as the ship was filling rnpidlv. The ; sixth engineer who was on watch at | the time, told m e tn enme with liim to ! a boat, a« Ave do nothini. We | both gof into the boat : the water was : level with the derk then, so you can ; we had. verv little t'mp to spare, j We were tv> sooner in the boat when ' i't into the sea. My. the water was cold, j M dpq-. T maiivwl to free mvpplf and i climhrd on top. but was off j attain bv the ship sinking. T sank sornp distance, and o*"i comin<7" to the ton , acrain found mv boat ju=t han-dv. Onlv ; a few of us were left, the second Tnate. • a cadet, myself and 1 some Lascars. After a few minutes the mate called out to me that he could se e the submarine. . It took me some minutes before I could :

see it, when suddenly it appeared, carrying a red light on the port side and' cruising around amongst us<. I was too busy to watch liim, as the poor cadet went mad arid jumped overboard, and about an hour afterwards the mate told me he was cone and fell hack, into the sea. I was then the only white left and expected to go every minute. However, I plucked up and' began to yell for help : this kept m 9 warm. Th 0 poor Lascars 1 "were very cold' and were dying .all. around me. It- was impossible to do anything to sav e them, because if I moved the boat would roll over again. After the poor mate went -I had 20 Lascars with mc* and at daylight (6 hours later) I ooly had' six. The poor devils were dying like flies and their cries were most pitiful. Just after daylight a steamer passed us. I waved them to go on, as I did not think it would be wise for them to stop, tlhe submarine toeing about. She sent for help, &s the patrol boat soon arrived. Another boat was drifting near us. I found out later it was orse of ours. The men. on the patrol boat were very £ood to us. made us coffee and' nut me to bunk. We. were then transferred to a steamer, where T met our second engineer, Mr W. Hirst, with four cadets

and l several Lascars. They were all very wet and cold, but had not beer* I capsized. I fared the worst of th-e lot, as our boat kept rolling- over and over evei-y time th e sea caught her .'broadside on. We must have turned 1 over two dozen times during the night. The steamer took us to Weymouth. I had' to be carried ashore, as I had- lost the use of my legs.' The British- and Foreign Seam-en's Institute took us over and gave us dry clothes and tea. V« e were then sent on to London, and had to wait four hours on Paddington station forssomeon e to meet us. The ladies of t'he Soldiers' Buffet were most kind, gave us hot milk, etc. 'I hey would not let the Institute take me away, as I had lost the us© of my letrs and voice, so they very kindly cota motor car and drove me to the above hospital. The doctor and nurses soon got- to work, and next day I be::an to ..•el that I had a body left; I really had felt as though my body Iru! gone and just left my head, I had been up to my Deck in » - ater for seven hours. \ly doctor is Sir John Broadbent, so you see I am in good hands. The Union S.S. Coy. hav e given us moneyi and | pay our board, so I am alright. We | engineers have 'been. very lucky, the ; only ode to perish was our chief, !Mr j Roger son. W e carried thre© deck oi- ■ fleers, and two were drowned. Our poor cadets suffered the Just ! fancv. onlv 8 survivors out of 00, and [ most of them between 16 and 20 years j of aue. I am feeling alright now, and i hope to be out soon. I have beeo nine ; days in bed: the rest has done me good, j We are to get a first-class passage out j to New Zealand in a few weeks-' time, < then I will have another rest and give , some of the other fellows a chance tc> j see what Fritz can. do.