CHANNEL FERRY TORPEDOED.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLI, Issue 12807, 27 March 1916, Page 5

CHANNEL FERRY TORPEDOED.

PASSENGERS TAKEN OKI'

Received March 26. at 5.5 p.m. Loudon, March 25. The Brighton Railway Company'.* steamer Susses was torpedoed between Folkestone and Dieppe with 250 passengers aboard. Seventy per cent, of tho passengers were women and children, chiefly Belgian refugees going to the sooth of France. When the vessel was approaching the French coast a torpedo suddenly struck hpr amidships and crashed into her engine-room, wounding several engineers. Wireless calls for help brought assistance. There was no panic and everything worked like clockwork. The passengers were .taken off and the Sussex was towed into Boulogne. Received March 26. at 11 p.m. Parjs, March 26. Thirty Americans were aboard the Sussex.

The 'captain saw tho' torpedo 100 yards off and fruitlessly manoeuvred to avoid the missile. The torpeclo struck the bow, and destroyed part of the wireless aerial. "When the wireless was temporarily rigged, the ship's position ..was inaccurately signalled, thus causing some delay in tho atfiral of the rescue vessels. A French trawler brought the majority of those aboard the Sussex to Boulogne.. The British destroyers took tho rest to England. There was an explosion, and a slight panic that resulted in the estimated loss of .30 lives. The tint lifeboat launched capsized.- and manv of the survivors were picked up by the boats, some having boon in the water for four hours.

The explosion killed two of the crew and wounded others. Received March 27, <i£ 8.50 a.m. - . New York. March 26. Stocks declined sharply owing to the reports that some Americans aboard the .Sussex perished. Received March 27, at 10.20 a.m. London, March 26. The buoyancy of the Sussex was duo to the strength of the watertight compartments. The passengers . included several nurses, with all equipment handy and they quickly attended to manv shocking cases. Two Americans in Paris and London Have signed depositions that thev saw a torpedo. " Received March 27, at 8.3 a.m. „. ... London. March 26. Mi.; .Sussex passengers totalled 386, of whom 69 landed at Dover. Though the steamer's rockets were clearly visL'„ il sailing vessel that came within •n/O .vards of a boat sent to seek sueC0 J"" Proceeded in an opposite direction. Crocker and Penficld, two Americans arc in hospital at Dover with their skulls fractured. Miss Baldwin, of New .York, was killed, and two other Americans are missing. Two badlv-woundod passengers died aboard the British (Test royers.

As tin: Sussex's boilers continued to work after the explosion there was plenty of electric light, which helped to cheer the passengers while awaiting rescue.

The damage extended to the captain's bridge .and there was destruction to the vessel's interior". Tlie dining-room was wrecked, and several people were killed tlierc. ' The capsize of the lifeboat was duo to :> passenger being taken aboard against tlie officer's advice. Many of the ccctinants were drowned. Other passengers jumped from the deck of the steamer, and. missing tlie boats, perished. A passeiiser stated. that the scene fboard the Sussex was a most desol:t» ting one, the crowd® awaiting what seemed to be inevitable death. There were passengers on rafts or clinging in pieces of wood looking out for help which, oiving to the mishap to the aerial was not forthcoming. The women were bailing with liats and handbags. Those clinging to the rafts anrt wreckage at 7 in the evening returned aboard the Sussex. The sailors were splendidly self-sacrificing, throughout. M. Bardac. a Parisian banker, had his legs badly crushed. He says there was a Winding crash and a tremendous upheaval. A miraculous feature was tliafc although one-third of the Sussexwas blown away slit? did not settle a single inch.

Received March 27. at 11.25 a.m. Paris. March 20. Andrew M'Nurg, an Australian sta-tion-owner. who was aboard the Sussex, on being interviewed, said that lie was knocked flat by the explosion. The first lifeboat, wliich contained principally women and children, struck the ship's side .and"capsized, many of the occupants being injured. Mr M'Nurg entered the last boat. but. fearing it would sink, swam back to the Sussex and was hauled aboard. A French corporal states that a German submarine was seen after the Sussex was torpedoed. There is much anxiety as to the fate of Professor James Baldwin, tlie famon» psychologist. It is believed that ho was a passenger on the Sussex.