THE LOST APARIMA

Otago Witness, Issue 3332, 23 January 1918, Page 5

THE LOST APARIMA

AN ENGINEER'S GRAPHIC STORY, i i- ■~ r ~. — A graphic account of the torpedoing* of the s.s. Aparima in the Channel (says the Post) is given by Mr James -M'Keegan, who was. an engineer on the ship, in a letter to his father, Mr Charles M'Keegan, of Wellington:— "I was on watch in the engine-room," he writes, "when, at about five minutes to 1 on Monday morning we got a torpedo well aft. There was a terrific explosion, and it just about blew the stern clean off her. There was very little time to think. I hopped up to the middle platform, to shut the watertight door in the tunnel. 'By the time I got tlrere the water was rushing out of the tunnel full bore. The chief engineer arrived on the scene, and we managed to close it, but it was no good. The pressure of water was too great, and it forced the bulkhead door out. By this time the water was half-way up the engine columns. There was no chance of doing anything further. When I got up oh deck the water was level with it. . . . It was pitch dark and the decks awash, and her bow stuck up in the air. I made tracks for No. 3 lifeboat on the starboardl side. 'AH the clothes I had on were a boiler suit, a pair of socks, and a 'sweat rag.' I had just stepped into the lifeboat when the ship took her last plunge, and in doing so the lifeboat davit caupfhb the boat and capsized it. All hands landed in the cold briny ; some of the/m, poor fellows, never to come out. When the boat overturned all the gear dropped out and I got 'tangled up in it. . . I managed to get a lump of wreckage, and hung on with one hand, while with the other I succeeded in clearing- myself of the rope. . . . I started to swim for it. Gee whizz! The water was not half cold—54deg. I had been swimming about half an hour, when right In front loomed up a lifeboat. My temperature went up bang. I called out, and, thank God, they heard me. Willing hands lielped me on board. She drifted about until 4.30 a.m., When we were picked up by a Norwegian steamer. They could not do enough for us—hot coffee when wo arrived, gave us all clothes, fixed Tip the wounded ones, plenty of cigarettes and cigars; ham and eggS for breakfast. They took us up to St. Helen's Bay, where we transferred: into a navy patrol steamer, which took us up to Portsmouth. On the navy boat they also treated ui royally and at 2 o'clock on Monday afternoon we landed at Portsmouth. We were mot on arrival by a R.N.R. commander, who, after havincr sent the rest of the crowd to the Sailors' Home, took the skipper and I to his office, T beint* the only other officer in the boat. After having heard our stow, he sent me with four of th" cadets to the leading hotel in Portsmouth, where we were well looked after. Wo came to London yesterday morninar. and the companv has treated us handsomely. . . . Wo are going to be sent back to New Zealand as passengers. The hardest part about this turn out is that 17 out, of 28 cadets lost their lives. The chief engineer, chief officer, second officer, and chief steward were all lost. Rome of those who were saved were real heroes, especially the cadets. ... If some of the brave and self-sacrificing things . done on that fatal morning djd not deserve ! the V.C., then I will turn it up.'.'