SINKING OF THE ASHBURTON.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 1407, 1 June 1916, Page 3

SINKING OF THE ASHBURTON.

FATE QF. AN AUSTRALIAN TRADER; ■•».

Abandon ship. I am going to sink you, was; the signal by a German submarine to the steamer Ashburton, on her _^ homeward voyage from New Zealand. The Ashburton tried to get away but failed, but the crew escaped in the boats, and on. landing at Plymouth told the story of the sinking of itheir steamer. "It was on April 1, at 8.30 a.m., about 180 miles south of the Lizard , (says one account) "that the captain^ attention was directed to what appeared to be a pole close alongside, and above water. Whether it was 1 part of : » mine* or a submarine it was impossible, to determine. Thinking it was a mine, the captain decided to stand on, and got about two miles away. When the object came to the surface it was found to be a HuO submarine. The Ashburton made 'off at top speed, but was" quickly brought up by the guns of the/ submarine.., Fire was first directed, and apparently at the boats, which were riddled with shrapnel. a Then the Germans had ago at the Ashburton's wireless, bringing down the aero., Further shots were directed at the" rudder, with the result that the steamer began to settle aft. Another shot carried away the funnel, and at last the steamer was forced to surrender. When this occurred the submarine fired a torpedo,- which struck the Ashburton on the waiter line by the engine-room; and slie sank in 25 minutes. ;

One boat, in. its damaged/condition, was being lowered, but something happened, causing the bdat to cant, and 30 men were thrown into the water. Tliey had their lifebelts round them: The submarine crew rendered no assistance, and calmly Watched the men struggling in the water; and eventually they submerged and disappeared. Luckily, there was little sea on, and two other boats were lowered, and managed to float, and the men in the water were pickfed U P* Five men were injured, namely, the third engineer, the carpenter, two British members of the crew, and a Chinese sailor. These were taken to the Royal Naval Hospital, at Plymouth."

New Zealand soldiers who have been in England since January, and have experienced the succession of blizzards said to have been the worst for 50 years, will, says a writer from the New Zealand base' at Hornchurch, have a keener appreciation of the mild winter of their homeland than they have hitherto had. The writer stated that he made a trip to Staffordshire that usually takes about 2| hours, but he had to leave during the height of the worst Wizard of the century, and tho journey took 12 hours. The distance was 100 miles. If he, had been in. NewZealand the time occupied on such a journey would not have been ao very extraordinary, but in England, '-where you cannVt count the blades of grass as the train moves, it was something quite out of the ordinary. All the way along, the telegraph poles were »ithailying full length on the snow-covered J ground, or snapped off half-way up. Snow fell heavily all through tin. journey, and was so thick that -.ho head, of the train could not be, -eta three' carriage lengths away, '