SINKING THE REWA.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLII, Issue 11445, 26 January 1918, Page 5

SINKING THE REWA.

SUBMRRINE NOT SEEN. SUFFERINGS OF SUKViWjR.J, i * .London, Jan. JO. Describing the sinking of tho hospital slap Hew a in tbo Bristol Channel at midnight on January 4, the i-dmiralty report states that the torpedo struck the Rcwa amidships, but tho .submarine was not seen. A member of tho 6rew stated:—■ Wo considered that wc were out of the danger zone, and the ship wes lighted up. Tlie extinguished the lights. There was no time to save personal belongings. Tho moon had risen. Magnificent order prevailed. Two or three of the boats were destroyed by the explosion. Most of tbo patients wore from tho East, many of them suffering from malaria. They h d a terrible experience exposed in open boats aim nn I’-'fto for three hpms. The boats were usei'l I'of the stretcher cases, and the wounded who could walk had to be content with rafts, which wore repeitedly soaked by the waves. Ton minutes after tho last boat left Wio Kewa, widen was sinking evenly, she suddenly plunged how foremost and disappeared. Tim boats kept close together awaiting I rescue. When this arrived 550 wore | transferred from the boats to ships within an hour.

The Spanish representative, who is carried on all hospital ships as a guarantee that they are employed for hospit )i work alone, had left the Kcwa at Gibraltar.