The British sailing vessel Galgorm Castle carried a crew of 24. At 5.30 p.m. on the 27th February, 1917, the ship was sunk by the Germans with bombs. The crew left in two boats, but became separated in the darkness. One boat capsized, drowning four men; the remaining eight clung to her, but seven of them died from exposure. The twelfth man, a Russian, was picked up on the 7th March. The second boat, with her 12 survivors, was picked up.
At 6.50 a.m. on the 1st March, 1917, while the British trawler Redcap was hauling in her trawl, a U-boat appeared and fired several shells at her. One deck-hand was killed, the mate had his leg blown off, and two other hands were injured. The survivors got away in their boat, and were picked up at 12.30 p.m. The trawler was sunk by the Germans.
At 2.30 a.m. on the 17th March, the British steamer Tasso was torpedoed by a U-boat at sight, without any kind of warning. The vessel went down head-first, and the inrush of water against the forecastle and cabin doors prevented these from being opened. In this way many of the crew perished. The master and eighteen of the crew were drowned, six men being saved; two of these were slightly injured in the head. They were picked up by a French patrol steamer.
The British steamer Joshua Nicholson was torpedoed by a German submarine without warning at 6.30 a.m. on the 18th March, 1917. She began to settle down very rapidly, with a heavy list to starboard. While the port life-boat was being lowered she capsized, and three men were drowned. Another man was blown into the water by an explosion. After the ship had gone down, six men came to the surface and clung to pieces of wreckage. Of these, three sank during the next five hours, the remaining three being picked up at about 5 p.m., exhausted but alive.
The Joshua Nicholson and Galgorm Castle are two ordinary instances of German sinkings. The survivors in both cases underwent considerable sufferings, which were in no way mitigated by the Germans. No tow was offered and no assistance of any kind rendered to the crews.
The British steamship Alnwick Castle was in the Atlantic, 320 miles from land, on the 19th March. She carried a crew of 100, together with 14 passengers; she also had on board the master and 24 survivors of the s.s. Trevose, whom she had rescued on the previous day from their boats. She had, therefore, 138 souls on board, when at 6 a.m. she was torpedoed without warning by a submerged German submarine. The boats were lowered as quickly as possible, and in about 10 minutes the steamer plunged under water, bow first. Her whistle gave one blast; the main topmast broke off; there was a smothered roar, a cloud of dust, and she had disappeared.
The submarine had come to the surface and trained her gun on the steamer, but no shots were necessary to complete the sinking, and she steamed away without even speaking the boats. One of these was in charge of the chief officer, and contained 31 people, including two women and a four-months old baby. There was a considerable swell running, with a moderate wind, so all sail was hoisted, and the boats proceeded to the N.E. in single file, keeping in touch with one another for the remainder of the day.
During the night both wind and sea increased considerably, and the chief officer’s boat had lost touch with the others by the following morning, which was Tuesday. At 10 a.m. the weather compelled them to take in all sail, and they lay-to, keeping her head-on to the enormous seas with the help of a sea-anchor and the occasional use of the oars. They proceeded in this way throughout the day and during Tuesday night, which was very dark. They were thankful to see day break on Wednesday. They had lost their sea-anchor in the night, so lashed a couple of oars together, which served as a fairly good substitute. The weather improved during the morning, so they hoisted sail again and proceeded east.
During Tuesday night the chef had gone mad, and on Wednesday he died. Being accustomed to the warmth of a galley fire, he could not stand the cold. Meanwhile, the chief officer had taken control of the provisions and water. He served out the water in the morning and evening at the rate of half a dipper-full to each person. During Wednesday night the storekeeper went mad and had to be lashed down. He died about noon on Thursday, and a third-class passenger also expired on the same day.