LIEUTENANT J. J. PATTERSON, ENGINEER OFFICER, AND HIS HUSKY “BLACK GANG”
The three transports and the three large yachts proceeded without incident until the morning of the second day at sea, when a freshening wind kicked up a boisterous sea and the Kanawha found herself in trouble. She was taking the water green over her bows and the decks were flooded. To avoid being seriously battered, she was compelled to reduce speed, and, to make matters worse, the weather was growing rougher and a gale threatened. Unable to maintain the standard speed of the convoy, which slowed down, for a little while, to nine knots in order to let the Kanawha attempt to regain position, her captain signalled for permission to part company and return to port. This was granted, as the heavy weather had made her of no service to the convoy. Thereafter the formation was maintained in this wise:
| Corsair O | O Alcedo | ||
| O Henderson | |||
| Antilles | O | ||
| O Willehad |
| W | ||
| | | ||
| S | —— | N |
| | | ||
| E |
The third day out, October 17th, dawned clear with a moderate wind from the southwest and a disturbed sea covered with whitecaps. The ships were zigzagging, with all lookouts properly kept and gunners at their stations. The Antilles had her own battery which was manned by a detachment of the Naval Armed Guard. Early in the morning, at 6.45, she was steaming directly astern of the Corsair during one of the frequent changes of course. The light was still poor, and it was this hour, before the sunrise had brightened the sea, which the submarines had found most favorable for attack.
The Antilles was seen to sheer out to starboard and the Henderson hoisted a signal which could not be read from the bridge of the Corsair, but the yacht swung about on the instant and sounded the call to general quarters. There was no other indication that the Antilles had been hit and mortally wounded. Presently she was settling by the stern. Then the bow rose in air, towered there, and the ship plunged to the bottom five minutes after a torpedo had ripped open her engine-room. Smoke and dust and dirty whirlpools marked the spot where she had been, and the sea was littered with boats and bits of wreckage and struggling men. On board the Corsair was Commander F. N. Freeman, as commander of the patrol division to which the Corsair and Alcedo were attached, and his report contained the following description of the disaster:
No explosion was heard on the Corsair, nothing was seen of it, nor was a submarine sighted. The Henderson immediately turned to starboard and made a smoke screen, the Willehad turned to port and from knowledge now at hand apparently passed very nearly over the submarine that fired the torpedo. The Alcedo turned back to the spot where the Antilles sank. The Corsair steamed at nineteen knots directly astern of the Henderson and to the northeast, followed by the Alcedo. These two escorting vessels continued in the vicinity of the wreckage until 8.30 A.M. No sign of the submarine was seen.
During all this time the Alcedo was picking up survivors while the Corsair continued circling around the boats and wreckage. The Corsair assisted in picking up the survivors in outlying boats and patrolling the vicinity until 10.30 A.M. All survivors having been rescued, and it being impossible to overhaul either the Henderson or the Willehad before nightfall, we set course for Brest.
The total number of persons on board the Antilles was 237. The number rescued by the Corsair was 50, by the Alcedo 117—total rescued, 167.