The Corsair in the war zone

by Ralph Delahaye Paine

It is believed that every man on the Antilles who got into the water alive with life-belt on was rescued. Attention is invited to the excellent work of the Alcedo and Corsair in picking up survivors who were in the boats, on wreckage and life-rafts, floating over an area of several square miles. The Corsair picked up fifty persons from outlying wreckage and lifeboats without lowering a boat. The sea at this time was getting rough.

Officers from the Antilles have informed me that there was a fire on board the ship during the early morning, just before dawn, and that nearly all hands had turned out. This may account for the comparatively small loss of life, as the Antilles sank in seven minutes or less. It is not known whether the lights which had been turned on at the time of the fire were visible from outboard, and whether this has anything to do with the submarine attack. The Corsair reported no lights on the Antilles. The statements of the survivors are that several of them had seen the torpedo just before it struck the ship. It is worthy of mention that the conduct and bearing of the Armed Guard were a credit to the service.

No visual signals of any kind were made by the Corsair or Alcedo after nightfall at any time, and only one PDL flash-light signal was noted in the convoy. Only one radio signal was made and that at low power to the Henderson in thick weather, at night. Commanding officers were all thoroughly indoctrinated before getting under way in regard to the course, zigzagging, etc., and the escort vessels were unusually alert and attentive.

The senior naval officer on board the Antilles was Commander Daniel T. Ghent whose report to the Navy Department contained many incidents of interest in the story of the Corsair. Of the sixty-seven men who perished with the ship, he stated that forty-five of them belonged to the merchant crew, four were members of the armed guard, sixteen were soldiers who had been sent home, one was an ambulance driver, and one a colored stevedore. It was strange that the detonation of the torpedo was unheard by the escort vessels and that there was no visible disturbance, for on board the Antilles, according to Commander Ghent, the explosion was terrific. The ship shivered from stern to stem, listing immediately to port. One of the lookouts in the maintop, although protected by a canvas screen about five feet high, was hurled clear of this screen and killed when he struck the hatch below.

A BOAT-LOAD OF SURVIVORS FROM THE ANTILLES COMING ALONGSIDE

NAVAL OFFICERS RESCUED FROM THE ANTILLES, WITH GENERAL McNAIR, U.S.A., IN THE CENTRE

The explosion wrecked everything in the engine-room, including the ice machine and dynamo, and almost instantly flooded the compartment. The engine-room was filled with ammonia fumes and with the high-pressure gasses from the torpedo, and it is believed that every one on duty there was either instantly killed or disabled, excepting one oiler. This man happened to be on the upper gratings at the time. He tried to escape through the engine-room door but found it jammed and the knob blown off. Unable to force the door and finding that he was being overcome by the gases and ammonia fumes, he managed to escape through the engine-room skylight just as the ship was going under. Within a few seconds after the explosion, the water was over the crossheads of the main engines which were still turning over slowly. Of the twenty-one men on duty in the engine and fire rooms, only three escaped. Besides the oiler, two firemen crawled up through a ventilator. The fact that the engines could not be stopped and the headway checked, added to the difficulty of abandoning ship.

That only four boats out of ten succeeded in getting clear was due to this and several other causes,—the short time the ship stayed afloat, which was four and a half minutes by my watch, the rough sea, the heavy list, and the destruction of boats by the explosion. When there was no one left in sight on the decks, I went aft on the saloon deck where several men were struggling in the water near No. 5 boat and making no attempt to swim away from the side of the ship. I thought that they might be induced to get clear before the suction carried them down. By this time, however, the ship which was listed over at an angle of forty-five degrees, started to upend and go down. This motion threw me across the deck where I was washed overboard.