Adrift for Days
In the blog entry ‘John Reid and the SS Dwinsk’ I told the story of the ship’s sinking on 18 June 1918. This instalment follows the ordeal of the crew as they struggled to survive. The information is gleaned from newspaper articles which, compared to documents, are sometimes more personal.
Newspapers may record our ancestor’s own opinions, remembrances or life experiences. Such accounts are always exciting to discover. I can imagine my grandfather’s last days by reading about the experiences of those who survived. It is well worth the effort to search old newspapers and not all sites require a subscription.
Lifeboats 1-4
A report of the attack on the Dwinsk appears in the Los Angeles Evening Herald on 24 June 1918. Underneath this news appears an update stating that seventeen of the crew had been rescued by a schooner and taken to an Atlantic port. The rest were still adrift[1].
The Riverside Daily Press, on the same date, was able to inform its readers that 81 sailors from four lifeboats had been picked up and taken to New York, Hampton Quays and Bermuda[2]. A later edition perhaps; news did not travel quickly in 1918.
For some of the men in those four lifeboats being rescued after their ship sank may not have been a new experience. Ships were lost on a daily basis. Over 40 British merchant ships were lost in June 1918. When other countries’ shipping is included the number is over 100. Such events were daily news.
Dwinsk Survivors being rescued by USS Siboney on 21 June 1918. The picture was taken by Machinist John G Krieger, USN.[3]
It was in the newspaper articles concerning the last two lifeboats to be rescued, when the seamen themselves spoke of their experience, that the horrors of their ordeal were revealed.
Eight days afloat
The fifth lifeboat to reach safety was under the leadership of Philip Larbalestier, the boatswain’s mate. He told the reporter that all the lifeboats were together for the first day, but drifted apart after nightfall. By daybreak lifeboat 5 was alone. Rations were limited to a single biscuit and a little water each morning and evening. Three ships passed by, apparently, without seeing them. Then on the eighth day, when their rations were almost exhausted, the sailors were rescued by a fishing schooner, the James M Marshall.[4]
Why were they not seen earlier?
Phillip Larbalestier sighted three ships before the James M Marshall picked them up and lifeboat 6 saw six ships all of which the men believed and hoped would stop. On every occasion delight turned to despair when the ships headed away. A report from the Von Steuben had stated the submarine was using the lifeboats as a decoy. The ships which rescued the crew of the Dwinsk were very brave to approach the lifeboats believing they could be a German trap. [5]
Ten days in an open boat
First Officer Robert Jones Pritchard’s lifeboat was the sixth and last vessel to be rescued. You may remember he was the one who reported that the submarine resurfaced, as the lifeboats moved away, and then asked the men in his lifeboat for the name of the ship which had fired at it. Charles Gregory, a sailor speaking on behalf of the men from this boat, described this line of questioning as a clever German trick.
This lifeboat had a damaged sail and was slower to move away from the scene of the sinking than the other boats. They were quickly left behind.
The men were adrift for ten days enduring scorching sun and cold nights. On 22 June they encountered a cyclone. As the storm rose the youngest member of the crew, apprentice Eugene Corri, was swept overboard. The men could see him and hear him shout.[6] They tried to back the lifeboat towards him, but they were not able to reach the boy.
The storm worsened. Ross P Whitemarsh took the tiller. He chose to stand up in the lifeboat to get a better view of waves so three men held on to his legs fearful of losing another man overboard. The others were continually bailing water. While on the Dwinsk Whitemarsh was the senior American naval officer charged with overseeing the safety of American soldiers. The sailors in lifeboat 6 believed his bravery and skill during the eleven hour ordeal saved their lives.[7]
I do wonder if that furious storm also took the lives of my grandfather, Joseph Coppin and the other men in lifeboat 7. To be honest, I think that may have been easier for them if that was what happened.
After the storm conditions in lifeboat 6 became harder.
“We were then reduced to half a biscuit a day and we were breaking the buttons from our pants and sucking them to keep our mouths moist. There was practically no water. In the morning we would such[sic] the sail to get the dew that had collected in the cloth during the night.”
By the time they were rescued on the 28th June many of the men couldn’t stand up in the lifeboat. Some couldn’t speak because their tongues were so swollen, their eyes were affected by the relentless sun and two of their number had become temporarily insane. They would not have lasted another day. [8]
Before even reaching dry land, while still aboard the rescue ship, USS Rondo, Ross Whitemarsh received a declaration of thanks from the crew members in lifeboat 6. For historians and genealogists it is a useful record of who was in lifeboat six.[9]
The inquiry records indicate that Philip Larbalestier and Robert Jones Pritchard were both recommended for commendation in the London Gazette.[10] They also received Lloyds silver medals for saving lives at sea.
Ross Whitemarsh received a medal from King George V[11] and went on to become a Rear Admiral in the US Navy.
Lifeboat 7 was never found.
What’s Next?
My next step is to find out something about each of the men who died after the Dwinsk was torpedoed. It is something I have always intended to do and in these days of pandemic I now have the time.
So in the next instalment I will start by sharing the story of 16-year-old Eugene Corri who may have become a champion boxer had he survived.
References
[1] Los Angeles Herald. (1918) Transport is sunk. Fear 67 Dead. Los Angeles Herald 24 June. p.1c. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/ : accessed 3 December 2020.
[2] The Riverside Daily Press. (1918) British SS Dwinsk used to transport American troops is sent to the bottom. The Riverside Daily Press. 24 June. p1. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/ : accessed 3 December 2020.
[3] Images. Photograph. 21 June 1918. Dwinsk survivors rescued by USS Siboney. Lat. 39 05'N, Long. 65 35'W. US Navy Historical Centre Photo #: NH 64925. John krieger https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dwinsk_survivors_rescued_by_USS_Siboney.jpg : accessed 4 December 2020.
[4] San Francisco Call. (1918) Dwinsk victims rescued from open lifeboat. San Francisco Call 28 June. p.2b. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/ : accessed 3 December 2020.
[5] Gleaves, A. (1921). A history of the transport service: adventures and experiences of United States transports and cruisers in the World War. New York: George H. Doran Company. P.202- 215 https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000403928 : accessed 5 December 2020.
[6] Liverpool Daily Post (1918) Ten days in an open boat. Liverpool Daily Post 03 August. p3d. https://findmypast.co.uk : accessed 3 December 2020.
[7] Gleaves, A. (1921). A history of the transport service: adventures and experiences of United States transports and cruisers in the World War. New York: George H. Doran Company. P.202- 215 https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000403928 : accessed 5 December 2020.
[8] Liverpool Daily Post (1918) Ten days in an open boat. Liverpool Daily Post 03 August. p3d. https://findmypast.co.uk : accessed 3 December 2020.
[9] Gleaves, A. (1921). A history of the transport service: adventures and experiences of United States transports and cruisers in the World War. New York: George H. Doran Company. P.202- 215 https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000403928 : accessed 5 December 2020.
[10] Board of Navy and Admiralty (Great Britain) 1918. North America: German submarines, Volume I. Inquiry into sinking of SS Dwinsk 18 June 1918. Historical Section: Records used for Official History, First World War. Ref: ADM137/1617. Kew, London: The National Archives.
[11] The Evening Telegraph (Charters Towers Qld). (1919) The King and US lieutenant. 13 Sept. The Evening Telegraph (Charters Towers Qld). p.2a. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/212804042 accessed : 9 December 2020.