$Unique_ID{how04552}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{True Stories Of The Great War
VI - Story Told By Dr. Daniel V. Moore, An American Passenger}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Moore, Dr. Daniel V.}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{boat
deck

}
$Date{1915}
$Log{}
Title:       True Stories Of The Great War
Book:        Survivors' Stories Of Sinking Of The Lusitania
Author:      Moore, Dr. Daniel V.
Date:        1915

VI - Story Told By Dr. Daniel V. Moore, An American Passenger

     After the explosion quiet and order were soon accomplished by assurances
from the stewards.  I proceeded to the deck promenade for observation and saw
only that the ship was fast leaning to starboard.  I hurried toward my cabin
below for a lifebelt and turned back because of the difficulty in keeping
upright.  I struggled to D deck and forward to the first-class cabin, where
I saw a Catholic priest.

     I could find no belts and returned again toward E deck and saw a
stewardess struggling to dislodge a belt.  I helped her with hers and secured
one for myself.  I then rushed to D deck and noticed one woman perched on the
gunwale, watching a lowering lifeboat ten feet away. I pushed her down and
into the boat, then jumped in.  The stern of the lifeboat continued to lower,
but the bow stuck fast.  A stoker cut the bow ropes with a hatchet, and we
dropped in a vertical position.

     A girl whom we had heard sing at a concert was struggling and I caught
her by the ankle and pulled her in.  A man I grasped by the shoulders and I
landed him safe.  He was the barber of the first-class cabin, and a more
manly man I never met.  He showed his courage and his will later on.

     We pushed away hard to avoid the suck, but our boat was fast filling and
we bailed fast with one bucket and the women's hats.  The man with the bucket
became exhausted and I relieved him.  In a few minutes she was level full.
Then a keg floated up and I pitched it about ten feet away and followed it.
After reaching it I turned to see the fate of our boat. She had capsized and
covered many.  Now a young steward, Freeman, by name, had approached me,
clinging to a deck chair.  I urged him to grab the other side of the keg
several times.  He grew faint, but harsh speaking roused him.  Once he said:
"I am going to go," but I ridiculed this and it gave him strength.  By
stroking with our legs we succeeded in reaching a raft.

     We were in the water about one hour and a half.  At this time I suffered
from violent vomiting.  Then followed appalling chills, but by beating myself
I restored my energy and was soon handling an oar.  Freeman collapsed, but
recovered after reaching the patrol boat Brock. There were about twenty-three
persons on the raft.  They worked nobly in picking five of us up after what
seemed an eternity.

     The good boat Brock and her splendid officers and men took us aboard.
I went to the engine room and stripped to the skin.  Here and in the room
above I cared for men and women as they were rescued.  Little ten-year-old
Frank Hook had his left thigh bone fractured.  This I reduced and splinted,
and in a short while Frank asked, "Is there a funny paper on the boat?"

     At the scene of the catastrophe the surface of the water seemed dotted
with bodies.  Only a few of the lifeboats seemed to be doing any good.  The
cries of "My God!" "Save us!" and "Help!" gradually grew weaker from all
sides and finally a low weeping, wailing, inarticulate sound, mingled with
coughing and gurgling, made me heartsick.  I saw many men die, Some appeared
to be sleepy and worn out just before they went down, others grew gradually
blue and an air of hunger gave their features a sardonic smile.

     There was no suction when the ship settled.  She went down steadily and
at the best possible angle.  The lifeboats were not in order and they were
not manned.  Most of the people rushed to the upper decks.

     I did not hear a second explosion.  There is no more horrible or
pitiable sight possible than the sight of the faces of mothers and babies and
girls here in the morgues.

     Weighing all the facts soberly convinces me that it was only through the
mercy of God that any one was saved.  I sailed from America that I might
offer my services as a surgeon.  I have visited the Valley of Death and am
heartsick.