Steamer Marina, Sailing from Glasgow to Baltimore and Newport News,
Torpedoed and Sunk Off Ireland; American Lives Lost...Four stories below, all from the same issue of the Hickory Daily Record.
“Americans Are Missing From Steamer Marina,” from the Hickory Daily
Record, Oct. 31, 1916. The United States
had not yet joined World War I. Several articles on the incident made the front
page of the newspaper. Incidents like this one angered many Americans.
Latest Reports From
American Consul Indicate Small Chance of Several Surviving—Ship Sunk Without
Warning, All Reports to Washington Agree
London, Oct. 31 (AP)—The number of missing from the British
steamship Marina, which was sunk off Ireland by a German submarine has now been
reduced to 13, according to a telegram received at the American embassy from
American Counsel Frost of Queenstown. Fifty-two have been landed. Mr. Frost
reports that some Americans probably are among the dead.
Mr. Frost’s telegram to the embassy follows:
“Fifty-two more survivors of the Marina landed at Castletown
Pier. No less than 36 Americans aboard, of whom 24 are missing. There probably
will be some American fatalities. Survivors report the Marina sunk without
warning and sank in a heavy sea.”
Mr. Frost is obtaining affidavits and ascertaining the facts
from survivors.
The American embassy today received a telegram from the
American consul at Glasgow stating that the Marina left Glasgow October 25 for
Baltimore and Newport News with 50 Americans aboard.
(The Irish town of
Cobh was known as Queenstown from 1849 to 1920.)
---
There were 45 Americans in the crew of the Marina. First
reports of her sinking said that only 34 members of her crew had been brought
to land. Mr. Frost said the Marina had been torpedoed without warning.
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16 Americans Survive
London, Oct. 31 (AP)—A private telegram received today from
Crookhaven by Consul General Skinner says that among the survivors from the
Marina who were landed at Cuxhaven, 16 are Americans.
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Three North
Carolinians Among Crew of Marina
Newport News, Oct. 31—The steamer Marina, reported sunk
without warning by gunfire from a German submarine off the Irish coast with the
loss of several American lives, was a bona fide merchant vessel, according to
agents of the Donaldson line here, and was not in the service of the British
government. The Marina sailed from this port for Glasgow October 25 with 50
Americans aboard, carrying a number of horses and a general cargo, most of the
Americans having signed for the round trip as horsemen.
“The Marina was one of our regular steamers plying between
here and Glasgow,” it was said at the office of the agents, “and was owned and
operated as a merchantman by the Donaldson line. She carried general cargoes
and sometimes horses for the British government, but she had not been
commandeered, and still retained her character as a merchantman.”
Following are the Americans, all white, on board the Marina
when the vessel sailed from here:
F.H. Smith, Philadelphia, foreman; J.S. Clarke and J.G.
Robbins, Richmond, Va.; William Cullen, Philadelphia, assistant foreman.
Horsemen: S.A. Davis and George Rogers, Norfolk, Va.; Andrew
Kraig, Springfield, Ohio; T.S. Hamlin, Edgar Miller, Charles Mines, Walter T.
Blaney, E.W. Ryan, T.E. Engle, M.L. Hunt, and Charles Horky, Baltimore; A.T.
Wence, Sheridan, Wyo.; H.B. Sinclair, J. Arnold, F.A. Arnold and Andrew G.
Robinson, Baltimore; James F. Foley and James Bridge, Salem, Mass.; George W.
Wheeler, Lancaster, Pa.; J.J. Harrison, Philadelphia; Eddie Martin, R.F. Clarke
and N. Little, Chicago; John H. Olsen, Boston; F.C. Davis, Wake Forest, N.C.;
Harry F. Jones, Baltimore; Tom Anderson, Oklahoma; Ed Kildal, St. Paul, Minn.;
John J. Riley and L. Harvey, New York; P.D. Brown, Upperville, Va.; R.J. Brown,
Edward Scherrer and J. Hancock, Washington, D.C.; H.B. Middleton,
Fredericksburg, Va.; H.B. Plenson, Richmond, Va.; J.M. Hause, Norfolk Va.;
Thomas J. Brannigan, Charleston, S.C.; Jack Davis, Roanoke, Va.; Robert Harris
and Robert Barton, Richmond, Va.; George F. Ledberry, Fayetteville, N.C.;
;Daniel P. Thomas and John P. Thomas, Wilmington, Del.; and George J. Lancaster,
New York.
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Lansing Orders
Reports of Marina Sinking by Cable; Won’t Comment
Washington, Oct. 31 (AP)—Secretary Lansing said today that
his reports on the destruction of the British ship Marina with probably
destruction of American lives still were too incomplete of any conclusions to
allow him to discuss the case. Fuller reports with affidavits of American
survivors have been ordered by cable.
The morning’s news dispatches said that some of the
survivors had seen the wake of a torpedo before the ship was struck and that
she was hit twice.
Officials noted, however, that the British admiralty was not
clear that the ship was torpedoed and that Consul Frost reports she was
destroyed by a torpedo. The advices from the first aspects of the case that
indicate no conclusion could be drawn until all circumstances had been cleared
up.
Admittedly the case was viewed as more serious than any
others since the destruction of the Sussex since it was the only one involving
the destruction of American lives.
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