Page:The Lusitania's Last Voyage (lusitaniaslastvo00lauriala).djvu/51

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

The Lusitania's Last Voyage

of fishermen, but the deck of that boat, under our feet, felt as good as the front halls of our own homes.

The sight aboard that craft was a pitiful one, for while most of the first two boatloads of people that got aboard were dry, many of them had in their excitement removed much of their clothing before getting into the boat and consequently were, by this time, pretty thoroughly chilled. Those in my boat were in the saddest condition, for each one had been thoroughly soaked and some of them had been through terrible experiences. There is practically no cabin on one of these little fishermen, so all hands had to stay on deck, except a few that were able to help themselves down into the so-called cabin. The worst injured of course had to stay on deck. I gave my sweater to a chap who had on nothing but an undershirt and a pair of trousers, and I loaned my

( 35 )