“The Aboukir appeared to me to take about thirty-five minutes to sink, floating bottom up for about five minutes.  The Hogue turned turtle very quickly—­in about five minutes—­and floated bottom up for several minutes.  A dense black smoke was seen in the starboard battery, whether from coal or torpedo cordite I could not say.  The upper deck was not blown up, and only one other small explosion occurred and we heeled over.

“The Cressy I watched heel over from the cutter.  She heeled over to starboard very slowly, dense black smoke issuing from her when she attained an angle of about 90 degrees, and she took a long time from this angle till she floated bottom up with the starboard screw slightly out of water.  I consider it was thirty-five to forty-five minutes from the time she was struck till she was bottom up.

“All the men on the Hogue behaved extraordinarily [Transcriber:  original ‘extraordinarly’] well, obeying orders even when in the water swimming for their lives, and I witnessed many cases of great self-sacrifice and gallantry.  Farmstone, an able seaman of the Hogue, jumped overboard from the launch to make room for others, and would not avail himself of assistance until all the men near by were picked up.  He was in the water about half an hour.

“There was no panic of any sort, the men taking off their clothes as ordered and falling in with hammock or wood.  Capt.  Nicholson, in our other cutter, as usual, was perfectly cool and rescued large numbers of men.  I last saw him alongside the Flora.  Engineer Commander Stokes, I believe, was in the engine room to the last, and Engineer Lieut.  Commander Fendick got steam on the boat hoist and worked it in five minutes.

“I have the honor to submit that I may be appointed to another ship as soon as I can get a kit.”

The Sinking of the Hawke

[By a Correspondent of The London Daily Chronicle.]

ABERDEEN, Scotland, Oct. 16.—­The British cruiser Hawke was sunk in the North Sea yesterday by a German submarine, and of her crew of 400 officers and men only 73 are known to have been saved.

The cruiser Theseus, a sister ship of the Hawke, was attacked by the same submarine, but escaped because she obeyed the Admiralty’s instructions and looked to her own safety instead of rushing to the aid of the Hawke’s perishing crew.

A survivor of the Hawke gives the following description of the disaster:  “Within eight minutes the Hawke had gone under.  Had the ship gone down forward or aft there would have been some chance for us to get the boats out and clear of the cruiser, but she keeled over on her beam ends, and so of all boats we lowered those on the starboard side were useless, and those on the port side were crushed as soon as they touched the water.

“I was proud to be among such comrades.  Everything was absolutely in perfect order.  When the ship was struck a fearful explosion followed, and grime and dust were everywhere.  I was amidships at the time, and could hardly see to grope my way to the ship’s side.  I heard orders given to lower the boats, and then some one shouted, ’Look after yourselves!’ So I did that.