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Description
Date: 7 April 1915
Transcript:
[page 42]
[left: photograph of U 28 near the FALABA]
THE TORPEDOING OF THE "FALABA": THE GERMAN SUBMARINE RANGING ALONGSIDE.
[right: photograph of passengers on the FALABA]
AFTER THE TORPEDO STRUCK ITS MARK: LIFE-BELTED "FALABA" PASSENGERS.
The photographs on this page and that facing were taken from on board the "Falaba." No. 1 shows the German pirate submarine alongside, on the enemy overtaking the ill-fated vessel. The liner did her best to escape, but could only manage 14 knots to he submarine's 18. Within half an hour of being signalled to by the submarine to bring to, the enemy was alongside, within fifty yards, and then the "Falaba" stopped. The submarine, according to one account, bore no number, but seemed to be of exceptional size. Photograph No. 2 shows passengers wearing life-belts, hastily put on in the brief interval between the order for all on board to quit ship and the dastardly premature firing of the fatal torpedo. Eight of the "Falaba's" boats were got into the water, but one was staved in alongside
{Continued opposite
[page 43]
[left: photograph of FALABA lifeboats in the water]
Continued.} WHEN THE GERMANS LAUGHED AND JEERED! "FALABA" BOATS UPTURNED.
[right: photograph of capsized lifeboat]
A STRUGGLE FOR LIFE: "FALABA" PASSENGERS CLINGING TO A BOAT-KEEL.
the steamer, all in it being thrown into the water, while another was being lowered when the submarine's torpedo struck the linrer's hull directly underneath, capsizing the boat, and throwing its occupants into the sea. Had the ten minutes' grace named by the commander of he submarine been given, all the boats might have been launched safely and no lives been lost. Photographs Nos. 3 and 4 show the capsized boats and some of the people clinging to their keels, while others are struggling for life in the water. Several of the survivors declared, on landing and the coroner's inquest, that the Germany on the submarine's deck, with inhuman callousness, mocked and jeered at the drowning.— {Photos by Illustrations Bureau.}
Source:
"The Torpedoing of the 'Falaba'." The Illustrated War News 35 (7 Apr 1915): 42-3.
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