STetc ch 37 - Hauffnitz / Lord Montagu's tale

[Michael Bailey]

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279: "...a long list, headed by the International Cheese Syndicate, who happen to be the ones breathing down our necks at the moment."
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This is just to emphasize the difficulty and danger of what Hauffnitz et al are about to undertake in "...see[ing] that Mr. Airmont is safely relocated where he can neither commit nor incur further harm."

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Hauffnitz is German for "howitzer" which is some kind of gunly term...
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"...an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar..." (Wikipedia)


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Sinking of the SS Persia: survivor Lord Montagu (Romeo's father?) wrote an article in 1923 for The Spectator.
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He had great facility with language; I cannot resist extensive quoting.
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"...I remember that, when thirst got beyond a certain point, it seemed to abate and hunger became merged in a feeling of general weakness.
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'But one's mind was clearer than ever. Senses seemed unnaturally acute. And so, when the s.s. Ningehow's ' masthead light came up like a star out of the East and one was certain that it was a ship's light and not a star, I felt there was not yet a certainty of life, but only a slender hope. I began to rally my fellow-sufferers, and the idea came to me to make them shout " Hitherao " (Hindustani for " Come here "), because I knew that no German in a decoy boat—and there were very many then in those seas—would cry out in Hindustani. Just as the `Ning- chow ' seemed to he going to run us down she stopped. After nearly an hour of cruising around us the great 7,000- ton ship came near, towering above us. The second officer had heard our cries, and I was able by shouting directions to her officers on the bridge, such as, "Go ahead and port your helm," to get the vessel so close that a rope was thrown to us and at last we were pulled up one by one in the bight of a rope. When I saw the last of my companions hauled on board and felt the bowline tauten round my shoulders, I looked down on the eggshell to which we had clung from 1 p.m. on the Thursday to 9.30 p.m. on the Friday night—New Year's Eve—and began to realize the miracle which had saved us. Even as one looked the cockleshell grated against the steel side of the ship and broke in two. And then came the reaction, for so much had one tuned one's mind and soul to die that the contemplation of living was curious and strangely hard. Could it be that we were ever to see our homes again?"

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"decoy boats" lurking in the water to draw would-be rescuers into range for submarines to sink them? Heinous! And clever to resort to crying for succor in Hindi!


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Lord Montagu's official testimony (a different discourse than the Spectator article) included gnarly horrors, his expressions of gratitude to individuals who helped him survive, and a nice, heartfelt plug for his "Grieve Waistcoat", which was apparently some kind of life preserver.

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"The voyage of the Persia had been a very successful one up to the time of the accident, and everyone was very comfortable and happy. On the day before the accident, we had boat drill at 10.30 a. m, and all of the passengers and crew went to their appointed stations, all the passengers with their life belts on. Owing to the ship not being full there was ample accommodation for everyone.
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"About 1.10 p. m. on Thursday, December 30, just as we were sit­ting down to tiffin there was a terrific explosion just abaft the main saloon; the smell of explosives at once told us what had happened, and I realized the ship had been torpedoed; the passengers at once went to fetch their life belts, and go to their stations without any sign of panic or fuss. When I got to the station allotted for No. 6 boat, on the port side, I saw boats being lowered on that side, but owing to the list of the ship, for she had begun to heel over very consider­ably, I at once realized that it was impossible to get into any boats on the port side as the ship was lying over on them, and still retained too much way, making it impossible to hope for any safety by boats on the port side. With great difficulty I then climbed up the star­board side, trying to pull with me a lady passenger who happened to be near me; the ship was then practically on her beam ends, and this was about three minutes after she had been struck. The ship now began to sink rapidly by the stem and I was swept off my feet by the rash of water along the promenade deck, going overboard on the starboard Side. The ship then sank and I was sucked down a long way, striking my head and body against several pieces of wreckage.


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Potential ad copy for the Grieve Waistcoat Company:

"It seemed a very long time before I came to the surface again, though I was conscious of rising very quickly, owing to the extreme buoyancy of my Grieve Waistcoat, which certainly at this moment saved my life.


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"Just before the ship foundered there was the usual and inevi­table uprush of steam and                       smoke from the engine room and stokehold.
"To show the rapidity with which the vessel went down I do not think more than four minutes could have elapsed from the time of her being struck to the time she disappeared. I am convinced that the com­mander, the officers and the crew did all that was possible to be done under the terrible circumstances.
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"When I had recovered my senses sufficiently to look around I saw the sea covered with struggling human beings but very little wreckage, and as far as I could see there seemed to be only three boats afloat in the water. There was nothing to indicate the presence of a submarine nor did I see any sign of one while on the Persia subse­quent to the torpedoing and previous to the sinking of the vessel. I then swam towards a signal locker I saw floating in the distance and to which was clinging the ship’s doctor, who appeared in a stunned condition, as his head appeared to be injured in some way; on reaching it I found it would not support more than one person so I left the doctor on it and swam towards a boat floating upside down about fifty yards away, her bottom being covered with native seamen, far too many for the boat to support. I managed, however, to climb up and get astride of the keel band on the extreme end aft and from this position I saw a boat a short distance off, picking up people, and shouted to them to come and help us, but they rowed away, but as there were cries of help from all sides I make no complaint about them not coming to our assistance. About one hour after the disaster there were on our upturned boat four Europeans left, besides about twenty native crew, the remainder having dropped off as they became too weak to hold on. The boat at this time was righted by a big wave, and we managed after great difficulty to get into her. I then realized that not only had she a large hole in her bottom, but that her bows were split open as well, probably smashed in the lowering. She was also in a state of extreme instability for the air tanks which showed she was one of the life boats were some of them smashed and others perforated and the smallest weight on the starboard side of her tended to capsize her again, which before we were picked up happened sev­eral times. About sunset we were most of us sitting up to our knees in water, and there remained when the sun went down of the original number in the boat, thirteen native seamen and firemen, two Goanese stewards, one Italian 2d class passenger, one Scotchman, also a 2d passenger, one English Steward, named, Martin, and myself, i.e., nineteen only. Had it not been for Mr. Alexander Clark, the Scotch passenger, and Martin, the steward, who more than once helped me to climb back into the boat, after she capsized so often, I should have had no chance."