Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1916 — BRITISH LINER SUNK BY MINE [ARTICLE]

BRITISH LINER SUNK BY MINE

Alaunia Sinks in the English Channel Near London. FOUR OF CREW ARE MISSING 245 Passengers Were Landed at Falmouth—Boat Destroyed Wfcile on Way to Capital With 18,000Ton Cargo. New York, Oet. 20.—The Cunard liner Alaunia, hound from New York to Falmouth and London, was sunk by a mine in the English Channel. All of the 243 passengers on the liner were landed at Falmouth before the vessel struck the mine, according to officials of the Cunard line here. Four of the members of the crew were lost. News of the destruction of the Alaunia was received by the Cunard line in a cablegram. Passenger Superintendent P. W. Whatmough of the steamship line said that advices had been received that all of the Alaunia’s passengers had been landed at Falmouth. He gave out this statement: “All of the Alaunia’s passengers were landed at Falmouth on Tuesday morning. Some freight had also been taken from that liner at that port. We had previously received a cablegram giving us this information. The Alaunia was on her way from Falmouth to the Sulley docks in London to unload the balance of her freight when she struck the mine.” The Alaunia carried 185 first-class passengers and 58 steerage passengers. Believe Passengers Saved. Officials of the Cunard line said they believed all of the passengers had been landed at Falmouth and that the vessel struck the mine while on her way from that port to London. The text of the cablegram at the Cunard offices follows: “The Alaunia strvifk a mine in English Channel this morning. Sank during forenoon. Capt. H. M. Denison and majority of crew saved. Some missing.” The Alaunia was armed for defense against submarines. Included her passengers were ten Americans. She sailed from New York on the same day that the German submarine U-53 appeared in Newport harbor, leaving her pier about half an hour after the underseas fighter was reported there. The report of the arrival of the U-53 in American waters reached the Cunard line officials just before the Alaunia sailed. Captain Roberts and Assistant Manager R. L. Walker went aboard and told Captain Denison to take every precaution. An effort was made to keep the news of the German submarine’s arrival at Newport a secret from the passengers. Carried War Supplies. It was possible, the steamship officials pointed out, that the passengers had been sent from Falmouth to London to save time. When the Alaunia left this port she carried 18,000 tons of cargo, a large part of which consisted of war supplies. The Alaunia was a twin-screw steamship built in 1913 at Greenock for the Cunard Canadian one-cabin service. She was 13,261 tons net register, 540 feet long and 64 beam. Fitted with Marconi wireless and a system of submarine signaling and'with accommodations for 2,140 passengers, the Alaunia was rejjprded as one of the finest vessels in the service at the present time.