James Tayne Taine volunteered for the army in early 1915 and was attached to the NZ Field Artillery HQ as a specialist. He was on the troopship Southland headed for Gallipoli when a German torpedo hit the ship on its starboard bow.
TRANSPORT TORPEDOED
NEW ZEALANDERS ABOARD.
SOME EXCITING EXPERIENCES.
THREE MEN MISSING.
There appears to be no doubt that a transport on which there were New Zealaid and Australian troops was torpedoed while proceeding from Alexandria to Anzac. At least four separate accounts of the incident have come to light, and although as to details, all are agreed that three New Zealanders lost their lives, one being a Dunedin boy. Apparently there were several members of the Fifth Reinforcements aboard, probably men who had been attached to the Headquarters Staff of the Second Brigade. Gunner George S. Webb (a son of Mr J. S. Webb, of Michie street, Roslyn) furnishes a graphic account of the occurrence, which he regards as something very much in the nature of a splendid adventure.
"We had a glorious time last week," says this light-hearted soldier. “We left camp all right, but a blooming submarine torpedoed our transport. Of course, we had to take to the boats, and ours was capsized." He proceeds to describe events in detail. “I had previously taken off boots and putties, and therefore could swim fairly easily. I got jammed, and was pulled down in the water after the boat, but finally managed to free myself. I had not a lifebelt, either. After swimming for about 20 minutes I was pulled into a lifeboat. (Deletion by Censor.)
Evidently the boat was pretty well full of water, but they managed to get the plug in, and soon had her baled out. Altogether there were 57 men in it, or eight above its full complement.
"Fortunately,” continues Gunner Webb, "the sea was fairly calm, so we were not upset again, although nearly so several times. The ship was torpedoed at 9.45, and we were picked up by a French torpedo boat at 2.15. We lost everything, but what does that matter so long as I am here? We are absolutely forbidden to mention places, ships, or names. The ship had two torpedoes fired at her; one hit, the other missed, but nearly hit us in the water. She did not do much damage —only put a hole 50ft by 40ft in her under the water! The deck on which we were sleeping was blown to matchwood, and unfortunately several men were killed. The noise was not bad, but the smell of guncotton was vile. The ship just gave one big shiver and stopped dead when struck.
“I was standing right over the place where the torpedo struck, and there was no half of a commotion. I tried to get downstairs to get my lifebelt, but as my bunk had been blown sky-high the attempt was a failure. So I got into a lifeboat. The troops were nearly all orderly. One of the crew, who was in our boat, was quite unnerved, and cut one of the falls, which so capsized the lot of us. There are only three of our crowd missing, and the whole ship’s death roll does not reach 30 — not a bad escape at all. The French were more than kind, giving us cigarettes, fruit, and wine. So you see we were not so badly off, after all.”
THE VESSEL NOT SUNK
GUNNER LEWIN’S ACCOUNT.
Mr G. A. Lewin’s son, who left with the Fifth Reinforcements, and was attached to the Headquarters' Staff of the Second Brigade, writes an interesting account of the same experience. He says: "When the torpedo struck us I happened to be below, shaving, and it caught her just below where I was and blew the whole of the middle out of the apartment. It was a large place, where bunks had been fitted up all round the hold. The explosion blew the hatches clean off, and the steps that led from the hold went with them, so we were really caught down there. However, a chain happened to be hanging down from the deck above, and we climbed up that somehow or other. I went along the deck to the boat that had been allotted to us, and things were very orderly on deck — no sign of panic or anything like that; at least, amongst the soldiers, but I can’t say the same for some of the crew. We got into our boat, bright and early, and then gave the word to two of the crew to lower away; but one of the fellows let her go with a rush, while the other held on. Most of us were tipped into the sea, but somehow or other I managed to hold on till the boat struck the water. She did not float long, however, as, with so many trying to climb into her, she upset. I then swam off and got into another boat, and, after picking up five or six other chaps, we made for an island that appeared to be about 10 miles off. Then I found that only two of the New Zealanders were with me, and we thought that that was the end of our Headquarters Staff of No. 2 Brigade.
“The torpedo struck us at about 10 a.m., and in about an hour and a-half boats, cruisers, and destroyers began to arrive; but we kept on rowing for the island until we were picked up by a French destroyer, about 5.50 p.m. We were treated like lords on that destroyer. They dried our clothes — the few we had — and gave us hot wine and cigarettes and bread and “bully” beef, so we soon felt happy again. It took us about an hour to reach port, and we were then all put on a big transport to await orders. We are still on the transport. All that night boats were coming alongside with others of our company, and when we were collected again we found that we had lost three of our boys of the Headquarters Staff and about 51 Australians, so you see we were pretty lucky. They made a terrible mess of their attempt to sink our ship, luckily for us. The first torpedo missed the engine room, while the second one missed the vessel altogether. The crew got the bulkhead closed quickly and the transport was able to make port under her own steam. I came here in a singlet and a pair of trousers, and so far I have got none of my other gear. As they have to send divers down to get the things, I fear it won’t be much good, even if I do get it. I don’t mind going without a wash or a shave, but I do wish I could land a toothbrush somehow; but I suppose they will be issuing some gear to us before long. I was sorry to lose all the things the Dunedin ladies so kindly gave ns, but I suppose I should not complain, as I should consider myself lucky to be here at all. One of our chaps who is missing is a Dunedin boy, but I am not allowed to mention names. Our lieutenant and all our N.C.O.s are all right, so we have a lot to be thankful for.”
ST. CLAIR BOY’S EXPERIENCE.
Gunner J. F. Kerr, of the Headquarters staff, writing to his mother (Mrs Kerr, Allandale road, St. Glair), says: “We had a pretty exciting experience the other day. The boat our crowd were on was torpedoed by an enemy submarine. There was just one boatload of us, and we stood to our allotted boat without any confusion. However, in lowering away they let go one end first, and spilt us all into the water, young Lewin and myself swam to another boat and got aboard. It was empty, and we pulled in men until it was full, including one of our own crowd. We then got away and made for an island 12 miles away. We did not get there, though, as we were picked up by a French destroyer after being hours in the boat. I did not expect to see anything more of our own crowd, but they were all picked up in different boats except three, of who two were killed by the explosion and the third drowned."
MR W. TAINE’S SON DROWNED.
The Dunedin boy above referred to was James Tayne Taine, the second son of Mr Walter Taine. He was born in Dunedin and if he had lived would be now just about 21 years of age. He went away with the Fifth Reinforcements, and was the Headquarters Staff as a specialist. Prior to enlisting he worked with his father at the chemical stores. -Evening Star, 20/10/1915.
 |
| The troopship "Southland" after being torpedoed. |
The "Southland" was torpedoed by the German UB-14, a submarine which had been dismantled and sent by rail to the Austrian naval base at Pola on the Aegean Sea. It was on its way to a permanent base on the Black Sea from where it operated against Russian naval forces.
The Southland was able to be beached on a nearby island, repaired and returned to service. The remains of James Taine were not found.
 |
| Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin. DCC photo. |
No comments:
Post a Comment