man, second class, United States Navy; F.A.
Hedglin, seaman, second class, United States Navy.

[Sidenote: One raft probably went down.]

The remaining 16 men were apparently caught on the raft alongside the
ship and went down, this being probably caused by the current of water
which was rushing into the big hole in the ship's side, as the men were
on rafts which were in this vicinity.

[Sidenote: Danger from submarine.]

Although the German submarine commander made no offers of assistance of
any kind, yet otherwise his conduct for the ship's company in the boat
was all that could be expected. We naturally had some apprehension as to
whether or not he would open fire on the boats and rafts, I thought he
might probably do this, as an attempt to make me and other officers
disclose their identity. This possibility was evidently in the minds of
the men of the crew also, because at one time I noticed some one on the
submarine walk to the muzzle of one of the guns, apparently with the
intention of preparing it for action. This was evidently observed by
some of the men in my boat, and I heard the remark, "Good night, here
comes the fireworks." The spirit which actuated the remark of this
kind, under such circumstances, could be none other than that of cool
courage and bravery.

[Sidenote: Instances of self-sacrifice.]

There were many instances where a man showed more interest in the safety
of another than he did for himself. When loading the boats from the
rafts one man would hold back and insist that another be allowed to
enter the boat. There was a striking case of this kind when about dark I
noticed that Chief Master-at-Arms Rogers, who was rather an old man, and
been in the Navy for years, was on a raft, and I sent a boat to take him
from the raft, but he objected considerably to this, stating that he was
quite all right, although as a matter of fact he was very cold and
cramped from his long hours on the raft.

[Sidenote: The Balsa rafts excellent.]

Fortunately, the splendid type of life raft known as the Balsa raft, as
it was made of balsa wood, had been furnished the ship, and these
resulted in saving a great many men who might otherwise have been lost,
due to exhaustion in the water.

[Sidenote: Inspiring conduct of the men.]

The conduct of the men during this time of grave danger was thrilling
and inspiring, as a large percentage of them were young boys, who had
only been in the Navy for a period of a f