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Re: Persic Sunk, September 6, 1918
Posted by:
Lee Edwards
()
Date: May 09, 2004 09:41AM
Thanks for your response. I was doing online research and perhaps should have done some more before I posted. This is very confusing. The Persic was a White Star liner like the Titanic. Some sources say it was torpedoed of the coast of SICILY. This is almost certainly incorrect. The sources should say it was torpedoed near the Isles of SCILLY. The attack was credited to U-87. This also seems to be incorrect as U-87 was sunk on Christmas Day, 1917 with the loss of all on board. Also, the Persic did not sink. It was severely damaged, but was eventually towed to port and repaired.
[www.shawsavillships.co.uk]
[uboat.net]
For the record, this is the account of my grandfather, E. L. Edwards, Sr., published in a contemporary in Coffee County, Tennessee.
A letter from Private Ernest L. Edwards, of the 131st regiment of infantry, now with the army in France, states that there were 20 Coffee county men on the steamer Persic, when it was attacked by a German submarine on its way across the Atlantic.
When the ship was struck, he says, the men waited for half an hour before they were rescued by submarine chasers which reported that the U-boat had been destroyed. in closing the account, he says: "We decided to give Jerry what he needed when we got over."
With all on board, Edwards waited until the news came that the submarine had been destroyed. His ship was filling with water through a hole in its hulk about 25 x 75 feet. Going over the side, cling to the ropes, they blistered the palms of their hands, but all that was not thought of in the greater excitement of getting away from the danger. When the ship was hit, it turned completely around, with its bow turned toward the United States.
[www.shawsavillships.co.uk]
[uboat.net]
For the record, this is the account of my grandfather, E. L. Edwards, Sr., published in a contemporary in Coffee County, Tennessee.
A letter from Private Ernest L. Edwards, of the 131st regiment of infantry, now with the army in France, states that there were 20 Coffee county men on the steamer Persic, when it was attacked by a German submarine on its way across the Atlantic.
When the ship was struck, he says, the men waited for half an hour before they were rescued by submarine chasers which reported that the U-boat had been destroyed. in closing the account, he says: "We decided to give Jerry what he needed when we got over."
With all on board, Edwards waited until the news came that the submarine had been destroyed. His ship was filling with water through a hole in its hulk about 25 x 75 feet. Going over the side, cling to the ropes, they blistered the palms of their hands, but all that was not thought of in the greater excitement of getting away from the danger. When the ship was hit, it turned completely around, with its bow turned toward the United States.
