The bell for luncheon rang at 11:30. As we sat at the table, still
without the Captain, we joked and laughed together, to hide our lack
of ease. We spoke of trivial things. We were through with lunch now;
the others were going out; I was rising from my seat, at the same time
drinking the remainder of my coffee. Then the thing came upon us that
we had all, strangely enough, felt coming, in our hearts.
A terrific vibration shook the ship. I was thrown back into my seat. I
knew that the ship must be stopping. I heard a running and scurrying
about the deck outside. Looking out, I saw, through the dining saloon
window, six or ten stewards in white whirling out of sight around an
angle.
"What could be wrong, Doctor?" I asked one of the ship's doctors in
French.
"Heaven only knows!" he answered, as he carefully adjusted his military
cape, and hurried out. The dining saloon was emptied in an instant;
everybody had bolted as if they were running to a fire.
It was evident that something had gone wrong with the ship, though,
by some queer process of mind, at that moment nobody thought of a
submarine. But hearing the next moment a sharp, quick crash, as of
lightning that had struck home close by, at the same instant I both
thought of the possibility of a submarine--and saw one!
The fog had lifted slightly. There, in full view framed in the window
with a curious, picture-like effect, lay a submarine with its deck out
of the water. It was long and flat, horribly longer and bigger than
the mental conception I had formed of what such a thing would be like.
There was a gun mounted in front, and another at back, and both had
their muzzles leveled directly at the _Ancona_.
The submarine stood out in clear, black outline against the white
background of mist. The fog seemed only to make it more distinct, as it
always does with objects near by. From a staff in the back broke a red
and white drapeau. Afterward I learned that this was the combination of
colors that made the Austrian flag. I was ignorant of it, then, though
I remembered the exact colors.
So far, I could find nothing tragic or terrible in the situation.
Possibly we would be in danger of considerable exposure in open boats,
before other ships, summoned by wireless, would pick us up. I did not
rush out as the others had done. I stood quite still, in order to calm
myself, to give myself time to think what would better be done. The
_Ancona_ had come to a stop. Of that I was certain. I also knew that
the ship was doomed.
But now there came another terrible crash, and another, and another,
in different parts of the ship, followed by explosions and the sound
of débris falling into the water and on deck. Well, they were merely
destroying the wireless. Still there was no fear of death.
But now I was aware of a terrible shrieking. Everybody was in a
frightened panic.