about half full of water and we immediately started
bailing and then to rescue men from the wreckage, and quickly filled the
whale boat to more than its maximum capacity, so that no others could
be taken aboard. We then picked up two overturned dories which were
nested together, separated them and righted them, only to find that
their sterns had been broken.

"We then located another nest of dories, which were found to be
seaworthy. Transferred some men from the whale boat into these dories
and proceeded to pick up other men from wreckage. During this time cries
were heard from two men in the water some distance away who were holding
on to wreckage and calling for assistance. It is believed that these men
were Earnest M. Harrison and John Winne, Jr. As soon as the dories were
available, we proceeded to where they were last seen but could find no
trace of them.

"About this time, which was probably an hour after the ship sank, a
German submarine approached the scene of torpedoing and lay to, near
some of the dories and life rafts. She was in the light condition, and
from my observation of her I am of the opinion that she was of the
U-27-31 type. This has been confirmed by having a number of men and
officers check the silhouette book. The submarine was probably one
hundred yards distant from my whale boat, and I heard no remarks from
anyone on the submarine, although I observed three persons standing on
top of conning tower. After laying on surface about half an hour the
submarine steered off and submerged. I then proceeded with the whale
boat and two dories searching through the wreckage to make sure that no
survivors were left in the water. No other people being seen, at 4:30
A.M. we steered away from the scene of disaster. The _Alcedo_ was sunk,
near as I can estimate, seventy-five miles west true of north end of
Belle Ile. The torpedo struck ship at 1:46 by the officer of the deck's
watch and the same watch stopped at 1:54 A.M. November 5th, this
showing that the ship remained afloat eight minutes. The flare of
Penmark Light was visible, and I headed for it and ascertained the
course by Polaris to be approximately northeast We rowed until 1:15,
when Penmark Lighthouse was sighted. Continued rowing until 5:15 P.M.,
when Penmark Lighthouse was distant about two and one-half miles. We
were then picked up by French torpedo boat number 257, and upon going on
board I requested the commanding officer to radio immediately to