nd that thirty-odd feet of the after end
of their ship had been blown clean off. The torpedo had hit them on the
port side, and the wreckage was hanging from the starboard quarter. Of
the after gun only the base was left; they never did see any of the rest
of it. The gunner's mate, one of those men who love to keep a gun in
shape, was swabbing it out at the time, and they never saw anything of
him again.

The chief petty officers' quarters were farthest aft on the 343. The
after bulkhead to their compartment was blown in, leaving the inside of
the ship open to sea and sun. Fourteen men were in there at the time,
lounging around or in their bunks. Many of them were bruised and all
were shook up, but they all made the deck. They do not know how they
made it, but they did. The after hatchway to the deck was closed with
tumbling wreckage, so they must have gone up the midship hatch.

One man taking a nap in the cot bunk farthest aft had a part of the
bulkhead blown past him. It cut off a corner of his cot and broke one of
his legs, and blew him into the passageway in passing. Landing in the
passageway he sprained his other ankle. He is not quite sure how he made
the deck without help, but he did make it, and he says he beat some of
them to it at that.

The man who was working on the after gun with the gunner's mate who was
blown up, saw the shining torpedo leaping in the sun and heading
straight for his part of the ship. If he did not do something he knew he
was in for it, so he began to take long high leaps forward. The
explosion came while he was in the air on his third long high jump. All
he remembers happening to him after that was of an ocean of water
flowing over him, and he not minding it at all. When he came to, the
doctor was looking him over for broken bones, but did not find any.
After the doctor left him he sat up and said: "I bet I've been as near
to a torpedo exploding and getting away with it as anybody in the world,
hah?" And "Yes," said one of his shipmates, "and I bet you made a
world's record for three long high jumps, without a run, too. You sure
did travel, boy."

When it was all over the two propeller shafts were still sticking out
astern, one naked and shining in the sun; the other also shining and
naked, but with a propeller still in place on it. Spotting that, the
skipper ordered the engines turned. To their delight the shaft revolved,
the ship began to move. No record-breaking pace, but--God lo