From "Letters from the Front"
The following is a record of the heroism displayed by Lieutenant John Charles Orr (formerly of our Ladysmith branch), when the Elder Dempster liner "Burutu" sank in mid-ocean, with a loss of 150 lives, after collision with another liner.
For the part played by him in this occurrence, Lieutenant Orr has been awarded the Board of Trade Silver Medal.
"Fuller details of the sinking of the Elder Dempster liner 'Burutu' after collision with another liner, with the loss of over 150 lives, were given by one of the few survivors yesterday. The inky blackness of the night, the heavy list of the vessel, and the high seas running made launching and rescue work impossible. One lifeboat got away successfully containing the main body of the survivors. Another boat was being launched full of passengers, but descended to the top of a raft full of people which had drifted in again and all were upset and drowned..
“A survivor said yesterday, ‘I and five others clung on desperately throughout the night to an upturned boat. It was bitter cold, with an icy wind blowing, and I was clad only in silk pyjamas.
One of our party was a little steward of 15. He was having a bath at the time of the collision, and came up on deck of the sinking vessel naked and dived into the water.
“We pulled him on our upturned boat and a powerful young subaltern wrapped his British warm around him and held him and another unconscious passenger in his arms for hours, but the lad died from exhaustion and was washed off the frail craft a few minutes afterwards. Another went mad during the night and jumped into the sea and was lost, and another died. The subaltern joked and cheered the remainder until daylight, when the three remaining were rescued by an American destroyer. While alongside the destroyer the little boat drifted towards the propeller and was smashed by the blades but the subaltern managed to grasp a rope and was pulled safely aboard.”
“The young subaltern referred to was Lieut. Orr. He and the two saved, one an officer returning from a period of service as a Political Agent in Nigeria, the other the fifth engineer of the ‘Burutu’, received royal treatment on the destroyer and were landed at an English port. When the captain of the destroyer heard from the officer the details of Lieut. Orr’s achievement he assembled the ship’s company and addressing them said he wanted them to be inspired by the splendid heroism of the young British officer and, if occasion offered, to imitate his magnificent unselfishness and resource. What makes Lieut. Orr’s action all the more meritorious is the fact that he himself was an invalid, having been sent to England suffering from malaria after almost a year’s service with the Gold Coast Regiment in the heart of the West African bush. (He had previously been twice wounded, once at Neuve Chapelle when serving as a sergeant in the First Canadian Contingent, and again on July 1st on the Somme, when he was an officer in the Ulster Division).
“The scene may be given in the words of the officer from Nigeria: “The destroyer people threw us a rope with a buoy to it. I could only put one arm through, being nearly done. The ubiquitous Orr pulled my other arm through and I was pulled up like a lump of meat with about as much life as one. The fifth engineer was the next to go up, tied on somehow, of course, by Orr. And then the worst catastrophe of the affair just didn’t happen. The boat drifted behind the destroyer and the propeller cut it in half. Thank God, Orr had a rope and shinned up it in time and walked below as fresh as paint, having had about eight hours of as bad, cold and wet a time as any one could expect, and spending that time in looking after us, not himself.”
We also quote a letter received by Mr. Orr from the Secretary of State for the Colonies:
“I am directed by Mr. Secretary Long to inform you that he has received from the Secretary to the Admiralty, through the War Office, a copy of a report by the Commanding Officer, United Ship ‘Stevens’, on your gallant behaviour in connection with the rescue of survivors from the S.S. ‘Burutu’ on the night of October 3rd-4th. The Army Council have asked that an expression of their appreciation of the devoted service which you rendered on this occasion may be conveyed to you. Mr Long has pleasure in associating himself with the Council’s commendation.”
Comments