On the dock here in Queenstown from the British mine sweeper which I am writing this within thirty minutes after stepping Sky and cast their red glare over the roaring sea. Roar of ascending rockets as they tore lurid rents in the black Of the lifeboats, and heard the hiss of escaping steam and the On the slanting decks of the big liner, listened to the lowering It is now a little over thirty hours since I stood Informing me with an abundance of 'and sirs' that it In a few minutes I may wake up back in stateroom B-19 on the promenadeĭeck of the Cunarder Laconia and hear my cockney steward I am not entirely certain that it is not all a dream.

I have serious doubts whether this is a real story. German Ambassador, Count von Bernsdorff, portrayed as the messenger of death.įloyd's story appeared in newspapers throughout the His published account of the sinking of the Laconia some eight days later off the Irish coast played no small part in changing American isolationist sentiment and pushing us into the declaration of war against Germany that would follow in less than two months.įloyd's exploits in France would later win him the French Croix de Guerre, but that's another story that I hope to publish soon. Among its passengers was Floyd Gibbons, the soon-to-be famed headline hunter of the Chicago Tribune. Laconia set sail from New York harbor bound for England. The popular isolationist leanings of the United States began to weaken as Americans lost their lives as a result of travelling on these targeted vessels. This time, The Great Neutral, the United States watched with unease as German U-boats began to again attack allied shipping in an attempt to block armament and food shipments bound from the US for the UK and Europe. Germany, who had backed off unrestricted submarine warfare at the urging of the United States after the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, would once again resume the practice in an attempt to bring the war to an end. It was early 1917 and the allied blockade against Germany was beginning to bring the war home to the German people in the form of widespread shortages - morale was beginning to decline. The notes at the end of the article are Edward's. The biography was published by the Exposition Press, New York, 1953. This article is taken from Floyd Gibbons - Your Headline Hunter, a biography by his brother, Edward Gibbons. Shelley Mitchell-Schaaf (Floyd's great niece) View from a U-boat conning tower as a torpedo strikes an allied merchant vessel. By all means let them know if you find it interesting.

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