The only reason for laying stress on these melancholy facts is because absolutely false and unfounded stories have been circulated with regard to the finding of Colonel Fitzgerald's body. The first of these is that the body showed marks of foul play—the alleged work spies. This can be dismissed as without a vestige of truth, upon the evidence of the medical' officer who identified the body and other ample indisputable evidence of officers who were on board the|c: hospital ship.
The other story, which is equally untrue, is that this officer's body was found several days after the accident in the Hampshire's skift dinghy, and this particular boat ha in consequence been publicly ex hibited as that in. which Lord Kitchener and Colonel Fitzgerald left the Hampshire, There is no 5 evidence that anyone entered the skiff dinghy after the accident, and it is known for certain that Colonel Pitagerald's body was not found As regards other persons connected with the mission in the summary of the conclusions arrived at concerning the loss of the Hamp-hire, published on June 16, 1916, it was stated that "a private soldier appears to have left the ship on one of the rafts, but it is not known what became of him." On the strength of this statement some entirely untrue stories have been fabricated dealing with the subsequent fate of this individual, who was one of the servants attached to the mission. It may, therefore, bbe here mentioned that it is known from the information of survivors that he left the ship in the float which came in at Nebbi Geo, but lost his life, like so many others, during its terrible passage to the shore. There is reason to think that another of the servants left the ship in the small float and was washed away on one of the occasions when it capsized.
The Hampshire's Boata With regard to the Hampshire's boats, the report says that, as considerable public attention has been bestowed upon a boat—a 10-ft. dinghy—belonging to. the ship, has been exhibited in London, facts ascertained in regard to the boats may be of interest, The re-ort, summarizes the known fate the boats; and in reference to, the dinghy, which has passed into, Private possession, makes this com rent Efforts to attach special importance to this boat as a relic of the Hampshire have led its present] owner into a ludicrous identification of the pieces of a carvel-built, boat in the Imperial War Museum ay the missing portion of this 16-ft, ker-skift dinghy. On the impossibility of this identification of two boats so different in size and construction being pointed out, an attempt has been made to pretend that the missing portion of the dinghy is or was at one time in the Royal United Service Institution Museum, but the authorities of that museum' state definitely that they have never had any portion of an ex-Hampshire boat there. There is no evidence of the existence of any other identified boats or fragments of boats. the offal Admiralty communiques The report concludes by giv'
relating to the loss of the Hampshire issued on various dates in une, 1916.
Reference is given to the statement that a chest of drawers and other pieces of furniture from Lord Kitchener's cabin were washed ashore and Wave now been bought, Ly a private person.
The relief party from Stromness which went out early in the morn-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.