1897

Burpee Taylor has one child, Robert D. Taylor, 29 years old, who was a lieutenant on the "Wasp," the airplane carrier sunk off the Solomon Islands, September 15th. He was on duty in command of the ship's central station when the torpedoes struck. Almost instantaneously the huge vessel began to list and the controls of the station were rendered useless. Seeing there was nothing which could be done at the station, far below decks, he ordered his men above. Groping through blinding smoke and halfchoked by acrid fumes from the roaring blaze, Lieutenant Taylor finally managed to reach the hangar deck. Here he immediately seized a hoseline and tried to battle the flames. At one time four men, less than 25 feet ahead of him, were engulfed in a wave of fire and smoke. He never saw them again. Another time a deafening explosion-he thinks it was the fuel tank of a plane going off—jarred him from behind, but he was uninjured.

Ten minutes after the order was issued to abandon ship, Lieutenant Taylor slid down a rope from the fantail and into the water. His hands were so severely burned by the rope that they had to be bandaged for several weeks. Perhaps he swam for hours; perhaps it was a much shorter time. He does not know. His position aft of the ship gave him comparative safety from burning slick, since the torpedoes hit forward. Finally, when he was nearing exhaustion, a pneumatic raft which a pilot had grabbed from his plane and hurled overboard, picked him up. The raft was made for two men. More than 15 survivors clung to it, submerged in water up to their chests. Three and a half hours later they were picked up by a ship and later were taken to a Pacific port. Here, since the ship was severely overcrowded, he transferred to another ship which took him to another Pacific port. Later, a transport brought him back to San Diego, where he landed October 12th, Columbus Day.

The Exeter (N. H.) News Letter reports that Tracy has been secured as sub-master of the high school. Tracy retired a few years ago, after serving 30 years as principal of Kimball Union Academy, but was called back into school work by the urgent need for men teachers.

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