Of New York, and twenty members of his crew, the commander of the United States naval guard aboard the Vacuum, lieutenant Clarence Crase Thomas, a California, and nine members of his naval crew.
The Vacuum had two lifeboats, to which those aboard took while the vessel was sinking. Boat No. 1 contained those believed drowned. Boat No. 2 has landed. It contained the Vacuum's chief officer, thirteen members of the ship's crew and four naval personnel.
Altogether, eight American lives are known to be saved. Up to late tonight, the "Washington State Department had not yet received official word of the Vacuum (sinking). Pending receipt of definite data, no statement was made and all comment was refused.
The loss of the American bluejackets marks the first American "casualty list" in the war with Germany. The gun crew's commander, lieutenant Thomas, is the first American officer to be killed in the discharge of his duty as armed guard of a peaceful American merchantman.
The Vacuum was sent to the bottom just nine days after another American steamship, the Mongolia, on the last lap of her voyage to a British port, had drawn the first blood in the war with Germany. One of the Mongolia's naval guns, operated by American blue jackets, on April 10, sank a German submarine as it was about to attack the merchantman.
The Vacuum left a British port for her return to America last Thursday, a week after the Mongolia's exploit.  She was in ballast. Her complement, including Captain Harris, was thirty-five. The naval crew, including lieutenant Thomas, is believed to have numbered fifteen. Of the ship's crew, fifteen were Americans, and of these, twenty-five were Americans. 