IN THE DEATH NET

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2718, 13 March 1916, Page 6

IN THE DEATH NET

ON BOARD A TRAPPED SUBMARINE

SENSATIONS OF HUN PIRATES

I . Consider "the circumstances 1 tinder j ■ >hich. submariners fight. For the most ! j>:irt they are most closely confined, with limited supplies of food, drink, and es- ! ■ ■ ■ pocially air. They are in the centre of ! 6, maze of the most delicate mechanism, ; and tho failure of a rod 1 or a cog may i moan, their doom. And: if they faco j; doath", it is'never the seaman's death, ;., or....the landsman's death: It is the i slow,- '-absolutely certain ; extinction ;of ■ : the" r'at-trap-fsiiffocation. Something 1 of'.the; proper-sort .of.'iiiiderst'aridihgv'of i tho submarine's physical and 'psyclloldgical state-may be gained froip; twb;;.Ger-miin-;stoi'ieSj' one of a'orew/thatjwas capfcujcH. and' tlio,other' of "a'crew' that"es/leaped. --.'The .boat that bsca'j. r ed, 6ays the 'Budapest'correspondent of, the'/'Associ- . i'ltod- Press; was the Ul7/ _ Lieutenant iWei)ninger in- command,. which hot long ' i^go'sankvthe'French/steamer Grayeliiio. •' i - , Trapped!, i : '-unawares "ihtola..British sub- ; ■ marine' "They had.i left** their.base '■ . early,:''and:/were .'already.;.well .into'.itbo : - )N<jrtV.Sea when, the commander;; saw ; through ' the : .-periscope ■ a; : red,* buoy .-foli lowing hini, ''Ten minutes lstor the buoy '' \ was still'.tiere?-;Ho,c(>ntinued'.the' story (quoted l from tho .New York "Evening t:''. "Post") in his own .words: —• r |i> 'iAt this juncture niv boat began- to roll in a most incomprehensible manner. ; iWo began to rise, and sink alternately, i v ' the steering-gear being apparently out ; of order. Soon afterwards ,I.discovered ! ' ■' that we had encountered a wire Setting jind were-hopelessly entangled in it. We ;. jtad, in fact, got into the net of one of iHJie hunters surrounding us.> .For. an i -hour and a half the netting carried us !. -with it, and l although T mado every efi*. ■■ 'fort to get clear of it. it seemed impos- ; '(jiblc. - There was nothing to do but to , increase the weight in the submarine . •ps much as possible so that I might try : . to break the netting. Fortunately, when wo started I had pumped m form. '•■-' r live to six tons of water, filling all the l* V'tahks;'' I increased the weight of Itho ; jboat to tho utmost, and suddeuly wo felt C. ishock <ind were -clear of the netting. ' : x then- descended as deeply in the water - . i'as 1 could, t-heV mehonietcr"' showing •thirty meters. ; We remained .under ; 'water for .eighteen, hours, When 1. ;'•■■■ -wanted to ascertain where 1 ; noticed that my-compass was out orSJrder. For a time I steered-by.the green ■ colour of the water.'but at last I had to get rid of the ballast in order to rise.; 1 then discovered thai the menometer ■ : contin-ued-to register the ' and was also out of order. I had_ thereforo:.to. be'Vqry" careful, not/.to rise;too. .high, .and ihus attract, the attention.- or !.•- ■ r Slowly--the--periscope../rose .above-':the surface and I. could .see. tho ..enemy. m front of me, and toward the left the .Bast coast of England. I' triod to turn ; ' to starboard, but- the rudder did not ' .'.work. In consequence, I had to sink /.: .• (again to tho bottom of tho-.sea, where' |\l("remained for. six-iours, ,at. the.end. of; i:' (which time I had succeeded in 'putting ■ . ',the compass-in ordor ; and also in repair-. 'ing. tho steering-gear!. But upon rising — this. tim<v..we'''iver'e > 'detected by a tor- ; > pedo-boat; which'niade straight for us.. • forcing me to descend again.-- I re- ; : -mained submerged--for two hours, thenturned slowly' ''outward and "at a'distanco of some fifty meters from the leading enemy craft passed toward the | opori' sea. .-;At , nine"o ! ploclc';m' tho 'even-; '• ing we were able .tb. rise'to' the : surfaco :jn. safety. A Tale to Rival Jules Verne, - ■ - Stranger still is the story of the Üboat that was captured... It has a Jules •Verno air. that is tho very breath of ••-.! mystery .and romance./ It was told or- ,' -iginally,..by.- a German . naval- .prisoner ..• -in England- to a contributor to thei London "Saturday Journal,'- appearing in English' in that- paper.; The story is • confirmed, -declares the contributor, by two other prisoners, ' also' members of ;; '• ;the, same jerew: ; J'L do not protend to ■ have told the -sfcryi' Jiere in the narra- |. .tor's exact words','.': he'.says, "but in its ■ -essentials this.;'story is.,the same story as_was told to me." •It appears that V this U-boat .was. deploying off-the south . .coast of Ireland; and had just sunk a largo .red-funneled steamer .with a whit© !.. .band under black (which.may or may jioht have-_been the Hesperian), lie •moment this strike was made, the.sub- '' marine .turned for a certain part of the neighbouring coast, where, on the floor ■of a little bay, they, were wont to rest - when, there-was chance or certainty of ' destroyers in-the neighbourhood. Tho ■Soman's story of the succeeding events s is as follows:— "We sat on the silt at tho bottom ■ ipf "the bay all that night 'and well on : to the next day, until tho air smelled - 6our, like the sweat of a man sulfering . from acute rheumatism. It is a fearful feeling- that "comes over' one" wlieh "the i ; ;air in a submarine gets like that. One's ■ nerves get all on edge, one is opprest ; with forebodings of disaster, and small worries aro magnified a thousandfold. ■ If you can appreciate that and bring ; yourself to imagine what a nervous, : - appiehensivo lot we had become, you will ,;be able_ to Tealiso the sensation in that i'submarino when everybody 'on' '.'board ; '/ distinctly heard' the rasping clank of /iron Oil the outer skin. ' At Kiel and at . -iWilholmsliareii they tell tales in sailors-' i. : 'beer-halls,.when submarine' after sub- ; marine fails to return and nothing is v. . Hieard of the fate'of those on board, of - tho English trawling for submarines as the lishing-boats in the German Ocean trawl for flatfish, but with a trawl-net mado of steel mesh, through which no Jiad been heard by most of lis on that submarine can hope to pass. Such tales '■ : submarine, andihey had made a great impression upon those of us—and it was nearly everybody—whoso first expedition against the; enemy it was. - Mysterious Tapping. "I was standing under the hatch .vlien this happened, and tlio torpedo- : mate was facing me and in the act of giving ; : me; some-orders. ; He stopped ; dead, Rooked at ;me, and theii. turned: ; '.-as. if he wquld go and Teport to the, ! . .commander', 1 ' who was in': the- engine- 7 : room. .'Just as he -took the. first . step' there camO. a now sound from above,' and the torpedo-mate stopped with his leg stretched out as he.made, the step. The sound was, as if some one was tapping on the hatch with a'-hammer. ;; " 'Fetch the Horr Lieutenant-Captain . quickly,' shouted tho. torpedo-mate excitedly, and I started to obey the coin- ; mand; but another man anticipated me and I stayed. ..... "The tapping continued—two single, f''- sharp taps, then a pause, then two " , more single taps, and so on. Yes, it ; did sound something like that—iddy, iddy, iddy, iddy—all the time. The tor-pedo-mate became very excited. He inade a move as if he would mount the : Steps leading to tho hatch, changed his mind and,then bolted.in .the .direction of the engine-room. Tliat tapping'still .went on and it sounded : so uncanny $iat I felt .uneasy in my stomach. . "Prosently the torpedo-mate came back, and the lieutenant-captain was -with him and I heard them speaking in English. TJio torpedo-mate mounted the steps to tho hatch, took off -bis shoe, and with the heel gave_two single-taps ■on' the hatch-cover, with an interval . between-them. - < . "As soon as he-did this the tapping '■•■'an the outside stopped, but recommenced a moment afterward with a ■ change in-the sound. .Yes, that.is right: Iddy, pause, umphv,, iddy, iddy, umpty, pause, iddv. umpty, umpty, iddy, : pause, iddy, umpty, iddy, iddy, pause umpty, umpty. umpty, pause, iday,_

iddy, iddy, pause, iddy, iddy, pause, iddy, iddy, iddy, umpty, pause, iddy. • Surrender or Die. "When tho tapping ceased the tor-pedo-mate held out the book to me so that I could pass it to tho commanding officer; but,lie waved it away, and then told tlja torpedo-mate to 'read it. As near nsfl- can remember, the tor-pedo-mate read as follows, in English: "Explosive charge fixed to your hull and connected ,by wire to destroyer above. Ohaiti attached to your periscope, with other end "round steamwinch. You can not get away. Will you surrender or be blown up?" "'Read rt again,' said the lieuten-ant-captain, speaking like a dazed and incredulous man. The torpedo-niato read it again, slowly and emphatically, as if to give each word time to sink into tho commanding officer's mind. When lie had finished he added a word of Jiis own. That word was: 'Diver.' '.'There was some excitement in the submarine in the minutes that followed. Tho lieutenant-captain took counsel with tlie other in whispers, and at last told the torpedo-mate to signal on the hatch that we would surrender. The signal of surrender was mado with tho heel of tho' torpedo-mato's shoo, and a reply was tapped out from above. •'Rise ,to the surface, and remember that; if you sink the boat you will go down ■•with it," the torpedo-mate read out'. " ... I ■ Tricked i "Tho lieutenant-captain sadly gave tho necessary orders, and presently we were on' the surface, the hatch was opened, and I followed tho officers and tno torpedo-mate on deck. There, almost'alongside us, was a big destroyer, ;. with her guns trained on us; and there, sitting on our hull, with an arm cuddling our periscope, was the figure of a man in diving-dress, dangling a bit of heavy chain in his hand. _ But there was no sign of any explosive attached to the; hull.- 1 " 'Down below,' called the lieutenantcaptain, making a move towards the hatch. " 'Please stay where you are,' said a polite voice from the destroyer, _as the men lining the side levelled their rifles at us. . " 'Swindled !' said the lieutenant-cap-tain. with a hopeless movement of his hands... "The. destroyer edged alongside, and. we" were ordered to come on board. 'Tho! captain, is engaged for a moment,' said' a . young 'officer, . waving his hand to whero; the diver was being extracted from.-h'is- diving dress. 'He will iritro;duco;::hiinself. presently.' ".