IN. A U-BOAT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 282, 17 August 1918, Page 8

IN. A U-BOAT

5. _ NEUTRAL PRISONER'S EXPERIENCES FORCED TO SERVE TORPEDOES A neutral correspondent gives some interesting details, 01 life on board a German submarine in tho course of a description of the experience of a crew of u sliip which had been torpedoed by a Üboat. • The ship was split iu two by the force of the explosion, the forepart going down bow first, and the after part stern first. It was impossible, owing to tho rapidity with which tho divided wreck sank,. 10 lower any boats. The only members of the crow who survived were those who had been either thrown into the water by the force of tho explosion or washed off the vessel as she sank. After swimming about for half an hour the survivors saw a German submarine coming towards them ivith many of her crow on deck near the conning tower, laughing at the poor fellows struggling in the water. One of the .survivors, a neutral, continues the narrative thus:— "We expected to be picked up quickly, but no, we were kept m the water ten minutes while the U-boat officers prepared their cameras to photograph us. This done, they hauled ail fifteen of us on board witli lifebelts. Wo were kept on board the U-boat for twelve days. Wo were immediately made to go below through the after-hatch, and we found ourselves in that part used for discharging torpedoes, and tho storing of the ammunition. "The scanty clothes which wo had were sodden with water, but on the submarine they did not offer us any change. The German seamen allowed us to use

their, mattresses, so that we were able to take off our things, which solved as a rather poor shelter. A bottle of brandy was pnssod from one to another, and somewhat revived our worn-out bodies. As we gradually revived wo were ablo to take stock of our situation, which had not improved very much. We were inside a submarine, many miles from its naval base, exposed to the danger of a fight with an armed vessel, and liable to succumb _ without being, heard of. In tho floating' prison we found two companions iu misfortune. They were two captains of two English steamers sunk by the samo submarine.

"The decoration of our dungeon had nothing pleasant a'bout it. It was large, about 10 metres square, low ceiling, and trapezoidal, furnished with tubes, pressure gauges, fly wheels, torpedoes, and the floor paved with shells. Tho floor served us for beds, but some who were smart, like myself, selected a torpedo for a bed. These were placed horizontally against the side of tho ship. "In the morning they gave us coffee, bread, and marmalade, it midday a plafe of soup, and at C in the afternoon coffee, bread. aDd marmalade.

"The hours dragged slowly by. Tn order to smoke the bad lobacc.o which occasionally some German seaman gave us, not having either cigarette paper nor pipe, we had to make uso of common paper. When we smoked they allowed us to go into the engine-room, but they never, allowed us to pass beyond amidships, which is where tho cabins of the officers are situated. One day, making' an excuse of getting some water. I jot.as far as the door of tho galley, but thev told mo I must not dare to go further for-, ivnrd.

"One day a seaman showed me a map on which was marked the zone of the blockade. He put his finger on Belgium, and said tn me; 'Do you. know what that is?' 'Yes,' I answered, 'Belgium.' Ho replied, 'Germans have put it in their pocket.' 'All right, , said 1. , 'What is this?' repeated he. 'That, is Serbia,' 1 replied, lie repeated, 'Germans have put it in their pocket,' and gave a loud laugh. Afterwards he pointed out other Email European States, and said thai 1 hey would put them all in their pocket. Finally, lie pointed to tho whole of Europe and the U.S.A., and laughed n^ain. "[ also laughed, in a forced manner, to save my life, and told my companions In join in. The seaman was pleased at having succeeded in making us understand his ideas, and thinking that our feigned laughter meant approval of Ins prophesy of the conquest of Europe he gave us more tobacco, nii'd his comrades gave us more marmalade,

"This monotonous, but by no means tranquil, life was disturbed from timo to time by a, rapid: manoeuvre. Some vessel was in sight and it was necessary to sink it. They forced us to load the torpedo, an operation which was performed with all the repugnance of honourable me.!). They opened the chamber of the tube, made us lift the torpedo, and put it in. Afterwards they gave the order to fire, and in a few seconds of anxiety we heard a formidable commotion. The German seamen jumped, laughed find sang. They had hit tho target. During the twelve days that we were on board they sank five vessels among them a Swedish sailing ship, which was, sunk by gun shots. On one of these occasions they called np< thirteen of the fifteen survivors of our ship, telling us to get ready,.as they would nut us in one of the boats of a vessel which they had just sunk. But when tho thirteen of us wore ready an English destroyer was seen, they countermanded the order, and we dived.

"Generally speaking, our submarine submerged every night. Eight days after wo were taken on board we were put ashore at a German naval port, whero food we received was of tho poorest possible quality. In tho. submarine we ran the risk of being drowned; on shore the food was such Unit there was a. possibility of dying of hunger. The fact that we were neutrals did not seem to avail us much. Eventually we. wore removed inland, and mft into prison with a number of Russians* and then placed in confinement with some British merchant seamen. Durinc the first few days we did nothing but Ho about like dogs, tho amount of sleep comnensatiug for hunger. After being in this and other camps fov six weeks eight of us were eventually taken In Switzerland and ro-loaxed. We had nothing to thank the Germans for—lho only thin? that kept, us alive was our robust constitutions."