3 U-BOATS SUNK.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 May 1918, Page 4

3 U-BOATS SUNK.

5-OOCX BY MERCHANT SHIPS

Liverpool, March S

Three Liverpool steamers have sunk three German submarines in the Atlantic recently, and it is now permitted to relate the circumstances.

In the first instance, a Liverpool steamer was fired upon by a submarine iri the Atlantic at daybreak. The steamer paid no heed to the shots and kept on her course. The submarine followed cautiously steaming along the surface, keeping up a longrange bombardment for an hour and a half. Suddenly the ship slowed down and the boats were lowered, apparently indicating that the captain had received all the punishment he wanted, and was abandoning his ship. The submarine commander, fearful of a trap, circled around the ship several times, and then came closer to the vessel.

The last act came very swiftly. There was a sharp sound of falling timbers as a false side dropped away and then six explosions as a gnn spoke six times. Four of the shots hit the mark, three of them destroying the conning tower, and the other disabling the German gun. The submarine’s how rose, high in the air and then slipped down into the water like a- gigantic dart.

The second Liverpool steamer was outward bound at a speed of eight knots when a torpedo passed twenty feet astern. As the vessel was tnrned a second torpedo missed her bow. The guilty periscope' was observed a quarter of a mile away, and the gnn crew began firing. The first shot went too high, but the second and third exploded on hitting the enemy, which disappeared amid a great pool of bubbles and oil.

A sailing ship accounted for the third submarine The ship was fired upon by a U-boat just before noon. As the German came within range bis fii’e was answered, the sailing vessel firing thirteen shots. The chief gunner was a former petty officer in the British Navy, and he scored eight bull’s-eyesrin a space of less than two minutes/ His report says: “The bows of the submarine disappeared and the stern rose clear out of the water. She remained in this position for about fifteen seconds and then disappeared. A minute later the stern and rudder came up again and remained steady above the water, at an angle of thirty degrees for a few seconds before passing finally from view.”