SUNK BY SUBMARINE.

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 224, 2 October 1916, Page 6

SUNK BY SUBMARINE.

XCXSS OF THE ENOLISHMAIN

CAPTAIN IN AUCKLAND.

A THRILLrN'G STORY

BF^VB ATTE^O. >rr TO ESCAPE,

Aii interesting story concerning the sinking of the'steamer Englishman, a 5000-ton liner.1 of the Dominion Line, by a German submarine,'on March 24 last, is jiiven by Captain W. A. Morekouse, of the Ifelphic, which is •at present in port (states the Auckland Herald). At the time of the sinking of the Euglishniaii; Captain Morehourib was in cotninaud. "Yesj"' said Captain Morenouse, in answer f<.> a query, "I was in command of tho Englishman when it was sunk. We wore on. our > way back to America and wore rounding the north coast of' Ireland when the look-out ■sighted tho'submarine"" It was then four milei away, and, upon directing my'glasses upon it, 1 noticed that a •string of f!.s\gs wove flying. At that ■distance, however, I onuld not •deHnhpf the signal, and immediately orcieied '.3<'iill speed ahead,' with tho object of eooaping. - . . . "Wo l-.ad not gone far, however, when the submarine, which was a

fairly large vessel, fired a shot from one of the two guns . which she had. mounted. It went clean over the ship and plunged into the sea ahead. We held to our course, despite the shells, which wore pitching all around us by this time,, but I could;see. that it was only a question of time when the submarine would cripple, and. eventually sink us. •' ." '•" . ' 'TAKE TO THE BOATS !" '•Fortunately, in addition to the crew of 3G men, we hod only 40 horsemen on t>oard,the latter returning to America. I gave the .order to the horsemen to get into the boats, and be prepared to cast off. This order was hardly■• completed when .a shot struck, ono of the starboard boats, precipitai*- . ing its occupants. Into the water. Almost immediately afterwards the oithor starboard boat was srtuck, with the same result. ".Seeing escape to be impossible— the siibmsmne now having approached to within a lnilo of the Englishman— and with a view to saving Hhe un-.j fortunate horsemen, I.'gave, the-order to heave-to. When this was done the. submarine also stopped, and we prepared to abandon the ship, using the boats on the port side. CAPTAIN'S NARROW ESCAPE. "When the work of disembarks t tioii. had been almost completed I i went to the starboard side in order t to ascertain that no men were dis- < abled there-. After my survey of the leek I returned to the port side cind| found that the boats had put off, :: Bach orew in turn thinking that I was ' ai .the- other' hoat. I immediately \ fastened on a lifebelt and jumped ? into the water. All this time the j tot/ of the submarine remained in- \ ictive, no shot having been fired 5 "rcm the timo we hove to. ; "After being iv the.water for some time the'crews of the, boats discover- r

Ed that T was missing,- and, a search being instituted, I was picked up so mo 20 minutes after jumping into the water —which was bitterly cold— ncjy* the worse for my immersion. "We immediately pulled away, and before we had gone far the submarine ■discharged two torpedoes, both striking the Englishman amid<&ips, and tearing a great hole in her side. In a very few minutes all that • *?>as loft of the ship was a very , ruffled water surface, some boats ■ with dejected occupants, (and a retreating submarine. TENT LIVES LOST. 'No,", said' Captain Morehoiise, in answer to a query, "we did not escape without loss of life. After reckoning up the total in the boats wo discovered that ten horsemen wore missing. Whether they were killed by gunfire or drowned it is difficult so say. Unfortunately, they lost thexr liv^s. Luckily, the crew of tho submarine did' rot attempt^ to molest us either while we were disembarking or after the sinking of tho Englishman." <:Did .you discover the meaning .ot tho flags flying on the submarine?" asked the interviewer. "Yes, .we subsequently discoverea that they meant 'Abandon your ship at once!' " "Shortly afterwards," concluded Captain Morehonse, "we were picked up by a trawler and landed snfely." "That was my first, and, I hoptv my last, experience of a German submarine."