STORIES OF THE SEA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17688, 28 July 1919, Page 8

STORIES OF THE SEA

MEETING THE HUN MENACE. A CAPTAIN'S ORDINARY ADVENTURES. Stories of the soa which havo been told during war time only with bated breath in whispered confidence aro now beginning to sou tho licfht of day. By degrees wo shall bo ablo to gather a. little more ciearly the nature of our peril, and the kind of man and methods by which the Hun naval menaoo was so stubbornly fought and overcome. Captain George Martin, who returned to Now Zealand by the Prinzcssin, and reached Dunedin last week, is ono of those whose adventures at sea during the last five years would fill more than ono book, but true to the traditions of the navy, lie does not see anything vory remarkable about his story, and rather wonders why anyone elso should. Captain Martin is an old Otago High School boy, but it is 19 years since he visited his old town. He was a sea captain when the wax broke out, and he took to war service immediately, and continued at it till tho end. For the last two years of the war ho was on Admiralty convoy work, transporting American troops.

Chatting -with a Daily Times reporter on Saturday .morning, Captain Martin was constrained to admit that he had had a lot of EXCITING ADVENTURES. Ho considers that the narrowest escape of his life was at tho sinking of the steamer Zent, of which he was in command in 1916, shortly after the sinking of the Lusitania. The Zent was an unarmed vessel, returning to the United States for supplies. Disaster overtook her at 20 minutes past 10 one night when 28 miles off the South of Ireland. Two torpedoes struck her fairly amid-' ships, and in less than a minute she was out of sight. Out of 60 odd on board only 11 were saved, and they seemed to have owed their l'ves to lucky chance. Captain Martin was sucked down with the sinking vessel, and believes that it was the rush of air from bursting bulkheads that blew him back to the surface. For three hours and 10 minutes he drifted on wreckage till the warship Lavender, a minesweeping sloop, happened to come within hail,, and ho and ten others were heard and picked up. The occasion was noteworthy as being the first recorded submarine attack at night. Throe weeks later the captain had another experience to remember off Queenstov.'ii. He was navigating the Miami in a dense fog when the Kelvin Brae MISTOOK HER FOR A SUBMARINE

on the surface. She was painted invisible grey, and only tho wash .of her bow was showing. The Kelyin Brae charged at full spped, and both vessels were badly smashed up. The Kelvin Brae had to be a"bandoned. Captain Martin rescuad her crew, and though his own vessel was very seriously damaged, managed to reach Liverpool afloat. He was badly shaken, and had to take some months' holiday, but was soon back at his old work again. "Do you think the Germans had any friends about the South of Ireland?" asked the reporter. "Undoubtedly," was the answer. "We knew for certain that the submarines wero getting food and supplies from the West of Ireland." In 1917, when in charge of the Camito, Captain Martin put up what is recognised as a record by being ATTACKED THREE TIMES IN FOUR HOURS by three different submarines. At that time ho was on the Canadian mail service between Avonmoutti and Montreal. He had gun action with the first submarine, which was firing at a range of-four or-five miles, but the weather was to enable them , to see their enemy. They were, however, successful in scaring him off. The second submarine fired a torpedo and missed, and then disappeared, but it afterwards succeeded in sinking a small ship within sight of the Camito. The third submarine opened gun fixe, but it was within sight, and the return fire of the Camito quickly induced it to submerge. Just at this time Captain Martin picked up over 30 survivors from the Orthan, which had been sunk 25 hours previously. When- rescued they wero 180 miles from the nearest land.

One man had a broken leg, and few of them had any clothing except their singlets. For the last two years of tho war Captain Martin was steadily engaged on convoy work, BRINGING AMERICAN TROOPS across tho Atlantic. The number of vessels in a convoy varied from six to 18, but it was generally nearer the larger figure. When the White Star liner Persic, with over 2000 American troops on board, was torpedoed west of the Sollies, Captain Martin's was ihe vessel next to her. The Persic did not sink, and the discipline on board was magnificent. Two aeroplanes swooped down on the submarine, and dropped depth. char<ts and destroyers also rushed to tho spot, with the result that the culprit was "got." Some of the crew from it were rescued. That was in September, 1918. About three months before that Captain Martin was with a convoy that made a disastrous voyage m? m Liverpool round the North of Ireland inc.- whole thing was so scandalous that the captain scarcely cared to refer to it The CONVOY RAN INTO A MINEFIELD, and within a few minutes the three crack snips m the convoy and three destroyers were ost When asked if the passage round the North of Ireland was considered safer ne said the skippers always hated that pas! sago, and much preferred the southern route, but the Admiralty thought otW Captam Martin was with a convoy of 16 laden troopships that ran into a drifting minefield laid a few Island They exploded seven of the mines m and around the convoy, but no ship was hit, and all got through safely. The knallj°/i th f bad 1500. troops on board and the largest 3500. THE WORST TIME OF ALL that he had was in 1917-1918 running a weekly Canadian mail service without escort of any kind. The round trip had to be done in 21 or 22 days, and there was hardly any waiting time in port. Every trip broug-nt its own excitement till tho very ex eitement itself became almost monotonous. Ihe hardest thing to endure was the terrible strain of the uncertainty, for from the time they left port on one side of the Atlarrtio tiH they reached the other they never knew the moment when they might be attacked. For 12 months Captain Martin' had charge of MYSTERY SHIP Q3, but his look was out, and he got nothing. Every comeivable device was tried to disguise her and lure the enemy to closer acquaintance, but there seemed to be something about her build that it was impossible effectively to conceal. For months ahe haunted the worst infested areas of the English Channel and the Mediterranean and travelled up and down the Spanish coast, but she never sighted a foe. When six Dutch, ships were sunk off Fahnouth ehe was on the spot and picked up the lifeboats, but oould not get a glimpse of the submarines. The only conclusion they could come to was thai tho ship was marked in some way that the Hans would not risk coming near. The end of her cruising as ;v mystery ship came when, learning Plymouth for Halifax, she had her stern blown off by one of her own depth, bombs. There was nc* loss of life, and she was eventually repaired and sont to sea again as a troopship. During tho Last two years of tho war tho Admiralty had in operation a splendid course of ANTI SUBMARINE TRAINING. Captains took this course every eiy months, so that they were kept thoroughly up-to-date in ihe latest developments of submarine tactics. Experts gavo advice, and explained the whole situation, and the captain's gathered thero exchanged views I itfid experiences, and learned to understand each other better and to no-ordinato their j efforts more effectively. Latterly the I British wero surely gaining , thp upper hand, j and instead of fearing tho 'submarine it was coming to be tho submarine that feared them. Some of tho Hun attacks were exceedingly daring and courageous, but there was nothing chivalrous about them towards I those tliey had injured. Captain Martin, has evidently boon deeply impressed by AMERICAN ORGANISATION. thoroughness, and efficiency. They oculd not speak too highly of the behaviour and discipline of the United States troops which ho carried across the Atlantic. Tho loading of tho ships w.is done with extraordinary speed and efficiency. Tho moment the armistice was signed ho was sot to work transporting American troops back homo with the burno promptitude with which they had been despatohed on tho outward journey. They had gono in to Brest at 2 p.m. and left again at 5 with 1500 troops ivnd all their stores and equipment on board. On tho mammoth ox-German liner Imperator, which carried as many ae 11,000 t r oops at onri time, thore was a marvellously efficient system of organisation, as part of which, for instance, ■ all tho mm were given thoir moals within half an* tour. Captain Martin feels that people cut .hero do not jet realise, the terrible extant cr

OUR SHIPPING LOSSES during the war. Ho instanced the Elder Dempster line, which lost 60 steamors, lUdors and Fyffes, of London, with which no is connected, v/hich has had its fleet reduced from 21 to 10, and the Cunard Company, which has sulFerod a 65 per rient. loss. Captain Martin is in splendid health, in spite of nil his nerve-racking experiences, ami is here for a prolonged holiday before goirijr BACK TO IT-IE SEA AGAIN. It is his intention to return to London , in the early part of next year, when ho will take charge of a. new vessel which Lairds, of Liverpool, expect to have ready about Miucb. Boforn he left the reporter was shown a cutting from a. New York daily, which had made a bij; feature of the way in which Captain Martin hud berthed the troopship Ulna there during a strike of tugs. Re iwd over 1000 troops on board, and as the ordinary tugs were not available he brpught his ship alongside to a hairbreadth* with only the casual assistance of one tug. The achievement was referred to as one of the finest FEATS OF SEAMANSHIP seen in New York Harbour for many a day. it tvas scarcely necessary to say that it was not Captain Martin who produced the ratting. One would judge that there is at leant one business in which ho might easily make a. failure—that of advertising.