How Hun Submarines are Captured.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 221, 27 October 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

How Hun Submarines are Captured.

100,000 MEN USE 100 MILE LONG TRAPS. By ALFRE > XOYES.

"Dcutschland unter alles!" was the cry of all Germany when her submarine first popped up, not without a touch of comedy, in Norfolk, Va.; and undoubtedly one reason f '•' the i:e.w transatlantic submarines is t!'a fact that certain measures have made English waters unsafe for thorn. Even submarines that arrive ' n America may disappear on their return journey. What those measures are it is now possible, though the censorship is still strict, to indicate a little mere clearly. There is a tale in Devonshire that Sir Francis Drake has not merely istened for his drum during the last three hundred years, but has elso heard and answered it on more than one naval occasion. It was heard, as the men of the Brixham trawlers can testify, aboat a hundred years ago, when a litt'e man, under the pseudonym of Nelson (for all Devonshire knows that NeJso\ was a reincarnation of Sir Francis), went sailing by to Trafalgar Ask of the Devonshire men, For they heard, in the dead of night, The roll of the drum, and they saw him pass, On a slup all sinning white. He stretched out his dead, cold face, And he sailed in the giand old way. The fishes had taken a" eye and an arm, But he swept Trafalgar's Bay.

It was only a little before the great naval action in the North Sea —perhaps the greatest victory since Trafalgar— that word enme from the Brixham trawlers again. They had "heard Drake's drum beat' - and wee now assured that the ghost of Sir Francis Drake was inhabiting th» body of Sir John Jellicoe. There is good raeson wiry the trawlers should be aVare of this first; for it is among the three-thousand -odd trawlers, drifters, and other fishing craft of the British auxiliary fleet that the seameiuwho broke tin- Armada would find themselves most at" home today. In this host of auxiliaries England has, in fact, brought to life agam and organised on a huge scale, with certain modern improvements the men and the fleets of Drake and Hawkins; and it is tliese fleets and these men that have struck terror into the Germin submarines and driven them from the seas.

Thero has been some discission in America as to whether Mr. Wilson's Notes or some other more secret and certain power caused the Germans to abandon their deadliest sea weapon, inasmuch as this weapon ceased to trouble tiie English a tittle earlier than it ceased to sink neutrals, the latter alternative nvght he accepted as probable, even without further Knowledge but further knowledge absolutely coniirms this probability. Nothing is more striking .a the conduct of this war than the way in whijii the British method of ''slow and sure" has just'iied itself. The superficial clamour for sudden and sensational proofs of "what England is doing" began in the first fortnight of the war. Neutral countries even wondered wiiv the first month of the war ha J produced no great historian. In the meantime, England was making the history of the next thousand years; and that can only he done on vast and deeply sunken foundations, which must We- laid .in silence. Results, and solid results, of granite and oau. were England's aim. These arc now appearing; and while her great new armies are demonstrating what England has created on that side, it is now possible to give a glimpse of the far-reach-ing method that destroyed the menace of the German submarine.

SILENCE AN EFFECTIVtt WEAPON. Jt was done in silence, rnd silen.e was one of the weapons. .Submarines vent out and never returned. Other submarines went out, perplexi d, against a mystery, and these. too, never ietu rived, or returned in mysteriously diminishing numbers. Nothing wassail about t till the destruction of the fiftieth was quietly celebrated at a small gathering in London; and then neutrals h'.'gan to inquire, with a new note of curiesitv. "What is I'nglan I doing-'" We heard tales of steel vets it s vague as the results would have been but lor certain great preliminaries ol wlrch we never heard. A few days ag.) I had the oportunity of seeing the lin-i-hed system; and this threw a flood of light on the immense work that must have <; me beloro in even this on v 'iramb of our -e i warfare. To begin with, a body of men, larger than the United States a'my, was CiiosVii from the 'longshore fishei'ni'",i

FRIGHTFULNESS!

and trawler crews. They were gradually drilled, disciplined, ami trained, •■aid put into naval unflorm. They •were chosen, of course, on an entirely different principle from that of the army. They were tough scadogs, o. all ages, inured to all the ways of the sea, "ut not at all to any form of discipline. This in itself implies very great preliminaries; for the liu'slied product is fit to man a battle-ship. In the meantime their fishing boats, trawlers, and .were gradually taken over by tho Government and fitted out for the hunt, some three thousand of them. To these were added a Hoet of fast motor-boats, specially built for scouting purposes. They were stationed at various points all round the island. MYSTERIOUS DEFENCES USED. .Night ami day. in all weathers, s(.v tion replacing section, these trawlers and drifters string themselves out from coast to coast; while on shore thousands of workers are turning out ther 'jwn special munitions and eqi ipnienl--uets, mines, ami a dozen' mysteries which may not In; mentioned. From one of their bases a tatrol boat took me out nloiijr one of the longed lines of the flotilla., This innocent Ine of trawlers, strung out lor somo lil'tv miles, had more nightmares in store 'or the German submarine ban a licit >!' battleships. It was an odd sensation to approach trawler after trawler anil note the one obviously unusual feature of each -the menacing black gun it bow and stern. They were j.>ood guns, 100 English, French, and Japanese. The. [vitrei boat carried a Hotchkss, and most of tho trawlers had equal!, ellicient weapons.

There iver>> other unusual features >n every trawler, driftc, and ud.aloi, jentures that made one catch one s breath when their significance was realised. About this F may say very lit lie. But in the matter of the nets, it was demonstrated to niv that within twenty-live nriiiites any submarine reported in hum of our home waters i:n< be en cioM'.d in a steel trap troni uhieh tho'O i-. no escapo. The vagm- rumours that we h'eii'd in the earlier stages of the war led one to suppose that these nets might ue used, perhaps, m "the Knglis'i Channel and other narow waters. Rut I have seen traps a hundr.'d miles long, trnps that could shift their position

and change their .shape at a s : gnal. A submarine may enter their zone, indeed, and even go to America. She may even do some damage within their lines. But if she docs this, her position is known-; and if there be any future damage done, it will probably have 10 be done by another submarine. For she lias called upon a thousand perils, fri si every point of the compass. 10 close up on her return journey. I have actually seen the course dr a Gwman ssu': marine—which thought itse'f undiscovered —marked from day to day on th« chart at an English base. The clues to all these ramifications of this wor'c aro hold by a few men at i'i.' Admiralty in London. Telephone and telegraph keep them in constant toucli with every seaport in the Kingdom, but let the reader consider the amount of quiet organisation that went before all this. Even the manufacture of the nets—which do not last forever, eve 1 when made —is an industry in itself; and that is one of the least of a thousand activities

NEUTRAL SHIPS GUARDED. Throughout this work of the auxiliary tteefr it is worth noting that in thenrecords of rescue and salvage a good half of their care is devoted to the shins of neutrals. It is England that sweeos the sea for mines, marks them oft on charts, warns, delays, and guides th > traffic of the world through a thousand unknown perils. And England has paid the price for it; for, while the neutral traffic is held up for an hour or two. as at the lifting of a policeman's hand, the mines are emoved; but sometime* those who remove them arc awaited in vain By their homes in the little seaports. That neutrals are not altogether forgetful of the fact is shown by the

them, the sea has almost as many eye and ears to-day as it has fishes; and at dusk a drifter rolled up to oar neutr-d friend again. "Begorra, it's twins!" said the gunner, training his twelv*- Knmder on er; and twins it was. For tucked dose under either quarter lay a (it i man submarine, quietly being fed. f.( fore the-.' could submerge or bunk awa/. the ere* of the drifter had boarded the neutnl and had persuaded the crews of the cubmarmes, with the help of a dozen revolvers., that they wvre pr soners of war.

The skipper of .mother trawler t!i .1 we boarded wa. s a (Juiot r vol(ed nian with eyes that looked into the distant u ro w.'i-e .suppressed tears in them v<-ry sternly suppressed, as !.o told me that his brother had been k'lled, wit!) all hands, on the mine-sweepei next to his own only a few weeks ago. He also 0 d me- and I wished that American* <ould have heard him-of th.. German .i.Utek upon the American ship, the Gulflight, which ho had seen from Ins " 11 fishing boat. The Germ-i a submart'i,° n , as ,,r a , "' ay i ! et ,e<?n himself and he Gulflight, which was flvinf the American flag, and could he at four times the distance. Th.- evidence 01 this man and his crew had never hem asked or taken, but he gav- me onMgii'hcant piece of it—tlief ur cap u one of the lost American seamen, whi. i lie had picked up. Even this bedraggled relic of a tragedy threw a new and sharper light on the position of neutrals. 11. Ihe attack on tho American steam ship Gulflight was narrated to me as follows by the skipper of his Majesty< drifter Contrive. I am sorry that* it has not the violent literarv qualities which literary men call realism. Sa.lors have not yet learned the trick; and those who desire reaJity will know that the conversational expressions of this very plain yarn are at least true, and tho speaker the sort of jnan ,v;ho would send his kind regards to a friend from his deathbed:—

At tho time of the incident I was serving as a skipper of a vessel fishing out of Lowestoft. We were lying to our nets about nine miles off the Scillys. In fact, we could see the Sc.llys, as' it was a very clear day, with a blue sky and a fresh breeze, ..uany vessels had passed us during the day, and the scene was so peaceful that you could almost imagine we were still at peace with everyone and that sweh things as submarines and nines and "such like" never existed. Of course 1 knew better, and I had good reason fo remember tho day the German fleet came to bombard my native town . They weren't allowed to remain overlong, as they were chased back to port; but they stayed long enough to sow a large minefield in the way of the shipping. My brother was then a naval skipper in command ■>! his Majesty's drifter Will and Magg'e —he met hsi death trying to sweep up those mines, and his ship and his crew went with him. I've seen their submarines before, although when I did see them they were too busy trying to evade our patrols to try to snk my lit tie ship. You must remember that 1 was then engaged in fishing, and could only rely on my stout stem to attack one. One night, just after sunset, I saw one. She passed quite close to us —not more than a mile and a half, J should say. She was a great big chap, with two guns, and a lot of the crew on dock, —that was about sixty miles from the Seven Stones lightship. Well, to continue. My vessel, funnily enough, was called Our Friend, and. before the end of the day, it was our luck to prove our Friendship or our friends across the (waters. As I was saying, we had shot our nets, and about noon we saw a large tank steamer coming up Channel at a good pace. She was coming in our direction, and I soon "*.iw her colours, the Stars and Stripes, at tho stein--a fine big ensign it was, and spread out like a board. When she was about two miles off, to my horror I saw a submarine emerge from the depths and come right to the surface. There was no sign of life on the submarine, but she lay stationary, rising and falling in the trough, and I knew inst netively that she was watching tho steamer. She had undoubtedly come from the same direction as the steamer, •;ind it did not take me long to realise what had actually happened. 1 took in tho situation at a glance. The submarine had passed the Gulfhght (for that proved to bo her name). She had deliberately increased speed to he in Y»a/t for her and get a sure target, lather than attempt to fire a torpedo when overhauling her, with the possible chance of missing and wasting one .•' those expensive weapons, even on an American.

oxceedinglv generos subscription rased on tlfe Atlantic liners, among Americans and others, tor the widows and orphans of the mine-sweepers On 0114, Dutch liner recently over £2OO was con tributefi for this purpose in half an lour by tho passengers at breakfast, who had come undisturbed throng i waters full of menace.

Often, as in the case of the Falaba, the rescue work is attended "with many periis to the auxiliary concerned. From the Falaba. 116 persons were rescued; and tho drifter was '' bilged,'' a phrase that *h this case meant ''almost foundered.'' On a few occasions the hunters Ir.ive themselves been trapped. Three men taken oif a trawler by a submarine endured an eighty hours nightmare under the sta that shattered tho mind of one and left permanent traces on the other two. Periodically fi.Volvers were put to their heads and they were 01 tiered, 011 pafn 0 death, to tell al ltbey knew of our naval dispositions. They saw a good deal of the internal routine of the German submarine also, and noted characteristically that tli' German crew—on this boat, at any rate- were very "jumpy," too ''jumpy" even to take a square meal They munched biscuits at then stations at odd moments. On the tlvrd morning they heaH eutis going overhead, and watched th> Germans handing out shcl's to the.r own guns. Finally a torpedo was bred, and they heard it take effect. Then they emerged into the red v. ash of dawn end saw only the floating wreckage 01 tiio Mg snip that bed been sunk, and

The submarine was painted light grey and had two guns; but I could not see any number. For five minutes she lay motionless, and then, having fixed tho position of her prey and taken her speed into consideration, she slowly submerged in its direction. 1 knew what was coming, and it came —a dull, heavy explosion and a silence, and then, as " to see the result of her handiwork, tho (submarine again appeared. She did not stay up long, as smoke was soon seen on the horizon, and 1 knew the patrols hnd been looking for her. She knew it, too—and submerged. I hauled in my nets and proceeded at full speed to the sinking ship, to try and save the lives of the ciew. Our boat was launched, and 1 went aboard JUv th's time the Gulflight's bows wem well down and her tore decks awash, and she looked as if she .would sink :»t any minute . She was badlv holed :;:

lit-!- fore part—the Huns, I thought had done their work well.

among l'v iw!" kago :i small Lout. Tliev ivoro bundled into tins, told they were live to ma Li Kngland or Xineveh, an I t!ii> submarine left tliem—three 'longshore fishermen, who had passed t hroiigh the latest inventon of tho modern scientific devil, two who could still pull at tlio oars, but th? other to > crizv to st<'or.

But even with neutrals, the auxiliary fleet finds it necessary sometimes to

a.dd the wisdom of the serpent to it; general pliiianthropy. (n. one occasion ■i neutral tank steamer wa.s overhauled. She was helvvcd to be carrying suspiciously large supplies to a suspicious!* la.gue destination, but was allowed to proceed for political reasons Mid in tho name of the freedom of the seas. Nevertheless, with innocent fishing boats dotting our waters at .intervals of half ■' mile, and wireless telegraph/ to help

THAWLKRS TO THE RESCTI

T n minutes later I saw the patrol vowsi i-iciiiir up for all they wore w< rtii •lid one of'there vessels t.ok off tlio < IV.'.-. two of whom were drowned. The captain of the (itilfliyht died of shock. Soon four patrol vessels were on th" spot: and throe of these vessels put men a hoard uitli wires in douhlo-tpnek tinm. The fourth, a Win trawler ivit'i wireless (which I now know, in naval laneuajia 'is ■•trawler load'i"V ste-imM found and round in the vicinity, kreyir,\'i a careful watch. In less than two hours the ( : u!M ; ; •<■ her Stirs and Stupe- still ". u,_' : '■■•• '. water, was heiug towed at a <u>od sjk\ .! lo port with trawlers i : n attendance. Tiiat is all f have lo tell; ye! m v story perloctly tine m i\rry detail. Later on 1 went to Penzance, and found that the crew of the Gnltlmht v. ere reeeiviii eVi rv i oml'ori i.nd I"-: 1 - 1 ility ii'om the - ill-.r llava ! <>(':■ w, and v. ,•!(• vei•;, pleased \\ ith them.-elvc-. t.»' con!"" »\e met Jiein. and ; oi' shorn :

havo he.-.rd t:i;-:r opinions. I would nfri give much Icr a German if one happens to meet my American friends. They told me that if they had the chance they would join the British navy "rigir„ away,' - and were full of prai-p.s for the treatment they had received Loth afloao and ashore. They lived at the Turk's Head Hotel at Penzance. O' course, I heard a lot of their stories as to the probable reason for the attack. 1 do know that <ne of the crew— .1 mate, I believe—was supposed to b 0 pro-Ger-man. He may have been a proper German for all I know. And when tin Guiflight was ready for sea the crew refused to sail again with this mate; so he had to be relieved. I myself am now serving my country, and have 1 ship with a gun und many other explosives. To-day, July 15, 191(5, is the annivesary of mv joining his Majesty's naval reserve. 1 have two other brothers in the R.N.R: one is a, skipper and one a mate. My one ambiton in life is to get ;i real jive submarine and tow her in con. nlete but I don't think there is much chance of that in my present billet, txv cause we have much quicker methods of putting them out ot action. You simply press a button and the fin. re worts.