On the Sea

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 27, 30 August 1916, Page 5

On the Sea

SRITA’iJ’S NAVAL WORK. CANNING FRITZ’S TIN-FISH. DOLING GERMAN SUBMARINES PEEPS BEHIND THE SCENES. .HINCS NOT WHAT THEY SEEM. ,'cess association— Copyrigut, Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (.Received S.o. a.m.) London, August 21). Mr. Alfred -Noyes’ second article ,tate, s that for many months a eer,aiu strip of North African coast has ,1 >on strewn with wreckage, and nen’s bodies from merchant ships, loth of the Allied and neutral flags, ,vho have met German submarines. ,Ve despatched a flotilli of trawlers uul drifters there, and that, coast toiay i s a s clean as any in Britain. On one occasion one squadron was . itlulrawn from the mouth of the Adriatic in order to deal with unexle.eted trouble in the Aegean Sea. Submarines promptly emerged from he unguarded gates and more wieckand dead strewed the uuwatched Lores.

British longshore-fishermen may be mind patrolling, or frozen, in the Yhite Sea ; others are always- patrol- • ng-the coast of Bulgaria. 'I he sinking of unarmed fishing mats was one of Fritz’s favourite amusements early in the war, and ir. Noyes relates a typical true story ecorded in the official logbooks, of tow a submarine surprised the traw>r Victoria on a fishing bank 130 dies ''from land. The trawler took \ forlorn hope' and tore homewards. )ne after another ihe enemy shells filled the crew until only four were .’ft. The submarine picked up (ho survivors, and the commander examined them singly concerning the Briish patrol system, but all refused to answer. ! Mr Noyes continues; The sinking it those fishing boats suddenly ceased, xcepb on rare occasions, and the fact is now acknowledged that when a ll'erman submarine sees one it submerges or. bolts. Details must not be liven, but I may give one of six hdiows: There was once a simple ■•biug-boat shooting m ts. A German

»ave. the men five, minutes to leave. Immediately there was a pretended panic aboard the boat (which had been part of the drill in port), and two )f the crew went down on their knees isking for mercy. Others} nluuilqd at fine boat like men possessed. Passug over the deals again, the resultant ficture showed a dummy boat on the leek in four pieces and a line big gun levelled at the submarine with Navy limners in attendance, while two Germans arc this time kneeling for acroy: an abolished submarine and ,’i! upon the troubled waters! War has made many queer transaminations. W hat looks like a battleilSp may he a comparatively harmless l|hig pjescgibling Noah’s Ark. Gcr/Mn i' un * r 9 m a . boat as utfndess as a mouse,. They are conranting the most terrible bluff in ids war gamble. Passengers on vmerican and other neutral liners, mayo sighs" of content on sighting a iritis}) man-of-war which sometimes s not a man-of-war at all while round the sea is dotted with insigniicant looking craft, the ships of Drake and Hawkins, loaded with nnmagined thunderbolts. They are England’s world-patrolling battle .loots. —P—tHIIH H’ ~ 1 WlimH HFHB wWj