On the Sea.

Taihape Daily Times, 20 June 1918, Page 6

On the Sea.

AMERICAN VICTIMS. TRAGIC NARRATIVES. NEW YORK, June 3. A • member of the crew of the schooner Edward H. the first vessel reported to have been lost in the American submarine campaign in American waters, declares two submarines 'were sighted ( at a distance of 300 yards. They circled round the American vessel and hoisted the German naval ensign. The schooner was doing about three knots an hour in a light breeze, and the submarine had no trouble in making her halt. One shot was fired across the vessels’ bows from a gun mounted on the forward deck'. Just as the ..schooner halted the smoke of a steamer was seen on the horizon and one submarine immediately sheered off and made away in pursuit. The other U-boat came closer alongside the and the commander shouted through a megaphone giving the Americans ten minutes in which to leave their vessel. The submarine lauched a small boat, I in which some of the crew rowed , alongside the schooner, planted bombs in the hold and blew up the ship* Boston and other harbours have been closed .and shipping on the coast will be armed. The liner Carolina j 5093 tons, inbound from '■Porto Rico, wirelessed that she was being attacked by ia submarine at noon on Monday and later sent a message that her 200 passengers had taken to the lifeboats. The vessel was sunk ? but the passengers have probably been rescued. AN INTERRUPTED DINNER. The liner Esperanzo, inward bound to New York, arrived to-day without seeing any submarines, but the captain said that he was detained at Havana for 15 days on account of submarines being reported near by.

Last night } at seven, o’clock, when the passengers were giving a dinner Jo the a wireless message was Teceived saying, “We are being attacked by a submarine.” The sender of the S.O.S. flashed the name of the vessel, and its exact location also, but these facts are not disclosed A few minutes later came another wireless 41 We have been torpedoed.” The captain ordered the liner to leave the convoy and make with all speed for the nearest port. Several other fast ships also broke away from the convoy and with all lights made a dash for safety. The dinner to the captain broke up The passengers donned their and were ordered to their stations beside the lifebelts. . ANOTHER “SO.S.” MESSAGE. Half-an-hour ‘ later, as the liner was speeding through the night, another wireless nessage came: “We are attacked,” This message gave the name of another tank steamer also } its location. The liner could not turn

from, its course to go to the rescue. The lasc heard, from the second vessel was a brief flash, very faint: “We are sinking, S.O.S. ” The captain of the Canadian liner heard nothing further about the submarines until he entered the harbour hero. 1 Captain of the steamer Bristol ■which rescued the crew of the Edwin S. said" he heard seven distinctbombardments before he happened to see the castaways in their lifeboats. After he had picked up the men, he said, the submarine approached this ship. Its conning tower was plainly visible, but it turned aside without attacking. He attributed this to the fact that large awning forward on his ship gave it the appearance of carrying heavy guns. “KEEP QUIET OE WE SHOOT.” The' wireless Nogel, of the Carolina, says that he first heard the “5.0.5.” from the Isabel Wiley which was being shelled by a submarine. Then a shell fell near the Carolina: When Nogel attempted to call “5.0.5.” to Cape May the German wiredss broke in. Nogel said: “Cape May but the submarine operator’s instrument was tuned for a radius of only a few miles, so that be could not talk to the ships he was after, and not be overheard ashore.” The submarine said: “If you don’t use the wireless we don’t shoot.” Then I repeated the “5.0.5.” and Brooklyn Navy-yard' answered. The submarine repeated the warning. I told him we were stopping, and then I tried the S.O.S. again, but the minute I touched the key the Germans fired } at us, I tried repeatedly but each just at the minute they caught my wireless on that submarine, they sent another shot. “THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER” “Both Brooklyn and Capo May asked our position, but the captain orderedme not to ta-’k; he was afraid that the Germans would kill the women aboard with gunfire. When the submarine approached the men and women lining the rail sang “The Star-Spangled Banner/ ” The recruiting booths in scores of American cities are thronged with

men wanting revenge against the submarines. The coast has been divided into zones, each patrolled by from: 20 to 50 aeroplanes. Sirens will bo sounded iu case of air-raids and the lighting regulations of New York, will be strictly enforced. k A Washington message states that the Government has decided that the submarine danger is insufficient to justify an advance in marine insurance. Life rates for the officers and crews of merchantmen -were reduced to-day.