The Mystery V.C.

Taihape Daily Times, 30 July 1918, Page 6

The Mystery V.C.

HOW A DECORATION WAS WON. CAPTAIN'S ASTONISHING TALE. . Another version of How the naval officer known as the "Mystery V.C." W n his decoration is given in the astonishing story of the captain of a ship recently in British waters. "The details of the deed for which the V.C. was given have not been disclosed."— Press Cable. A LONE WOLF. An American paper a montn or two ago lifted the veil of mystery and tola a romantie story, strikingly similar in its details to one of the experiences of Michael Lanyard, Mr. Louis J. Vance's Lone Wolf, of how the mystery V.C, torpedoed in the North Sea, swam around until he was lifted up on to the deck of a submarine, and how then he stood at the conning-tower and with his water-proof pistol shot the captain and held the remainder of the crew at bay until the arrival of a British destroyer settled all the hopes of the Huns to escape. As wonderful story as that is—and if it were true it would be as strange as fiction—it is less thrilling and less ■wonderful than the story, told to the Sydney Sun last week by a captain of the mercantile marine, fresh from the scene of naval activity, a story which lie said is popularly accepted as the feats performed by the man whose grand work will not be chronicled until the war is over, if then. The stage of the drama -was an old ©argue, and the cast wUS^Sniall—the captain, an officer or two, a small crew, and the captain's wife and child. They cruised round aimlessly, inviting attack. WHAT OF THE WOMAN? Suddenly in the distance the surface of the sea was broken by tse periscope of an enemy submarine, ■which in a few minutes; was alongside and; the captain of the sailing boat was ordered to stop and the crew to take to the boats. The drama then developed. The English captain, pleaded with the German. "But/ 'he said, "would you cast my poor wife and child adrift in an open boat in this weather?" The captain'se wife—an exceedingly comely-lcoking woman—clasped her child to her breast and moved towards her husband. "SHE'LL HAVE TO GO." The U-boat captain insolently stared at her. "But my child will die." fße captain pleaded. "There is nothing for it." "Can't you take her on board witn you?" the captain of the barque asked hesitatingly, as if the idea pained him. The U-boat captain started. Such a solution of the difficulty had no* appealed to him. She was a surprisingly fine-looking woman to travel on a barque in such dangerous quarters, and something more than chivalry prompted his eager acceptance of the proposal.

The crew thereupon lowered a boat, the catpain's wife was carefully helped into it, the captain and the crew followed, and the men rowed to the XT-boat. With unusual care the woman was lielped by the captain to the deck of the submarine, and to the connlngtower, then to the trap-door, and she •was even told to be careful of the step. THE DRAMA'S CLIMAX. Then the climax o:C the drama occurred. The captain's wife, who was painfully nervous, stumbled. Sheshrieked, and the baby fell from her 'arms through the hatch of the TJ-TToat to the bottom of the laddeT. Simultaneously the woman shower remarkable athletic powers. Pushing the captain l aside, she leapt overboard and even as she clea.red the deck of the boat, before the startled Hun could appreciate what had occurred, there was a terrific explosion, the bottom was blown out of the enemy-B craft, and the boat sank rapidly. The captain's wife was rescued by her friends, who were breathlessly awaiting the explosion, and "they were "back in the barque & few minutes after the "U-boat had disappeared. MASTERY OF MAKE-UP. The captain's wife was the mystery of the V.C. —a handsome young man of 28, who made up Into a feminine of so striking beauty that the head of the "U-boat captain was turned. The "baby was a most powerful bomb, lovingly and carefully clothed in a thick shawl. The party sailed the sea until nightfall —apparently an easy victim to trie torpedoes of the* enemy. Three more XT-boats hailed them. Three times the dialogue about the woman and child ■was repeated, and three times the Tuse succeeded. Three babies fell down three more hatchways, and three U-boats went with all hands to .the bottom of the North Sea. IDEA OF AN ACTOR. The originating brain of this remarkable plan to defeat the cruellest

, .; navy was called upon to face i , a well-known London actor, fcroer of the mystery V.C. The V.C. ui ;d made a name for himself amongst a limited circle of friends as an anmteur actor, but this magnificent series of heroic actions, played in a great drama of death, transcended all his other efforts. No .V.C. , was ever more nobly earned.