WAR IN ALL ASPECTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 260, 13 April 1915, Page 6

WAR IN ALL ASPECTS.

RACE FROM SUBMARINES. BRITISH STEAMER'S ESCAPE. FULL SPEED AHEAD. A thrilling story of how the Hull fctoamsjiip Kirkham Abbey escaped from three Herman submarines whilst on the way from Rotterdam to Hull is related in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph. The vessel 'left Rotterdam at eleven o'clock on a Saturday night, in charge of Captain Raywood. All went well until inst after live o'clock on Sunday mornlijf, when the mate, Samuel Thompson, who was on watch on the bridge, raised th« alarm, shouting to the dock hands to extinguish the lights.

"There is a Herman submarine. Mio lias just passed near us,' ho yelled. Captain Raywood was summoned, and ordered the engines full speed aheid, and every engineer and fireman to his post. A glaring searchlight was sndden-fi.-.shcd on tho Kirkham Abbey's deckstructure. The officers and crew conld j then clearly distinguish tho hull and periscope of a submarine. Fearing a torpedo might be fired Captain Raywood dodged, the ship about. This disconeerterd tho submarine, and the searchlight got out of focus. In the meantime the Kirkham Abbey was racing through the darkness at her top speed. Every stoker aboard piled coal into the furnace. Tho submarine chased the Kirkham Abbey for fl() minutes, and as the crew s.w two other sets of searchlights, ine . was apparently joined by two othir submarines. All three tried to reach the steamer, but failed, the Kirkham Abbey outdistancing them after a series of variations in her course. On reaching Hull, her forepart was severely strained through bad weather, which also hampered the submarines.