AN UNRECORDED "SCRAP."

Taranaki Daily News, 26 February 1916, Page 5

AN UNRECORDED "SCRAP."

HOW A TROOPER SANK TWO SUBMARINES. In "The Englishman," Calcutta, on tjie 7th of last month, a correspondent wrote:—We are always hearing of "what they did" and very seldom of "what we did," and it will no doubt give your subscribers a thrill of prile and pleasure in the exploits of; OOr silent but glorious Navy to read an extract from a letter received by me last mail from a friend, giving r hitherto unrecorded account of a modest litis scrap, which took place les« than a month ago "somewhere west of Suet," I can see no impropriety in publishing this extract, as the letter was censored at the port from which it came. ', The idea in not recording incidents such as this is that the enemy may not know what becomes of their submarines, but it cannot possibly do them any harm to realise that we mean to hit back on every possible occasion, and for crimes such as the sinking ot the Persia to hit back with Vengeance, that is altogether Righteous. The extract Is as follows:—'7 can give you a few details which I don't fancy are public property. A trooper came into port yesterday having had a right and left to her own cheek with two submarines on Sunday 70 miles from here. The submarines came up oil either flank nt 1200 yards. The fltot shot from our trooper burst on the Submarine, whioh simply broke in two. Tiie trooper then shot at the other, and «l«o submerged, but appeared later, and the two fought at 0000 to 7000 yards for four hours. The 32nd shot from our boat got home, and the submarine went down half of her sticking up in the water. The captain has got a D.S.O, from the Government by wire and£24oo, and the Khedive has come forward with another £2OOO. It is great work.' Y6u can take this as absolutely true- I —saw the captain last night, and the thing is confirmed by the O.C. of troops on board. The captain got a bit of shrapnel in his neck, but he is 0.K., and sHows this bit of lead to admirers."