ON THE SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1916, Page 5

ON THE SEA.

• THE TRAWLERS' WORK. . A THRILLING NARRATIVE. London, August 29. Mr. Alfred .\oyes, the poet, in a second article, states that for many months a certain strip of the north African coast had been strewn with wreckage and men's bodies from the merchant ships of the Allies and neutrals who have met German submarines. We dispatched a flotilla of trawlers and drifters there, ind that coast to-day is as clean as any in Britain. On one occasion one squadron was withdrawn from the mouth of the Adriatic in order to deal with unexpected trouble in the Aegean Sea. The submarines promptly emerged from the unguarded gates and more wreckage and dead strewed the unwatched shores. British longshore fishermen may be found patrolling or frozen in the White Sea, others are always patrolling the coast of Bulgaria. Bhe sinking of unarmed fishing boats was one of Fritz's favorite amusements early in the war. Mr. Noyce relates a typical true story recorded in th«, official log books how a submarine surprised the trawler Victoria while fishing on a bank 130 miles from land. The tiawler took a forlorn hope and tore homewards. One after another shells killed the crew until foui were left, fhe submarine picked up the survivors and the commander examined them singly concerning the patrol system. All refused to answer.

AN EFFECTIVE RUSB. Mr. Noyes continues: "The sinking of these fishing boats suddenly ceased, eKcept on rare occasions, and the fact in now acknowledged that when a submarine sees jne it submerges or bolts. Details must not be \given, but I may give one case. , "There was once a simple fishing boat shooting its nets and a submarine gave the men five minutes to leave. Immediately there was a panic on board the boat, which had been part of the drill in port: Two of the crew went down on their knees for mercy and others hauled at the boat like men possessed/ Passing over the detaik again, the resultant picture showed the dummy heat on deck in four pieces, and a finb big gun levelled at the submarine, with the navy's gunners in attendance. There were two Germans kneeling for mercy, an aLolisiied submarine, and oil upon the troubled waters. • The war has made many queer transformations and what looks like a battleship may be a comparatively narrates thing resein''r,g a Noah's Ark. German warships run from a boat harmless as a mouse. They are ronfronting the most terrible bluff in the war gamble. Passengers in American 5 ' and other neutral liners heave sighs of content at sighting a British man-of-war, which is not a man-of-war at all, while all around the sea is dotted with insignificant craft, ships of the Drake and Hawkins type, loaded with unimagined thunderbolts. They are England's worldjatrolling battle fleets." 4 _