SUNK BY SUBMARINES.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1918, Page 3

SUNK BY SUBMARINES.

AMERICAN VICTIMS. , . TRAGIC NARRATIVES. , New York, June 3. A member of the crew of the schooner Edward 11. Cole, the first vessel reported to have been lost in the German 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 submarines had no trouble in makingher halt. One shot was iired across the vessel's 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 schooner, and the commander shouted through a megaphone, giving the Americans ten minutes in which to leave their vessel. The submarine launched a small boat, in which some of the crew rowed alongside the schooner, planted bombs in the hold, and blew the ship up. Boston and other harbors have been closed, and shipping on the coast will be armed. The liner Carolina, 5093 tons, inbound from Porto Pico, wirelessed that she was being attacked by a submarine at noon on Monday, and later sent a message that her 200 passengers had taken to the lifeboats. The vessel was gunk, but the passengers have probably been rescued. AN INTERRUPTED DINNER. The liner Esperanza, 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 to the captain, a wireless message was received saying, "We are being attacked by a submarine." The sender of the s.o.s. flashed the name of his vessel, and its exact location also, but these facts are not disclosed. A few minutes later came another wireless, "We have been torpedoed." The captain ordered the liner to leave the convoy and make with all speed for the nearest port. Several fast ships also, broke a'way from the convoy, and, with all lights dimmed made a dash for tyThe dinner to the captain broke up. The passengers donned their lifebelts, a"nd were ordered to their stations beside the lifeboats. ANOTHER "5.0.5." MESSAGE. Half an Lour later, as the liner was speeding through the night, another wireless message 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 last • heard from the Becond vessel was a brief flash, very faint: "We are sinking; 5.0.5." The captain of the Canadian liner heard nothing further about the submarines until he entered the harbor here. Captain Hart, of the steamer Bristol, which rescued the crew of the Edwin S. Cole, said he heard seven distinct bombardments before he happened to see the castaways in their lifeboats. After he had picked up the men, he said, the submarine approached his ship. Its conning tower was plainly visible, but it turned aside without attacking. He attributed this to the fact that a large awning forward on his ship gave the appearance of carrying heavy guns., "KEEP QUIET OR WE SHOOT." The wireless operator 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 Nogel attempted to call "5.0.5." to Cape May the German wireless broke in. Nogel said: "Cape May answered, but the submarine operator's instrument was tuned for a radius of only a few miles, so that he could talk to 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 xard answered. I told him we were stopping, and then tried the "5.0.5." again, but the minute I touched the key the Germans fired at us. I tried repeatedly, but each time, just at the minute they caught my wireless on the submarine, they sent another shot. "THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER." "Both Brooklyn and Cape May asked our position, but the captain ordered me net to talk; he was afraid that the Ger!mans 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 scoreß 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 he sounded in case of air raids, and th*e lighting regulations of New York will be strictly enforced. A Washington message states that the Government has decided that the submarine danger is insufficient to justify an advanco in marine insurance. Life rates for the officers and crews of merchantmen were reduced to-day.