FOUGHT PIRATES SINGLEHANDED.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 January 1919, Page 7

FOUGHT PIRATES SINGLEHANDED.

YOUTH SINKS U-BOAT AND CREW

AN EAST 00AST HERO.

(By Ronald Rhodes.) From out the darkness away on the starboard bow of a coasting steamer there was a flash followed by the boom of a gun and the whine of a shell which fell with a "plomp" into the sea. The skipper of the steamer hastily changed his ship's course, putting the vessel's stern to the U-boat from which the shell had come. At the same time he rang down to the engineers, "Full ahead," and shouted to his gun's crew aft, "Stand by there." "Aye, aye, sir," came the reply from the seamen as they swung their little gun round waiting for tho next flash, which would tell them where the pirate craft lay. Robert Dryden, the leading gunner, was but 22 years <Jf age, but this was not the first time he had been engaged with the pirates. "Steady there," he said as lie waited for the flash.

Suddenly, well astern, came the flash again, followed by the shick of the shell. Drydon noted the spot, and fired his gun. Shot followed shot in rapid succession from the submarine, and the Britons replied to each.

ALONE WITH THE GUN.

A shot fell on the poop of the steamer, knocking out three of the gun's crew, and for a while the little gun was silent Then, as others of the ship' 3 company came to aid Dryden, she spoke again Now the U-boat was nearer, and shells were falling all round tho steamer Several had exploded on hey deck, and the crew suffered severly. On man, the steward, was left on the bridge to steer the steamer, while the captain went aft to lend a hand. As he reached the poop another shell crashed on deck. Several men were near the gun, and of these four were disabled. The skipper, Dryden, aiul another seaman kept the gun going until all the ammunition on deck had been expended. As the last shot was fired, Dryden rushed below to the magazine for more shells. When he reached the poop again ho found the skipper lying beside the f»im bleeding from a severe wound in the shoulder and another 'm the leg, while the seaman who had been assisting lay dead on the poop. "Do your best, my lad; never give in," urged tho captain as another blinding flash revealed tho proximity of the U-boat She wa3 right alongside the steamer, her decl:3 crowded with men. Evidently they thought they had an easy capture, Tor the British gun had not replied to their last ten shots, and this had emboldened theci.

'SUBMARINE BUOTCRN •Hailing the ship, they called upon her to surrender There was no time for Drvden single-handed to load his gun and swing it round to bear on the Üboat, now only a few yards away. In a rack close to the gun were a number of bombs, and Dry den reached for one of these.

"Surrender!" yelled the pirates. •'Never!" cams the reply from the sturdy Britisher as he hurled the ibomb. It dropped on the deck of the U-boat just abafi. the conning tower, and exploded with n deafening roar. Quickly ho threw another, and this, too, found its mark..

ISo close was the pirate that the young British gunner could see the men on her deck struggling to launch their collapsible boat. The pirate was doomed. She rolled heavily in the sea, and suddenly appeared to break amidships, and her stern showed up plainly, standing almost perpendicularly out of the water, and a moment later her bows performed the same antics. The conning tower had vanished, and soon the two black ends of the pirate disappeared m the cold North Sea

But the pirate crew had escaped, and wore now pulling in their collapsible boat towards the steamer. They made to approach under the vessels quarter, and were almost alongside wbea some one in the boat fired. a. pistol at Dryden, who.' . was standing ua tfco 1 jXK>i> watching tiio operation-

iITE LAST T.OMT?

Drvden had ono i'ooEi'v left, ons and he determined to take it.,.,.- Patiently, with tbo.bomb ia: hie.,Us,P.^,.ills waited till the pirutw'were alrjOßt-Sitli-in jumping Tiiey shouted for a rope to evs&ble thorn to board the steamer Then Dryden tlnw '-h* 'fcojab. It fell in tbo bottom of the boai, Wowthe fragile craft to atofflu Ot iis occupants, l.'t.ter -jwcwts-isnd to numbei 18 men, only time were awed, ami thest iDryden dragged abouid i-he stwanscer enft nude pTisovnev. k lew boon later, v?bw> daylight dswncfl, a BijitisV. destroyer mi sngnalled and the prisonu« handed ovt-ii •Robert Twv-tMi, R.jßtS., is new tSia hero of the Nortii-Maai Giant, and X am told that not only are the townspeople of his native Whitby imvlciYig a p'resentaItion to him through 1 the 'Mayor,- 'but- that | Lloyds and the of the Admiralty are showing their gratii tude in a very tangible form, -i