DRIFTERS IN ACTION

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 September 1917, Page 6

DRIFTERS IN ACTION

C'( )TT'Iv A(.JK Ob’ THU TRAWLUKMEN.

LONDON, .July 27

Particulars are now io hand of the "Teat tiyht pul up by (lie British drifter line in the Adriatic. when attacked on May 15th by a squadron of three Austrian cruisers. The diallers were disposed in eiyht divisions of about six boats in each, alony a line runniny rouyhly east and west. Thev carried a crew of ten men

each and one small gun. The Austrian cruisers separated on approaching the line, one attacking the centre and the other two the divisions of eaeli ■wing". In one case the enemy appears to have acted with chivalry towards the little era it, signalling- hy blasts on tin* siren and dipping* her flag- that the crews were to abandon their vessels. This cruiser approached to within 100 yards of the (lowan Lea and hailed her crew to take to the boats- Skipper -I- Watt, IbiV.lL, having- slipped his nets, replied by ringing- down for full speed ahead, and, calling- on his crew for three cheers, bade them fight to a finish. Amid cheers, they manned tin 4 gun and continued to fire with good effect, until a shot from the cruiser disabled the gun. They stuck to it, however, under heavy fire, endeavouring- to repair the damage, until the cruiser had passed out of range. The Gowan Lea then proceeded to the assistance of a badly damaged consort, the Floandi, who had four men killed and three wounded nut of her compliment of ten, but whose skipper, though wounded in three places, rein allied at his post throughout the action.

lii the meanwhile the remaining cruisers had opened u devastating fire on the centre and other wing of the line. "Vet, despite the overwhelming odds against the drifters and the willingness of the enemy to allow the

crews (o hike to their, boats, a spirit of indomitable gallantry •was shown from one end of the line to the other throughout the action.

The crew of the Admirable only abandoned their vessel after the boiler had exploded and the wheelhonse had been shot awayEven then A- Gordon, the second hand, scrambled /jack on board with the apparent intention of fighting' the gun single-handed, but was killed- The Girl Hose, Coral Haven, and Selby were not, abandoned by their crews until they'foundered under them- The crew of tlie sinking 1 Tails, having taken to the boat and mustered f number, discovered that one was unaccounted for, and returned to their vessel through heavy fire to search for their missing shipmate. Second Hand Joseph Hendry, of the Serene, remained on hoard until the ship sank rather than he taken prisoner, and was picked up out of the water an hour later by the British Crown. The crews of the Garrigill, Bon Espoir, Christmas Daisy" and British Crown refused to leave their vessels, even when outranged and under broadside fire from the enemy, and brought them through the action. The enemy displayed particular anxiety to destroy the wireless telegraphy drifter in each group, auditin' behaviour of the wireless operators of the Capella (W-, Wadsworth) and Carigill (James Yarwood) in remaining at thenposts throughout the action is thus rendered the more conspicuous The wireless operator of the Eloandi (Douglas M Harris VB- B.Y.Y-B-) was found dead in"his cliair at'the conclusion of the action, collapsed over the wireless log. in which he was writing at the moment of Ins death-" _