On the Seas.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VIII, Issue 52, 13 February 1918, Page 5

On the Seas.

WAR IN THE ARCTIC.

THRILLING ADVENTURES

London, Feb. 5.

The Press Bureau narrates some remarkable adventures of British naval men engaged in combating German mine-laying operations in the Arctic Seas, and in clearing mines away from ice-bound ports. When a merchantman, expected at one of these ports, did not arrive, the trawlers, anticipating disaster, searched for the starved and frostbitten crews, who are often exposed in open boats to the fury of the Arctic seas. Sometimes they were never found at all.

Upon occasion a submarine meets the fate prepared for another. We recently found a. telephone buoy inschibed: “An under-sea-boat sank here. Do not touch, but telegraph to the Kiel base.” Another submarine met a similar fate. It had torpedoed a munition ship whose crc-w took to the boats. The submarine, not guessing the nature of the cargo, rose to the surface and shelled the stricken vessel. The first shell exploded the cargo. A large motor lorry on deck was pitched into the sea and landed upon the submarine, sinking her instantly. A German communique narrating the story said that the U-boat rose to the surface to see what assistance she could render to the boats when an explosion damaged the submarine, and the crew were left struggling in the water. “With their pistols in their mouths they implored to be taken in the boats, but they were left, to their fate by these inhuman Englishmen, who are fit compatriots of the men of the Baralong,” rhe German communique stated. The Press Bureau adds that “the ship's boats were so crowded that it was impossible to take another soul on board. The crew were four days before they reached land. The touching story about imploring for mercy with their pistols in their mouths is truly Prussian.’’