YAWL SINKS U-BOAT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10104, 11 October 1917, Page 8

YAWL SINKS U-BOAT.

AN "UNPARALI.HT.ED BATTLE." l'.i'ic of French coast. FISHERMAN RETURNS GERMAN'S shout. Wlipn a smnll sailboat; gives battle to a Buhnijiriqc and sinks it, the victorious crew is entitled to bo listed among the heroes. So it, is that the six French fishermen who manned the little yawl Hyacinthe-Yvonne arij to-diy not merely tho lions of, the village of Les Sable.-, in Brittany, but are seeiiig their portraits in the great newspapers <.f Pans. The "unparalleled battle.'' aa Raymond Lestohrsat calls it in an article in L'lHuHtralion, from which the following account is drawn., took place last March, and the French censorship is only now allowing- publication of the tacts. In the parly days of March a (torman submarine, sent panic into the fishing .fleets, all tho way from the lie do Yen t<> Corduan. The people of (he villages along the coast and on the islands were terrorised. The commander of tho U-boat had the cynical effrontery to force his wretched victims to obtain for him white wine, that light and unpretentious white wine of Charentes, which he drank with giistp. Before submerging he used to apologise with a mix-k----ing laugh for not being in a. position to shout, in hia turn. The fishermen dreaded this pirate, and, through fear of adding an avoidable danger to those they faced every day in their vocation, hesitated to leave harbour, unless protected by a patrol, or in default ot this, bv one of their own boat* armed with a- gun. 'Thus it was that on March 16 the yawlriggvd llvacinthe-Vvonne, owned by Hyacinthe Cuisiat. with a small gun in her bows, sailed out from I>s Sables OW>UC o p.m., with >evoral other Sablais fishing smacks, all bound tor the fishing banks. Cuisiat's boat was to act as guardian over the others. CRFAV-OF VETERANS. This dangerous task did not worry ("'apt. Cuisiat, for ho was already a veteran of the war. At the beginning, in a. regiment of Colonials, he had fought in tho Argonne and had been through tho terrific battles ot Lite Kparges. His gunner, Laurent Vichon, had been" a sailor on the. Charlemagne, and had done his share of gun-firing in the Dardanelles until the famous battle of Chanak, where he narrowly escaped drowning with all his comrades. Tho other members ot the crew, Augusto Moneron, Georges Butaud, Georges Petitol, and Jean Phillibcit, had all been under tire in Flanders and in other hot places along the front. Just before, dawn on March 18 the distant sound of cannon-firing was heard. Somebody said: "Thcro is the German going lifter his white, wine." Everybody got ready for immediate action. At seven bolls the U-boat for which they wero watching suddenly emerged 500 yards ahead of the ilyacinthe-Yvonne, heading south-west, directly toward the little fishing craft. The submarine, had scarcely risen from the water when a hatchway opened, two men appeared upon tho deck aimed a 3in gun at the yawl, and tired The shot- was good, but a bit short, and it struck the bow. Captain Cuisiat was at the helm. He instantly brought her up to .the wind and lashed the tiller so as to leave himself free to go to help Vichon with the gun, which was masked from view as much as possible under a sail and some nets. He opened fire at the very moment that a second shell from tho submarine struck on the port. bow. close to the cut-water, starting a bad leak. The U-boat's engines stopped, but it continued its course, firing over at the Hvacinthc-Yvonne. Its commander was trviug to gel astern, so as to avoid the shots from tho bow, the. gun not being able- to fire astern because of. the rigging. Three men on tho submarine, armed with revolvers, fired without ceasing at the fishing -.mack, but almost all their shots landed harmlessly in the spare mainsail boom lashed upon the dock. Cuisiat understood the manoeuvre of his enemy. He retook the tiller, brought the boat about, and thus cleared the field of action for the gun, which Vichon aimed to port against the U-boat, now heading north. west. THE FRENCHMEN'S TURN. Strange, but the men have vanished from the enemy's deck ; al] hatchways are closed. It is ready to submerge; yet it. remains motionless "at 300 yards. This distance is verified by the elevation of the fisherman's gun, all the shots from which score hits, live- of them striking the lower part of the ( submarine's conning-tower. Suddenly the U-boat plunges head foremost; about 25ft. of its stein rises from the water, and remains in an almost vertical position for four or five minutes. "It's our shout this time !" cries Vichon. Without haste the brave gunner takes aim and sends another .shot home. The U-boat quivers under the leaden raillery of the yawl, the crew of which has not yet noticed that their own cvafi is about to disappear, its hold being full of rapidly deepening;! water. They are having such a good time! "Ju'st another, you old brigand: Gurp that one down.'' "To your jolly good health, pirate!'' "Steady, Vichon, don't miss:" "Good'! Epaulettes for you, my boy, and gold ones at that. You have well won them!" "There will never be enough pipes ioi von at Les Sables fair!'' They laughed till their sides were sore, and it* was not until the U-boat went down perpendicularly, less than 100 yards away, that they began seriously to think of saving themselves. They saw at once, that, they could not keep out tho water, all the mattresses they sent down passing through the hole in the side; so they got ready lo leave the boat. Hastily tho sides of the skiff, broken by the gunfire were- nailed up. The flag was hoisted upside down to attract the attention of the nearby fishing hoats. They got into the little skill", which was making water like a basket, and bailed it with casseroles, singing the while—for all were so happy at having defeated an enemy vastly superior in strength. GALLANT LITTLE FIGHTER'S END. About a quarter after eight, bells, the Hyacinthe-Yvonne gently sank; saluted by the sailor.-., sadly, it is true —for a boat is a sort of sweetheart. But they were quite .satisfied with the feat they had accomplished. And they sang again as they rode "across the three'hundred yards of floating oil that marked the. >pot where tho .submarine hail »one to the bottom. A few minutes later, the Pierre-F.mile took the brave fellows on board. Thus -.lid the crew of the little- yawl Hyacinthe-Yvonne hold up the. traditions of the intrepid Breton fishermen. Thus did six humble sailors on a small sailboat give battle to the most- perfect of war machines. the most dreaded instrument of modern "tearfulness," rushing undaunted into the fusillade of artillery and replying calmly and accurately with their one small gun. Thus did they, like knights in tin: days of chivalry, fight and slay the dreaded seamonster that had been devouring the hardworking toil of the ocean, and spreading desolation and panic in many a humble village". Thus did they earn the honour of having their names immortalised in the annals of the French Navy—Hyacinthe Cuisiat, Laurent Vichon, Augusto .Moneron, Georges Butaud, Georges* Petitot. and Jean Philibo.rt, nil of Les Sables, cited in the orders for the day for distinguished bravery in the face of the enemy. And who can describe the home-coming of these, heroes, the- wild acclaim of the littie villages they had freed! And when the bards .-hall sing the trlorious deeds of this crusade, some Homer, some Tasso, will thrill the hearts of men bv recounting the heroic fight, the "unparalleled battle." in which the David of the French marine slew the submarine Goliath.