U-BOAT'S RUSE.

North Otago Times, 20 July 1917, Page 7

U-BOAT'S RUSE.

■'FLOAT Oil TO TRIOJJFOE. .PRISONER'S STORY, , ORDEAL OF NEUTRAL SAILOR. s After twenty-one days.in a German submarine wiites Clnistian Olson, seaman on the*-Norwegian ship Stoiskog, from Copenhagen to the New York World, I have just arrived here with my two companions, Ove Darro and Christian Hick. We were cut of Buenos Ay res in the crew of the Norwegian ship Storskog, bound'for Norway with a cargo of corn. Off the Irish coast,'while in-th? danger zone, we were stopped by a large U|/boat, the commander.of which was' brief in his formalities, giving us barely time : to leave the ship before sinking her with 27 shots. ■ Picked Up Ship's Crew. The I'-boat then took the two' lifeboat? of the Storskog in tow and headed in toward the coast, but the commander soon-caught sight of.an, English destroyer, whirl) resulted in the linevj being hastily rast elf, one of the boats, filled with fond and extra clothing, drifting away. In this were the second officer and (he carpenter with other members of the new wlio we have found since, finally i-eacheif shore safely. The-commander of the submarine ordered the rest of us aboard, including tlir riiptain of the Storskog, and we were sent below, from which time we j never saw daylight until we reached | Heligoland three weeks later.

The U-boat immediately dived and changed her course, heading westward, and escaped the destroyer. Several big steamers were sunk in the days; that followed, until the commander hail exhausted his supply of torpedoes. Then he decided to attempt to go through the Channel to Heligoland, but was discovered by another British destroyer, which opened with its guns. They failed to lilt the submarine before she submerged. Then the destroyer dropped several depth bombs, timed to explode at certain dep.lis below the surface, in the vicinity where wc had gone down. We, inside the U-boat, could hear the explosions near us, but they did not harm us. Eanly Tricks Destroyer, However, the submarine commander ordered-that a large oil tank should be opened, which could be done by pressing a spring, ami, of course, the fluid rose to the surface of the sea,, leading the Englishman to believe they had dune for the U-boat. This is supposed to be an infallible sign, and I understand the Germans carry tanks on their submarines to fool the British by releasing the oil when attacked by a chaser or destroyer, so that the pursuit will be abandoned.

At any rate, while the crew of the destroyer evidently rejoiced when they believed they had sunk us because of the oil on the surface, the shrewd German commander slipped away under water, and did not rise to the surface until several hours later. Bombs Near U-Boat. - Then wc were so far away wc were iu no further danger. That the -British bombs had not missed us by very much of a margin wa> shown when it was discovered thaLone of the fresh water tanks on the U-boat had been ruined by the force of the, explosion under the water. This showed one must have detonated very near us, and I understand these have accounted for many U-boats. The explosion often starts the plates without a hit.

"I suppose that fellow will report to the British Admiralty he bagged another U-boat," chuckled the German commander when we had escaped. He, however, determined to abandon his effort to "force his way through the English Channel, but to return home by going north of Ireland and Scotland. It took us eleven days to make this voyage, and it seemed like eleven years'to us, locked down below, Whenever the U-boat would dive we thought our last minute'had come, and wc would drown like rats in a trop. Of course, we didn't know when a shot would sink us, or whether we were in danger. Because of the destruction of the water tank by the bomb wo were unable to use any water for washing, needing all we carried to drink. Prisoners Never Saw Daylight. We Danish and Norwegian sailors, as well as fpnr Englishmen who had been taken aboard after the torpedoing of a British ship—they admitted they were glad the destropr had not been successfid, and were as r nervous as the-rcst of r,'. Thra flip was spilling depth bombs al?r--it V- cur time below as best v '"u'l, We were permitted to lie i: :■-1 wherever we might find room, bu: the quarter, were very .cramped at Hsl.

We never saw daylight, and had to depend oil the two phonographs for entertainment. Only by the manometer could v,'e tell whether wo were on the surface or submerged. At light we wrapped ourselves in blankets and tried our best to sleep, but cur bed was the bare floor, and the water dripped on us continually. Wc could wring out our blankets.in the morning. Wc received good food for \h first ten days, but when the commander was forced lo take the longer rcut? home the provisions were cut down, and we lived on three plates of very thin soup a day for the last eleyofi days of the visage.- This, however, was th; 'fame rations as received by the crew of the U-boat. - • • Played Sub-Sea Canned Music. Wc kept the phonograph going all the time to hold up our courage, but we did not care much for the records, because we heard afiv.ost wiiho'r.t interruption "Die- Wacht am Bhcin" and "Reutschlaml, Deutschland"—first from one phonograph and then from the other. We nlavcd so much of this canned music on our machines it went to pieces, but the commander loaned us |iis. We must admit he was pleasant and-kind to-us as far as he could be, but those days' were .almost .unbearable, and almost drove pome of us crazy. We all had .terrible

headaches, caused by the vcty Ijad air, nnd ( wo were novcr permitted,tp get a breath of fresh Sir, even VilicVoii the surface , ,- At kiit we icacherl Heligoland,' so weak, lirod fiom our mffciings that our knees wobblctl as we wcut But the f icsh air, home good food/ bd; a night's sleep in the beds in the military banaeks soon rc&toiccl us. On this foi tilicd island wo were, giently impressed by the fremondous sticngth of the foi Mentions. Guns of the kigest calibic and othci engines of dcstineticn aic placed in cvciy advantageous place on the locks and cliffs in such a way as to be used with tcnible effect against an attacking enemy. Foodstuffs Were Plentiful. / \j Tho military barracks'arc■ placed •in a valley in the ccntro of ft: had plenty; of milk, cows, pigs, • gotjts,: and all kinds of fowl. The amoiist seemed to us to be enormous,','! ■... '$ We did not dare scrutinise'things-too •closely. Every soldier and sailor on Hie island seemed to h\t\ siMilirfa'ppoiiited to watch us, and thousands! 'of. thein seemed to he there. ■■'■" ;-.V .'■ "They know how many, buttons we have on our coats, liow many hairs on our heads, and how many nails in our shoes," remarked Ove Dam. I .'- |