THE U-BOAT BREMEN.

North Otago Times, Volume CV, Issue 13939, 24 July 1917, Page 6

THE U-BOAT BREMEN.

"The submersible probably made frantic efforts to free herself, because when found her stern was far out of Ihe water, both her screws being in the air, 1 understand that one of the German officers said they pumped their ballast tanks dry with a view of raising a part of the vessel to the surface, so that the men could be sent on deck io clear the planes of the net. That was impossible, as Hie net was too heavy and too firmly anchored, An accident to, the machinery caused gas fumes 'to fill the engine room and it was necessary to close the watertight doors, seven men losing their lives."

AN AMERICAN MANUFACTUBER'S ■ STORY, The German merchant submarine Bremen, sister vessel of the Dcutschland, which twice visited America, is in the hands of the British, according to n special correspondent of the New W York Evening Sun. l'roof that came to .him through three sources established to hi* satisfaction that the undersea craft was captured on her maiden trip. He heard during his stay in England that the Deiitschlnnd also had been seized and that Captain Paul Hot-' nig and his crew, are prisoners iii a camp in the north of England. How-, ever, lie could gather no specific facts ahout this vessel. He was told about the Bremen by a British naval officer of high rank. The details of her capture were related by this officer, who.showed a photograph of the submarine. The picture showed (he same contour of. body and the same type of conning tower and general superstructure as the Dcutschland. Corroboration came from another naval officer and also from an American manufacturer who lias a factory in Scotland. The latter said he saw the Bremen laid up in one of England's yards. In all three stories the circumstances of the capture are identical, "I confess I was sceptical about the stories of the Bremen's capture," narrated the manufacturer, "['didn't begin to believe that they might be true until I went to the port where the vessel was said to be tied up. I went there on official naval business for the British Government, and heard so many sensational stories about Germany's captured blockade runner that my .curiosity w-as .aroused. '!I asked,a, certain. Admiralty officer to tell me the plain truth about the Bremen, and he asked'nie'if I' would'' believe my own eyes. I said I was perfectly willing to take his word, but would be only too glad of an opportunity to see the ship herself. We got into a taxi and it wasn't'long bofore I was looking at the good l ship Bremen. There are a number of interesting details about her capture that I am not at liberty to divulge, but I can tell you that the submarine 1 saw was the Bremen, and that she was captured through becoming entangled in a heavy cable net. She was running submerged at the time and her diving planes near the bow got caught in the mesh of the net.