AE2.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16467, 17 February 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

AE2.

WAR PRISONERS IN TURKEY. INTERESTING LETTER. - En-gineeb Lieutenant-Commander Patehson, R.N., now in Sydney, has receievd a letter from Mrs. Stoker, mother of Commander Dacre Stoker, of AE2, the .Australian submarine, which, after many adventures, went ashore in the Soa of Marmora, her entire crew being mado prisoners by the Turks. In the course of her letter from Dublin Mi's. Stoker writes —" I will try and tell you what I know of my boy's life, since the ill-fated day when his fine submarine was lost. Of tho details of the disaster we know little, as, of course, he cannot give particulars. You know that H.M.A. submarine AE2 was the first to run the Dardanelles successfully and get into the Sea of Marmora. There she sank a transport and captured a gunboat. Three days later she was destroyed by gun-fire; no lives,-however, were lost. ! "It is supposed that the AE2 had to rise for adjustment, as the currents in Marmora are very swift, and alter the navigable channels, but no one knows yet what actually happened, except that the crew took to the water and all were saved, and taken prisoners to Affion Kara Hi»3aca fortress in the mountains. It was from this fortress that I first heard from my boy, often quito long letters, till the Turks forbade them, and reduced his communications to a bare four lines at long intervals. Turkish Reprisals. " In 'October, 1915, the Turks instituted reprisals on their, prisoners owing to the supposed bad treatment by the British of the crew of a Turkish ship. Dacre and Lieutenant Fitzgerald, another submarine officer, were selected from the fortress at Afltlon Kara —although Dacre • denied that it was possible for the British to treat prisoners in such a way, and demanded an investigation— _ taken to Constantinople, and placed in solitary coni finement. I really cannot bear to write 1 of what ho underwent there. Lieutenant Fitzgerald suffered so much in health that the Vatican interfered, and got him exchanged for a Turkish officer, and he is now in London. "The Turks, however," continues Mrs. Stoker, "found they were in error about the treatment of their crews by the Bri- . tish. Tho United States Ambassador was most active in proving that what they had | been told was false, and to atone the Turks allowed Dacre and Lieutenant Fitzgerald a fortnight in an hotel at Constantinople, where, according to the United ' States Ambassador, they were* feted by 1 the whole of Constantinople. They re- ' turned to Afflon Kara Hissac, and in a short time Lieutenant Fitzgerald, whose 1 health was much impaired by captivitiy, 1 was exchanged.* "In March, 1916, Dacre and two other submarine officers escaped from Afflon ' Kara Hissac. They reached the shores of r the Bosphorus, taking a month to get 1 there, but' were recaptured, and placed in 1 close confinement in the military prison ■ at Constantinople. The Turkish Govern--1 ment informed the "United States Ambas--1 sador that they were in good health, and 1 that if they would five their parole not to ' try and escape again their condition would 1 be much improved. Tlijs, it was stated, thev steadfastly refused to do, but, [ withstanding their refusal, the military 1 permitted them to walk in the prison I garden. Books are permitted them, and j parcels, _ , v "In his earlier letters Dacre spoke in , most glowing terms of the courage and bravery of his crew in AE2, and please take every opportunity of making this j public, ,as it may be some slight comfort [ to tho relations of these brave Australian sailors. I have heard from' him that tho i AE2 was stuck on the rocks, submerged in the Dardanelles for 48 hours, and there ' seemed little prospect of . getting, her off. ' It was an awful time for Dacre. hut he got her off the bench and to Malta for repairs before the final catastrophe. He saw his crow, behaved magnificently."