COMMANDER SANDERS, V.C.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16969, 1 October 1918, Page 6

COMMANDER SANDERS, V.C.

DEED WHICH WON HONOUR, ■•§) r IS! DECOY SHIP AND SUBMARINE. 1 (FROM OUR OWB COBB^SrOSDEKT.} Hj LONDON, Aug. 6. 1 This circumstances in which the late |« Lieutenant-Commander E. W. Sandfirs, of M Auckland, and Captain Gordon Campbell | won the V.C. have been released for pub- T Jj lication by Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of >| the Admiralty, there being no longer any '.M need for secrecy. The story intoduies the. ||j " mystery ships," which form a special 1 department in the hunting of submarines. |||j These are known as Q boats. . -i| jl : . Speaking at tl(* Palace Theatre to a>'|ff| gathering of servica men of all the Allies, j|||j Sir Erio said the Q-boafc was a decoy. ..v She might be an ordinary eld wind-jam- , mer, or a collier, or a tramp; but she %M something mors. His story was that of m J QSO. A Q-sllip looked like a merchant-.:, -.: ■■< man, but on a button being touched 5ha;;•.... : ,| became, with the speed of a quid-change : artist, a veritable man-of-war. QSO, on .:■-.;{ which were the two officers named, was en | old collier, and sailed wi& sealed orders; ; ?j which " Submarines are sinking /., British and American ships in such : and; .; i such a position. Proceed there forthwith. ; || Her crew looked like a merohant ch-w, ;\ and a fairly undisciplined lot they Ap- '3\ peared, but when they got out to sen a j|j change took place in their aspect'. -m It was in the Atlantic at about eleven « o'clock on a summer morning when a eu&? •• j marine was seen from the QSO, wmeft m started to run away. Her maximum spaa m , was eight knots. Her fires were. stokeo a ; and volumes of Bmoke came from her run- ■& net. The order was given by her captain | to slow down to seven and then to .*?. g ; biota. A gun was fired-a two and *W -M j pounder. The submarine overhauled the |g Q-booi, and shells hurst on her deck*, Ml- § ing and woundine men. The Q-hoat W Jf on, and signalled that a surname was i following and shelling her, that th. «J M were about to abandon the ship, and ask- | ing for help. The signaller in the sulj | marine took in the message. An tow ana m a-half passed, and the submarine was,gtr | ting well within range, when a «m ■& boat's crew-a very » n H£S | lot-left the Q-ship, one sailor taking m M him a cage with a parrot in Jj" M from the Submarine struck the poop of to , - Qso,andblewoneof^e g m fUei 1 gun's crew into the air at a «™ when ~j the submarine had Only .to proC<*§ another 100 yds, and *ree of.ti»gon» «j| the QSO would have been trained on ner at 400 yds range. , 05Q M i When it ww disclosed that the uou ™ 4| not what she had pretended to he, op g| • II , Mtty ship, the captam *jfi*M to th below zon, > had answered Tua Jr L^SS ' aSB f' V%fXS» fired tor- f , was not ended, M «w» tJ m p'M pedo after torpedo. 10 a"»y« r ..„ S of the Germans t ° f i decoy again gave «Vf e m *n - the ship, and some of.fte men J overbold, *■ boiler the submne' S^tg|^ boiler was heed. Wg„ y j| . the submarine cams.up- *«» » . downlfb shell was fired attfT.-W JK&m^l her end being foe i- , the.warship, whidiM^l'aboutl . • fight lasted from 11 ■>>», raß aww, 4 •D.ia. •"* ■ ' y-.-'-XV,