Q-BOAT EXPLOITS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23037, 14 May 1938, Page 17

Q-BOAT EXPLOITS

COMMANDER'S ADDRESS CAPTAIN H. AUTEN, V.C. TENSE MOMENT RECALLED Incidents in the Q-bont campaign in the Great War were related bv Captain Harold Auten, V.C., at a luncheon reception given by the Forty-four Club at the Central Hotel after Ins arrival yesterday by, the Monterey. Captain Auten, well known for his exploits as commander of several "mystery ships is now a leading figure in the him world and is visiting New Zealand as the representative of British and American film interests. "Though my association with the film industrv has been a comparatively late development, I must have been a showman even in the Navy, because, at o end of the war, the Admiralty put me in charge of the exhibition tour of 'mystery ships' and the captured German submarine Deutscliland," said Captain Auten. In describing the tactics used by Q-boat commanders, he explained that when the Germans became familiar with the ruses adopted they began to use torpedoes instead of shells, which made the work extremely dangerous. "On one occasion, the warning rattlers sounded and everybody rushed to stations and waited for the submarine to appear. Two hours passed and nothing happened. I suggested to the captain that the men might be dismissed, 'No hurry; come and have a gin and bitters,' was the reply.

"As I was drinking I happened to look over the starboard wing of tho bridge and saw the trace of a torpedo speeding toward us. There was no escape and we all braced ourselves for the bang. Hut it did not come. The torpedo missed us for depth and passed under the boat. Everybody was on tho strain until a cockney signal boy remarked, 'lf I have not been under fire. I have certainly been over it.' Captain Auten was awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery when the Q-boat Stock Force was torpedoed and sunk in an encounter with a German submarine in July, 1918.