SNAKES OF THE SEA

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9720, 24 July 1917, Page 6

SNAKES OF THE SEA

THEIR SLIMY TRACK CRAFTY RUSE OF THE U-BOATS,

After twenty-one days in a German submarine, writes Christian Olsen, seaman on the Norwegian ship Storskog, from Copenhagen, to tho Now York “World,” ! have just arrived here with my two companions, Ove Darro and Christian Dick. We were out of Buenos Ayres in the crew of tho Norwegian ship Storskog, bound for Norway, with a cargo ot corn. Off the Irish coast, while m the danger zone, we were stopped by a largo U-boat, tho 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. •' Tho U-boat then took tho two lifeboats of the Storskog in tow and headed in toward the coast, but tho commanflcr soon caught sight of an English destroyer, which resulted in the lines being hastily cast off, one. of the boats, filled with food and extra clothing, drifting away. In this were the second officer and tho carpenter with other members of tho crow, who, wo have found since, finally reached shore safely. The commander of tHe submarine ordered, the rest of us aboard, including the captain of the Storskog, and we were sent below, from which time wo never saw daylight until w© reached Heligoland three weeks later. Tho U-boat immediately dived and changed her course, heading westward, and escaped tho destroyer. Several big steamers were sunk in tho days that followed, until the commander had exhausted his supply of torpedoes. Then he decided to attempt to go through tho Channel to Heligoland, but was discovered by another British destroyer, which opened with its guns. They failed to hit the submarine before she submerged. Then the destroyer dropped several depth bombs timed to explode at certain depths below the surface, in the vicinity where wo had gone down. Wo. inside the U-boat, could hear the explosions near Us, but they did not harm ns.

EASILY TRICKS DESTROYER. However, the submarine commander ordered that a large oil tank should be opened, which could ho done by pressing a spring, and, of course, the fluid rose to the surface of the sea, leading the Englishman to hefievo they had done for the U-boat. This is supposed to be an infallible sign, and I understand the Germans cany tanks on their submarines to fool the .English by releasing the oil when attacked by a chaser or destroyer, so that the pursuit will he abandoned. At any rate, while the crew of the destroyer evidently rejoiced when they believed they had sunk ns because of tho oil on tho 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 wo wore So far away wo were in no further danger. That tho British bombs had not missed us by very much of a margin aas shown when it was discovered that one of tho freshwater tanks in the U-boat had been ruined by tho force of the explosion under tho water. This showed, one must have detonated very near us, and I understand these have accounted for many U-boats. The explosion often starts tho plates without a hit. “I suppose that' fellow will report to tho British Admiralty ho bagged another U-hoat,” chuckled the German commander when wo had escaped. He, however, determined to abandon his effort to force his way through the English Channel, but to return homo by going north of Ireland amT Scotland. It took ns eleven days to make this voyage, and it seemed like eleven yearn to us, locked down below. Whenever tho U-boat would dive, wo thought our last minute had come, and we would drown like rats m a trap. 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 tho bomb, we were unable to use any water for washing, needing all we carried to drink. PRISONERS NEVER SAW DAYLIGHT.

Wo Danish and Norwegian sailors, as well os four Englishmen who had .been taken aboard after the torpedoing of a British ship—they admitted they wore glad tho destroyer had not boon successful, and wore as nervoua as the rest of us when she was spilling depth bombs about us—passed our time below as best we could. Wo were permitted to lie around wherever we might find, room, but the quarters were very pramped at best. Wo never saw daylight, and had to depend on the two phonographs for entertainment. Only by tho manometer could wo tell whether wo were on tho surface or submerged. At night we wrapped ourselves m blanket* and tried our hast to sleep, but our hed was the bare floor, and the water dripped on ns continually. Wo could wring out our blankets in the morning. i We received good food for the first ten days, but when the commander was forced to take the longer route home the provisions were cut down, and we lived on three plates of very thin soup a day for, the last eleven days of the voyage. This, however, was the .same rations as received by the crew of the U-boat. PLAYED SUB-SEA CANNED MUSIC.

We kept the phonograph going all the time to hold up our courage, but we did not care much for the records, because we heard almost without Interruption “Die Wacht am Hnem and “Deutschland, Deutschlandfirst from on© phonograph and, then from the other. played so much of this canned music on our machine it went to pieces, but the commander loaned us his. We must admit he. was pleasant and kind to us as far as he could bo, but those days were almost unbearable, and almost drove some of us crazy. We all had terrible headaches, caused by the very bad air, and we were never permitted to get a breath of fresh air, even when on the surface. ~. , , At last we reached Heligoland, so weak and tired from our sufferings that our knees wobbled as we went ashore. But the fresh air, some good food,, and a night’s sleep in the beds in the military barracks soon restored us.

On this fortified island we were greatly impressed by the tremendous strength of the fortifications. Guns of

the largest calibre and other engines of destruction are placed in every advantageous place on the rocks and cliffs in such a way as to be used with terrible effect against an attacking enemy. FOODSTUFFS WERE PLENTIFUL. Tlie military barracks are placed in a valley in the centre of the island. It had -plenty of milk, cows, pigs, goats, and all kinds of fowl. The amount seemed to us to be enormous. We did not dare scrutinise things too closely. Every soldier and sailor on the island seemed to be a sentinel appointed to watch us, and thousands of them seemed to he there. “They know how many buttons we have on our coats, how many hairs on our heads, and how many nails in our shoes, ■’ remarked Ove Darre.