LOOT FOR THE U-BOATS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 30, Issue 24, 26 March 1918, Page 4

LOOT FOR THE U-BOATS.

Numerous accounts have been given of the difficulty that the German Admiralty are said to experience nowadays in securing crews for the U-boats, and of the sufferings of the men on board these vessels. Another side to these stories is supplied by a Swiss correspondent who recounts a long conversation he had on the subject with a German in Berne who is “fairly well posted* ’ on the U-boat situation. This man declared that 95 per cent, of the officers in the German Navy have asked to be assigned to the U-boat service. They are tired of the inaction of the Big Fleet. Their nerves aro going to pieces at harbour duty. As for the members of the crews, the Üboat service attracts them because they are paid flve times as much as their rating would give them in the other service, and during their three weeks on shore, between cruises, they may go

where they will, with money and loot in their pockets. The chance of securing loot seems, indeed, to be the most potent lure to a service which, whatever its compensations, must bo uncomfortable and is certainly dangerous Ordinary seamen arc said to have come home from trips on a U-boat rich men, according to the lower-class German’s count of riches. “Not infrequently each man on a U-boat will bring home 5000 marks’ (nominally £250) worth of stuff,’’ said the informant. “They select the less bulky articles, of course. But money takes up little space, and jewels and bales of silk and the like. They live like fighting-cocks, too, for never a ship goes down that its pantry is not searched if the U-boatmen have their way about it. I’ve had luxuries myself —American canned goods and French candies and fine Bond street cigars—brought in by my friends of the under-sea service.” German submarining has long been described as piracy, but this story, which of course comes .from a German source and is therefore given for what it is worth, suggests that the description fitted the sea-raiders more closely than perhaps was thought. And in favour of this correspondent’s statements, and against the alleged unpopularity of the service, must be put the fact that the Germans seem to find no difficulty in manning a fleet of submarines sufficiently large to do a considerable amount of damage.