Tragic Story of U-Boat Commander

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1164, 3 November 1917, Page 6 (Supplement)

Tragic Story of U-Boat Commander

TTA ' r >s probably the first intimation jfQJ££?&) that the Germans have been using cement shells in their U-boat warfare was disclosed here on the arrival of John Pirano, a seaman aboard the <SBb&£I&P Norwegian steamship Falkland, which was sunk in the North Sea August 15, with the loss of ten of the crew, says the New York "Herald." In addition to the statement that pieces of the exploding shells which shattered the Falkland showed that the shells were made of a cement of almost steel-like hardness the story told bv Pirano is exceptionally interesting because it tells of the dramatic death of the U-boat's commander, 1 who, there appears every reason to believe, was Hans von Tuebinger, of whose romantic career some phases have been told exclusively in the "Herald." "The Falkland was carrying a cargo from Philadelphia," said Pirano, "and everything was going along smoothly until we were in the North Sea, about 150 miles off the north-east coast of England, when a shot tore away our funnel. Another smashed into the engine-room, killing half a dozen men. "The shells were coming so fast that we didn't wait any longer, but just piled into the lifeboats and got away as quickly as we could. We were not a bit too soon, however, for the vessel sank a few minutes after we had cut loose from her. All told, ten men perished with her. Saves Pieces of Shells. "With all my anxiety to get away I still had curiosity enough left to pick up and put into my pocket a couple of pieces of one of the shells which had smashed the funnel. Afterward I discovered that the shell was cement. But that discovery was made weeks afterward in London bv a friend of mine who is a chemist. Until then I thought it was some sort of brittle metal. "The captain of the U-boat made us come alongside after our vessel was gone. He struck me right away as being sort of loonv. I never saw a man acting more queerly. He looked as if he felt sorry for us and then became excited and angry and ordered us to get out of his sight. We were

in mortal dread of the man and didn't know just what to dp. We sure were between tbe devil and the deep sea. For we made up our minds that no matter whetther we stayed or rowed away he would lind some cause of quarrel and have us shot. "He asked our captain whether he had seen 'Minna.' We thought he meant some vessel named Minna; but the way he pronounced the name and the awfully sad expression that came into his eyes soon convinced me that he must have meant a woman of that name with whom he was crazy in love. I couldn't help laughing, although it was no laughing matter for him, and none for us either, when you consider the pickle we were in. "/ guess our captain must have thought that, so long as we were bound to offend the U-boat commander no matter what we did, the best thing would be to get as far from him as possible; and so we rowed away. We had gone about half a mile when we saw him waving his arms about his head and running up and down on the deck. " 'We better go back,' said the second mate to the captain. ' I think he's kind o' put out because we rowed away without asking him.' "Damn the Kaiser." "We went back a good deal faster than we had gone away; ami when we were near enough to hear his voice 1 heard him say, 'l'm tired of this butchery business. I've kilted my Minna; I've killed her brother; I've killed too many already. Not another life will I take—except my own. Damn von TirpilzM Damn the Kaiser! They've driven me out of my mind. Damn the whole'outfit.' "Although I am of Italian descent and was born in New York, I spent many years in Bremen and picked up a good working knowledge of German. So, I understood everything the poor lunatic said. His men listened to him as if they had turned into stone. What he said must have been worse than blasphemy to them; but even so, they didn't do anything to stop him and then let him rave on. "Wei!, sir, the first thing we knew that poor devil jumped into the water, and that was the end of him. Before he went he let out one despairing

cry of 'Minna!' and I can tell you I haven't been able to get it out of my ears from that day to this." Pirano said that after a long and vain search, in which the crew of the Falkland aided, the commander of the U-boat was given up as dead. "The U-boat then submerged and we were left to our fate." Pirano said. "After two days adrift we were picked up by a British patrol boat and landed in England." From the expressions used by the captain ot the U-boat there can be no doubt that he was Hans von Tuebinger. As told in the "Herald," he had been an art student at Stockholm before the war and was engaged to marry Minna, the daughter of Lars Larscn, owner of a Swedish schooner. After the war began and Hans von Tuebinger had returned to Germany in response to the call to his colours, Minna pined away, and her father concluded to take her with him on his voyages. During one of these voyages the schooner was attacked by a submarine and a splinter of wood shattered by a shell killed the girl. The commander of the submarine proved to be the man to whom she had been engaged. Von Tuebinger was almost beside himself with grief when, he learned of her death. Some lime afterward Hans von Tuebinger s U-boat sank another vessel. The mate aboard was Minna's brother. The young man was crazed with excitement and anger when he discovered the identity of the destroyer of his vessel and leaped at him, catching him by the throat. One of Hans's men, however, hit the young assailant over the head with the butt of a revolver, knocking him into the sea. Although Hans jumped after and dived for him repeatedly, the young man never came to the surface again. Once again after that a man who had known the U-boat captain at Stockholm during his days of courtship before the war was torpedoed by him. This man said that Hans invited him to his cabin aboard the U-boat, and there he saw on the wall a picture of Minna draped in crepe, and with some touching poetry underneath. Tiiat was the last heard of Hans Von Tuebinger until Pirano's news of the pirate's tragic death.