DEUTSCHLAND'S DASH.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1916, Page 7

DEUTSCHLAND'S DASH.

TERROR-STRICKEN CREW BAY THEIR PRAYERS EVERY KIGHT. _With her two spars lowered, the conning- tower closed, her master and crew aboard, there is very evidence that the German merchant submarine Dcutschland is prepared to-night for immediate departure (says the San .Francisco Chronicle, of July 20th). 1 error-stricken, and on the verge of a panic, mppibers of the diver's crew plainly dread the order that will start them on their return across the Atlantic, believing that they will not escape the drag-not that has been thrown out by the Allied cruisers of)' the capes. At U o'clock the tug Thomas F. Tinimins lay close to the Deutschland, with full head of steam up and in the vicinity were numerous launches with agent? of the Eastern Forwarding Company, who hailed a newspaper launch, and tried to induce the newspaper reporters to leave, saying: "You're interfering with our plans." Sailors on the Deutschland feel that they will fall victims to the enemy, not through shot from the mouths of cannon on the cruisers, or from the rifles in the little British patrol boats, but from their own disabled engines in a net that the enemy is spreading just off the three-mile limit.

Members of the crew have told their friends t|iat Captain Paul Ivoenig, the ■dapper and daring commander of the submarine, is doing everything in his power to keep up their spirits, and make them ldok on the bright side of the affair, but the men cannot see this side of the venture. "We are praying every rilght, and are getting our friends to pray for us," Second-Engineer Karl Fruechete told a friend he had been spending his evenings with since the crew had been granted shore leave. This same friend to-day told the story of the terror-stricken erew to a newspaper man, not knowing at the time that he was talking to a reporter. "The crew lmve orders to be ready to-leave at any moment," said this friend of Fruocho'tc this afternoon, i "They cannot bring themselves to see how the Deutschland will escape the enemy off the capes. All the men have been talking about since they have been visiting me is of the loved ones they will leave, behind, should the U-boat find a resting place at the bottom of the Atlantic. It is not the camion and the other gnus the men fear; it's the nets that the enemy cruisers will stretch. Entangled in these the submarine cannot escape. "Her engines will be crippled, and it will be a slow and agonising death to all on board. When the engines stop the lights will go out and the. air will stop. That is, what the men fear. They talk of it continually while with me at'night, and they ask everyone to pray for them."

Knowing- the tactics of the British and French, and realising that scores of German submarines have been caught in these nets that were stretched a crow the English Channel, those thjt man the Deutsehland fear that the British will resort to this method off the Capes. The reinforcement of cruisers that -is reported to have arrived just beyond the threemile limit is causing the men great anxiety, for, with these to aid the two which have been reported on friiard, they say it is possible for the Allies to stretch nets foi "iany miles. Such being the case, the Deutsehland will be enmeshed, crippled, and sunk, and all on board will die, martyrs, to a lost cause. ' " v< Not only that, but the crew of the Deutsehland is caressing fear for the Bremen, sister ship of the which is due at the Capes within a short time. Should these -let's be stretched the Bremen will als*. be enmeshed and lost. It is pointed "it by the (,rew of the submersible th;.'. they succeeded in eluding the enemy ii; fining over, but that was only due ti, the fact that the English thought that the reported transatlantic voyage of 4 Deutsehland was not possible, ] "Now that we have shown " i we can cross the Atlantic despite 'lioT blockade, they will be on the watch and he more careful," a member of tin. crew told a friend, In spite of this fear there is gripping at the iieai ;, s of Hie twentyeight members of the srbmarinc crew, everything is being m <e in readiness for 'an early departure of the vessel from Baltimore. v A private, letter received hc-e to-day from Mr. R. 0. Montgomcrie, dat. d Virginia, July 25, stated t)iat the Deutsehland wa s ready to depart, but thu t there were upwards of 20 Allied boats waiting, outside for her, and that the crew were "somewhat scared about it."-