BRAVE SEAMEN.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 6 June 1923, Page 7

BRAVE SEAMEN.

HE BEAT TWO U-BOATS WITH A PENCIL. “With a grisly wound to be drest,” Sir Kicnarcl vireuviile, of the Revenge, leit tne aeck only to oe wounded again, but lie kept up tne light against tne 66 Bpuinsii snips m perhaps tlie most famous fight in the history of the British Navy. Admiral Benbow directed a sea fight in a barrel of sawdust, his legs shot olf. Grenville ancl Benboiv died of their wounds, but their spirit flashed forth again in the American

Navy during tne late war, when. 8 wounded captain stuck to the bndg« after being nearly torn to pieces o> an explosion, and then navigated his ship lor a iveek by pad and pencil, hit jaw being smashed. During this >veeh txvo submarines were fought otf. 'lint story came out durifig a ward-roon. talk in the course of tne recent rava. manoeuvres in which conditions ox submarine warfare were imitated. >» itf all- lights out, memories of war cays came to the minds of olhcers otf watch, and Mr Garter Field, correspondent o the New York “Tribune/ on tcaic DS S. Henderson, retells the -.oiy told by Dr. Connie Wynne, surgeon ot the battleship California, Admua,

warts- i .'***£ award the palm to Ciaptani Dick A iutm *BB* experience, under C ‘ l^ al . r , l evisec i a The executive officer had d f , lt method of launching de C gf li “ but a greater distance from tl , ie .-, sll f \ P ’' er - C-'iitain White pronounced it danger Sf and forbade' the executive othcei to experiment furthoi. Latei, > the officer again attempted to set oft the firing apparatus. The warned and came tearing ati, shouting orders to desist.. As the captain neared there was a terrific explosion. I rushed to the deck and met some seamen carrying a sheet, I oide ea I hem to lay it down, and looking uithin I saw the body of the execut.ve officer blown to pieces. A dozen me were frightfuliv wounded, three ot •them dying the next day. . At -that moment, hearing a senes or terrible grunts, I looked around and saw Captain White attempting to pull himself up from the deck by a stanchion. One arm and one leg hun„ limp.. His jawbone was broken, with the teeth and bone hanging outward on one side of his face. . tii s tongue was swollen and thrust through his'remaining teeth, so that lie coulcl not speak. Ho was peppered a 1 over •il. j. 1. _ „.. .» kl -, /sf PUTnifi l Cl 1 _ Ix 6

with the wounds of flying S]C ej - XIU was emitting the most ierrible gu'gliugs ancl grunts, trying to indicate the danger of a small fire started by the explosion reaching tli* depth charges lining the decks. . When the fire had been extinguished I had the captain taken to the sick bay, and stopped his bleeding temporarily. lie wrote on a slip of paper, “Tend to the others first.” I. had him carried to his cabin and ordered him to stay there while J attended to the other wounded. Finally, I was inform, ed the captain was not in his capin, but on the bridge. I rushed up there and expostulated. Tie wrote: “I have no one to navigate the ship.” He had had himself carried to the bridge and tied to a stanchion to hold himself upright, though his leg and arm had not S been set. | .1. bad him taken to the sick bay and I began work on him. We carried a tube | connected with the bridge to the side | of the operating table. | When the captain had been cared for a 1 had him carried to his cabin and for 3 a week he navigated his ship therefrom 1 by the pad and pencil and tube method, f In that time he fought two submarines I which attempted to torpedo us.