ARMED TRADERS

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13808, 25 September 1918, Page 6

ARMED TRADERS

■■■-.■ . . .■•■■■ I —to:— • .'■ ' - '■ GU,NiS ON BRITISH VEStSEUS ROUSE GERMAN AiNGER. NO RIGHT TO HIT BUCK. ' , One of- the most thrilling • stories of the iigjhfting with. -U-fooais baa been told to a representative of the Sun- ' day Chronicle by one> : of i:a gallant British crew, a man who has been ' torpedoed by the enemy on four different, occasions, and is now busily ■ preparing to set sail again. I It was' a tale of ; a gallant fight against odds, in which the attacked fillip fired at th© submarine unitil its gun jammed and had to give up the : unequal contest. The enemy fired ' some 50 shot® from both his, guns, ! but only when the commander of the • vessel saw that his vessel had begun to sink by the bead did he ordier all ■hands into the '■■solitary lifeboat. The boat, still fired upon as she sheered off in an easterly direction, was fitted with two bread tanks, red ; !lights, two compasses, a mast, and sail. ; The U-boat , which had been firing, from a spot three miles away, soon overihauled the ship's boat. Tihe 1 lieutenant in charge shouted for the • captain and ordered him aboard the submarine. Shortly afterwards, the ship's two gunners were taken aboard the enemy vessel, and the' ship's captain was told to hand over his papers. Tihe lieutenant angrily .remarked to-.the captain: "You are Englishmen. What right have you to ' fire on a German warship or submarine?" The captain replied: "That's what our gun Avas placed aboard our ship for." . - ' 7 ■■-> I The skipper was - thereupon told sternly that if he was caught' again ihe would be shot.. When the two ship's gunners went aboard the submarine they were met with, a demand as to where were their uniforms, and i? they belonged to the Imperial Service. The men replied that they weie simply fisherifien, and in addition to what they were wearing, had only one suit for Sundays. > During the whole of this time the submarine's 6-inch gun (forward) and iher 18-pounder (aft) wiere trained' on the lifeboat, 'also a. quick-firer, while seven of thie suibmarine crew stood with loaded revolvers.; The Ge^rmian lieutenant then sent over to the lifeboat and had ( taken from her the two bread tanks, the mast and sail, and also the two compasses. . When handed to him tJiese: were smashed upon the deck, the officer repeating the words mieanwihile: "You, Englisih.. ®wine! Wih-v should youi fire on a. German warship ?" He then told *he lifeboat to go, but again called the little craft back a momient later ( and out of ills complement of six oars he took* four. The Enorlish ciow was tlhen * turned adrift, 120 miles from the nearest point inshore. i Fortunately the crew had a. bap «>f biscuits weighing a.bout 6:ilb., wihich the Huns had overlooked, and, ,! thanks to ex£pH«iat weather, were I aible to make, headway, even with tih© l.pair of oars left to them. With good luck -they came upon a trawler , after being 52 hours adrift, and were at lengith landed at an Englisih)! port.