INSIDE A U-BOAT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 291, 9 December 1939, Page 2

INSIDE A U-BOAT

BRITISH SEAMEN TENSE MOMENTS WARSHIP OVERHEAD LONDON, Nov. 28. Men from the British steamer Darino, torpedoed by a U-boat at three o’clock on a recent morning, came back to England with high praise for the submarine commander who saved them. On the other hand, members of the crew of the trawler Sulby, also sunk by submarine action, related how their attacker laughed as they pulled off in a lifeboat in a heavy sea. Survivors of the Darino, who were taken on board the U-Boat that attacked them, heard the Germans chanting with grim humour: “One for Chamberlain, one for Churchill!” as they loaded the torpedo-tubes. Tremendous Roar “I was awakened bv a tremendous roar,’’ said one man from the Darino. after he had landed in England. ’1 detected a smell of cordite, and was running amidships to man the boats, when I discovered that the mainmast had collapsed tearing down the wireless aerial and trapping the cabin-boy in a cabin. “Some of the lifeboats were shattered by the explosion, so we crowded toward the rest. It was a moonless night, pitch dark, and the ship was going down fast. “We were trying to launch a port lifeboat, when suddenly a huge wave swept the deck, washing some of us overboard. We dung to wreckage foi half-an-hour, when we heard the captain of the submarine shouting, All right, I'm coming.’ Cheered by Crew ’ He took us on board his craft and gave us food ana drink, and permitted us to sleep in the bunks. We woke up later, when a Biitish warship was sighted, and the submarine commander became alarmed and dived. “It was a terrible experience. The pressure made our ears ripg. We submerged for half-an-hour, and the submarine crew loaded the torpedo-tubes. Later we came to the surface and cruised until we sighted an Italian ship, to which we were transferrea. “As we were leaving the U-boat, the crew lined up and shook hands, and shouted, ‘Hoch! Hoch!’ to which we replied with cheers.” A fireman, Joseph Willensky, said that when the U-boat sighted the British warship and dived, ne and the others inside her could hear the faint, regular propeller-beats, and feared that the next sound would be that ol an exploding depth-charge. “We prayer,” he said, “that nothing would destroj- the U-boat. It was the first time we had ever thought of praying for such a thing. The entire group stood silent, seemingly afraid to move.

Ked Light Glowing “it was very gloomy, with only a single red light glowing. The warships propeller grew louder, and seemed to be directly overhead. Then gradually it grew fainter. We waited for half-an-hour, then a bell rang, and we rose to the surface.” Another member of the crew told of the struggle in the water before the survivors were taken on board the submarine. “I was clinging to wreckage,” he said. “I could hear moans, and one fellow, who cried out, God help us.” let go his plank and disappeared. Then the U-boat’s searchlight flashed on, and her captain shouted, I’ll do my best for you!’ ” •The U-ooat that attacked us was still shelling our trawler when we took to the boats,’ said a man frefn the Sulby. “As we weie pulling away, we saw the commander pointing at us, and laughing al our plight. “We were in an open boat for 38 hours, ouffeted by heavy seas. The only food we had was a tin of beef. We rowed until we sighted a lighthouse, and clambered over the rocks to it.”