The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1914-12-18
ASubmariine
Episode
By f. A.

There was a time when warfare. its
appurtenances. its novelties, indeed.
everything pertaining to it. was public
property. The Japanese changed all
that. making everything secret Since
the Russo-Japanese fight the war cor:
respondent has had a hard time of 1t.
and many officers are pledged not to
reveal what occurs in the line Of their
duty. When | was assigned to the
command Of q submarine l was obliged
to make pledges that prevent my Civ.
ing certain points connected with this
story.
Before | was ordered to attempt to
blow up an enemy's ship ! was given
time to get used to my submarine.
This did not take long. though at first
| confess sinking down under water
made me creep a bit. When l had had
a couple Of weeks Of it | was ordered
on several attempts that were all fail
ures. The difficulty in handling a sub
marine Is that when beneath the sur.
face sou can't see anything and when
above it. II you are near an en'smy's
ship, you are liable to get knocked out
by q shot.
was ordered one afternoon to 60
for a cruiser. The time | chose was
between daylight and dark. my object
being to steal upon her to within a
few hundred yards. get my bearings.
duck. lessen the distance between me
and her and fire my torpedo.
The weather favored the attempt, it
being a murky evening. with just
enough light for me to e a big ship
and no enough for her to see all of
my boat there was above water-the
periscope. | gave the order to lower
the horizontal rudder. and we went
down, intending to make a curve
had figured out, coming up e the
cruiser amidships. Everything looked
well for success. and. having complet-
ed the first half OF the arc, | gave the
order for a gradual elevation of the
rudder.
What was my horror to lind that my
boat did not obey it! | knew at once
that my attempt would be IA failure.
and | knew furthermore that l. my
crew aud the submarine were in dan
ger of going to the bottom. and stay
ing there. Unfortunately when | gave
the order to stop her. to keep from 60.
ing, any lower. the engineer lost his
head and. turning the wrong handle.
put on power instead of taking it off
This gave US SO much momentum that
before we could take any measures to
right our direction we were scraping
bottom.
There was nothing for it hut to let
the water out of the tanks In order to
rise straight up to the surface. What
! feared occurred. We were under sc
much pressure that the pump vas moi
able to overcome it. This indicated
another danger-if the pumps could
not overcome the outside pressure We
would not be able to lift the cap OF the
get the boat to the surface meant that
we would not be able to escape through
the coming tower.
l sprang to the hand pump. didn't
need to give an order to the crew. for
they knew as well as | that this was
only hope. and a very thin hope,
because 1t was hardly to be expected
that we could do what a mechanical
force could not do. Knowing that our
lives depended upon u success. we
worked with that superhuman power
that Is given to man when some great
object is to be achieved.
All in vain we worked till We found
that our efforts were growing less;
then one after another In Quick success.
sion abandoned the effort
Not a man of US but saw certain
death ahead. We could not make the
rudder work. and neither Of the pumps
was. sufficiently powerful to expei the
water from the tanks. The most fear.
full part of it was that we must die q
lingering death.
Our chief thought was OF those we
would leave behind us, and. thinking
that the BOAT might eventually be re-
covered, some of the men set about
writing letters to leave in her. bidding
loved ones goodby and telling them Of
our last moments in the 6esh. |. know
ing that it would be some time before
death would come to us. thought only
Of a possible means of escape. The
only hope was that when 1t became
evident that we had sunk and could
moi rise I'M effort would be made to
a us. But how could wreckers
work within a few hundred feet of an
enemy's guns? "
Suddenly "a thought struck me. De.
string to have as much depth room as
possible, 1 had consulted the almanac
and found that the 6oodtide CORE
sponded with the hour Of approaching
darkness. We had gone under at high
tide. the difference between food and
ebb being sixteen feet In other words,
we had sixteen feet more OF water
pressure on us than we would have at
the ebb. I electrified the crew BY tell
Ing them the situation Here was &