Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1915-11-12
BLOW UP:0WN
BOAT TO SAVE
It FROM TURKS
Two Picket Boat Crews Of British
Sailors Daring|y Destroy
Stranded Submarine.
MAKES A THRILLING STORY
Admiral Calls for Volunteers to Go on
PerIous Undertaking in Dead Of
Nlght-SearchIishts and Enc.
my Shells Play About the
Merry Crews.


Merry Crews.
London.-An extremely interesting
account Of the destruction of the Brit
ish submarine ELS in the Dardanelles
. to prevent her from falling into the
i hands Of the Turks is given by one OF
the men who took part in the exploit
I It will be recalled that the ELS went
/. up the Dardanelles at daylight on
April II in an attempt to torpedo a
Turkish ship at the Narrows. The
boat ran ashore in Kephez bay few
miles west of Chanak, on tho Asiatic
shore.
. The accident to, the ELS was dis.
covered by the brother of the subma.
rine's captain, who went up as an OBJ,
server in an aerOplane to watch the
dash Of the small craft commanded by
his brother. 1t was he who reported
to the admiral commanding the Brit
ish fleet that the coming tower of
the frail boat was closed and that a
Turkish destroyer was standing by
evidently planning to begin salvage
operations.
Extracts from the story, printed in
Blackwood's Magazine, follow:
The coming tower and little of
the whaleback were showing above
water. Submarine B-6.-went up, but
could not do anything, as the current
was so strong. She fired one torpedo,
but could not see If she hit. That
night two destroyers went up the
strfit to attack ELS. They got fairly
near her, but saw nothing to fire at.
Volunteer Crews Only"
las last resort the admiral sent
the following: Two picket boats from
Triumph and Majestic are to attack
Els tonight with torpedoe3 fitted to
dropping gear. Lieutenant commander
E. G. Robinson of Vengeance will be
in charge Of operations. Only volun-
teer crews to be sent This officer
was ordered to take charge, as his
ship had been on patrol at the time
E-l5 struck, and he knew exactly
where she was.
You can imagine the order rather
astonished us, as it was almost certain
death to take small steamboats, right
up under. the enemy's guns, and into
water every inch of which was GOV.
cred by powerful searchlights.
AT p. m. we hoisted out our picket
boat and fitted the dropping gear. We
also placed Maxim gun in the bow,
rifles and ammunition and life belt
for each man. was ordered to cut
down the crew to the smallest possible
number. Many men wanted to 60, but
settled on two seamen gunners for the
Maxim, four seamen torpedo men 1.-TWO
each side), one leading stoker. two
stokers and torpedo petty officer to
act as coxswain. Sc altogether we
had one officer (myself) and ten men.
also Lieutenant Commander Robinson,
who was in command Of both boats,
and Midshipman Woolley, also from
the Vengeance.
While it was still light the captain
Kept about three miles outside the en-
trance, with our boats on the side of
the ship away from the shore, so that
the enemy, even with powerful glasses,
could not have-any idea of what was
going on.
Weather Was Too Fine.
AT s p. m. the weather looked very
sultab!e-overcast. with slight haze
over the; land and indications of light
ra!H--Sn;' t.;iter It cleared up and be-
Car .; ~ "a~ ,ur liking.
~. =. II. the Majestic's boat ar
rived, with Lieut.. c. H. Goodwin, r. N,
IN charge, and shortly after we pushed
on, with my boat leading and the Ma.
1estic following about 800 yards astern.
1T was bit eerie, steaming along
IN the pitch uark with all lights out in
the boat, toward the distant search
Nights, not knowing whether death or
life awaited one
The whole distance was about IL
miles from the ship, the last five be-
ing the really dangerous part. Up to
'nere ones only danger was mines.
and, as we only drew five feet. we
hoped. we would 60 over them all right.
though 1t was quite on the cards We
YOU'D bump floating mine.
We kept nearly in the center OF the
cnannel to avoid being spotted by the
ouandere, No. 7 searchlight, which was
not a very high one. We had come
aiong quite lnobserved until we were
aoeam of 1t, passing the smaller search
nights without much trouble Unfor-
.unately the men stationed near the
ouandere searchlight saw US and start
20 OFT firing or IL pdr. shrapnel.
:, Thus the ball opened-we still had
tnree or four miles to CO. We continued
our way and approached the other
searchlights. The alarm having been
gwen. all the other searchlights came
VI and sent their beams searching
: round to pick US up. and as each beam
struck US. bang would 60 another gun.
rev seconds later we would hear q |
p'ns as the projectile whizzed past
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New 81 Way TO MAKE RAIN !