Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1915-05-07

for a cruiser The time | chose was
between daylight and dark, my object
being to steal upon her to within
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 see big ship
and not enough for her to see all of
my boat there was above water-the
periscope. | gave the order to lower
the horizontal rldder. and we went
down, intending to make curve |
had figured out. coming up near the
cruiser amidships. Everything looked
well for success, and. having complet
order for a gradual elevation of the
rudder.
What was my horror to find that my
boat did not obey it, knew at once
that my attempt would he failure,
and | knew furthermore that l. my
crew and the submarine We're in dan
ger Of going to tile bottom and stay
ing there Unfortunately when | gave
the order to stop her, to keep from go
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 We're scraping
bottom
There was nothing for il but to let
the water out of the tdnts in order to
rise straight up to the surf zee. what
| feared occurred We Were under 50
much pressure that tile pump was not
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
periscope which in case we couldn't
ret the boat to the surface meant that
we would not be able to escape through
the coming tower
| sprang to the hand pump. | didn't
need to give an order to the crew, for
they knew as well as | that this was
our only hope. and very thin hope,
! because 1t was hardly to be expected
that we could do what mechanical
force could not do. Knowing that our
lives depended upon our 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 man of us but saw certain
death ahead We could not make the
rudder work. and neither of the pumps
was sufficiently powerful to expel the
water from the tanks. The most fear
full part of 1t was that we must die a
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
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
not rise an effort would be made to
save us. But how could wreckers
work within II few hundred feet Of an
enemy's guns?
Suddenly thought struck me. De
string to have as much depth room as
possible, had consulted the almanac
and found that the floodtide 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 al
the ebb electrified the crew by tell
ing them the situation Here was s
hope If our engine could empty tn,
tanks Mt low tide we would be saved.
That was a long six hours In fou
hours we made trial. but withou
success In five hours we tried again
There seemed to be occasional rises OF
say. foot or two In another hal
hour we tried 1t again and could fee
ourselves rising. bnt very slowly How
ever. MS the pressure above lessene,
we went up more rapidly till we renc,
ed the surface.
Shall ever forget that first sight o
the upper world?
Two days. later ! tried again an
blew up the cruiser and 400 men.