The Washington herald., 1915-01-31
NORTH SEA BATTLE.
British Sailors Tell Thrilling Tales and
Praise German Bravery.

Further stories OF sunday 5 sea nght, as
told by men of the British squadron, are
given in The London Daily News. The
light cruiser Aurora was in action with
the German cruiser KOlberS and her tirst
shot carried away the KOlberg's midship
funnel The Aurora's guns raked the
German ship, which when last seen by
the Arethusa was in a helpless and sink
ing condition.
Some men who took part in the He'll
gOland Blight battle in August said
THE blight fight was a picnic compared
with Sundays fight. This was fine sport"
On one destroyer. il is said, the crew
sang Sec How They Run" but there
was quite another tale from the crew OF
the Meteor.
I'VE were told" said one man. ito
act as a decOy. because our commander
is noted for his seamanship. We double
banked our fires and went ahead let
ting out dense volumes of smoke from
our tunnels. We were like a piece Of
creased lightning. We did some fancy
skating and the German EunneTs must
have been sick at missing Us time after
time.
I'VE spun round at times like spin
ming top. but they got us twice and We
got a shell in our boiler room which
laid four of our fellows out at once. Then
we got another in the stern and this
stopped our merry little dance. We were
sorry and yet We were not. We wanted
to go back again. but we had to be con-
tent with watching the game Of hare and
hounds.
We saw the Bluecher go down. The
sight was magnificent yet horrible"
Il don't think much of the German
airmen.' interpOsed a cOmrade. They
dropped bombs, and I believe they
drowned many of their own men by
doing so"
Arethusa's Fight.
The Daily Chronicle corresr ondent
gathered the following account % the
sinking of the Bluecher and the part
played by the cruiser Arethusa in the
North Sea battle. Once again." says
the correspondent, has the Arethusa
covered herself with glory. In Sun
days engagement she was one of the
first ships to sight the Germans, and
after remaining in action for seven
hours, the task of striking tie
Blucher a mortal blow fell to her, as
did the pleasure of rescUing eight Of
ficers and III men from the doomed
cruiser.
shells fell around the ship. givinE
her no respite through the whole
morning until > o'clock in the after
noon. The Arethusa had some mirac-
ulOus escapes. Although her decks
were drenched with water thrown up by
the shells which exploded in the sea
close by. she herself was absolutely
undamaged.
Talking to some of her crew today.
| they gave me an idea or the sporting
| instincts of the SauCy ships company,
both before and after the battle.
"One of the German officers who
was taken aboard as prisoner con-
fessed that the Fatherland could never
hope to beat England on the sea. ON
| land, perhaps, he remarked. but on
the sea, never Once aboard, the
German officers weros not treated as
prisoners. They were taken into the
wardroOm. and soon began to fra
ternize with our officers
I'VE feel honored to be captured by
the Arethusa' one officer said. She is
a wonderful ship. and her fame is great
in Germany War is war; said another
Either you sink us or We sink YOU
Well, I am glad it is all over said
third. 1T has been a terrible time
"I shudder when I think of the fate
awaiting some of our comrades in our
navy was the sOIicitOus concern of an
elderly officer. Your shells are terrifying
and your seamanship marvellous. but
while We here are captured and safe and
can now sleep quietly in our beds-our
first untrammeled sleep since the early
days of August. when we realized that
we had to face your navy-hOw will the
rest fare?
quite a number of them spoke Eng
Iish and so grateful were they for the
| kindness shown to them on board the
Arethusa that they shOwered all their be
| lOngings. watches, money. rings, etc, on
the crew. Post cards were given to the
German officers and men and they imme-
diately sat down to write home to Ger
many. am safe. was the message on
| one post card. I was rescued by the
Arethusa Do you remember the night
we were discussing her? We are happy
and comfortable. Thank God. my life
has been spared
Sank the BIuecher.
The Arethusa finished of the Bluecher
with a couple of tOrpedOes.
There came a time when the poor old
lBIuecher wasn't worth any more powder
and shot from the IndOmitabIe. a MEM
Der of the crew told me. There was no
need to be extravagant with our metal
he said SO the word was passed TO US on
/ the Arethusa to set to work with tOrpe-
does We could not miss her for she
was almost stationary. our second tor
pedo went right into her fair amidships.
She had a terrible list even before this.
Her crew were game to the last.
We saw en- lining up at the taTrrail
standing at attention. II was a thrill
ing moment. No man with any feel
ings could fail to admire such cool
ness. When we had launched our sec
ond and last torpedo we knew that the
end would come quickly. We steamed
within 200 yards of them and we could
see the torpedo making for them. They
would have met their deaths standing
rigidIy at attention had not warning
been sent to them.
shouted Warming.
Whipping up a meEaphonc. one OF
our officers shouted in German. They
understood him and waved their caps.
and after shouting n hurrah they all
took headers into the water. We lost
no time with rescue. and when We saw
7 that the BlueChCr's crew, or. rather.
what was left of them. were Strug-
Cling in the water. we threw overheard
some hundreds of planks, and they
Clung to them until our boats picked
I them up.
/ To do this We had to dodge the
bombs which two aerOpHnes tried to
drop on US In the meantime our tor
pedo had got home. The explosion had
appalling results. and not a man Of the
crew would have survived IL il they
\ had remained standing at attention.
The Bluecher sank like tin can hIIed
with water.
| The Germans wore India rubber air
bags, which consider to be superior
/ 20 ourg Theirs is a bag fitted in