The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-07

L Hdu put UP the wireless mast llHt,
the coming tower, and had no din.
Guilty in calling up capt Stephan Ir.
was lying, he said. off Nentnrr o,J
had been unable to reach his station d.
account of engine trouble. which b.
had now set right Next morning d.
proposed to block y.c Southampton ,,-
proach. He had destroyed on, arr.
Indian boat on b.. way down channel
We exchanged good wishes. Like m,.
self, he needed rest.
was up nj in the morning. how
ever. and called all hands to overhaul
the boat. She was somewhat uu hv
the head owing TO the forward tor.
pedoes having been used. go a..
trimmed her ny opening the forward
compensatlng tank. admitting as mu.b
water as the torpedoes had weighed
We also overhauled the starhoarl AFR
compressor and one Of the perIscors
motors which had been Jared by tho
shock Of the first explosion. We h,1
hardly got ourselves shIpshape whe,
the morning dawned
| have no doubt that good fnyuy
ships which have taken refuge i'm tho
French ports at the first alarm had
run across and got safely mp tho river
in the night. OF course I could hav,
attacked them, but ! do not care Il
take risks-and there are always rfsIt
for a submarine at night But on
had miscalculated his time. and there
she was, just abreast Of Warden Point
when the daylight disclosed her 20 ne
In an instant we were after her T.
was a near thing. for she was a 1lnr
and could do two miles to our ono
but we just reached her a. she wont
swashing by. She saw us "a, on. last
moment, for | attacked her .a4-n.
since otherwise we could not had
the pace to reach her.
She swung away and the first Tor.
pedo missed, but the second took her
full under the counter. Heavens. what
a smash! The whole stern seemed 10
go aloft. I drew Off and watched her
sink. She went down in seven min
utes, leaving her masts and tunnels
over the water and a cluster OF her
people holding onto them She was
the Virginia Of the Bibby Line-twe.vc
thousand tons-and laden, Ike the
others, with foodstuffs from the East.
The whole surface of the sea was COW
cred with the floating grain.
John Bull will have to take mp a
hole or two of his belt II this goes on"
said Vornal as We watched the scene.
And It was at that moment that the
very worst danger occurred that could
befall us. / tremble now when | think
how our glorious voyage might have
been nipped in the bud. ! had freed
the hatch of my tower and was look
ing at the boats OF the Virginia with
Vornal beside me when there WAS
swish and terrific splash in The water
beside us, which covered us both with
spray. We looked up and you can
imagine our feelings when we saw an
aeroplane lowering a few hundred feet
above us like n hawk with its 81
lencer It was perfectly noseless and
had its bomb not fallen into the sea
we should never have known what had
destroyed us.
She was clrcling around in the hope
OF dropping a second one, hut we
/ showed on all speed ahead, crammed
down the rudders, and vanished iutJ
the side of a roller. | kept the defiec-
ton indicator falling until | had put
fifty good feet OF water between the
aeroplane and ourselves for | knew
well how deep they can see under the
surface. However. we soon threw her
/ of our track. and when we came 10
the surface near Margate there was
no sign of her, unless she was one ~
several which we saw lowering over
Herne Bay.
There was not a ship in the oming
save a few small coasters and little
thousand ton steamers. which were
beneath my notice. For several hours
l lay submerged with a blank peri
scope. Then l had an inspiration
Orders had been Marconied to every
foodship to lie in French waters and
dash across after dark. was as sure
OF II as II they had been recorded IN
/ our own receiver. Well, II they were
there. that was where / should bc also.
l blew out the tanks and rose, for
there was no sign of any warship near.
They had some good system Of signal
ing from The shore, however, for ! had
not got to the North Foreland befor"
three destroyers came foaming after
me, all converging from different di-
rections. They had about as good a
chance OF catching me as three span
iels would of overtaking a porpoise.
out OF pure bravado-l know IL was
very wrong-I waited until they were
actually within gunshot. Then | sank
and we saw each other no more
II is, as ! have said, a shallow. sand.
coast, and submarine navigation
very difficult. The worst mishap thar
can befall boat is To bury its nose In
the side of a sand drift and be held
there. Such an accident might have
been the end OF our boat. though with