Cut Bank pioneer press. [volume] (Cut Bank, Mont.) 1909-current, 1915-11-12
Two Picket Boat Crews of British
Sailors DaringIy Destroy
Stranded Submarine.
MAKES A THRILLING STORY
Admiral Calls for Volunteers to Go on
P~erilous Undertaking in Dead of
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and Enc
my Shells Play About the
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
hands of the Turks is given by one of
the men who took part in the exploit.
1t will be recalled that the E-15 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 a few
miles west of Chanak, on the 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
r in an aeroplane to watch the
dash of the small craft commanded by
his brother. It a he who reported
to the admiral commanding the Brit
fish feet 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
B~lackwood's Magazine, follow:
"The coming tower and a little of
the whaleback were showing above
water. Submarine BIG 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 d~estroyers went up the
strait to attack ELS. They got fairly
near her, but saw nothing to fire at.
Volunteer Crews Only"
"As a last resort the admiral sent
the following: Two picket boats from
Triumph and Majestic are to attack
ELS tonight with torpedoes 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
ELS 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
wow WY AiSA VI WAASA Woo WV
cred by powerful searchlights.
AT 5 p. m. we hoisted out our picket
boat and fitted the dropping gear. We
also placed a Maxim gun in the bow,
rifles and ammunition and a life belt
for each a I was ordered to cut
down the crew to the smallest possible
number. Many men wanted to go, but
settled on two seamen gunners for the
Maxim, four seamen torpedo men (twC
each side), VI leading stoker, two
stokers and a torpedo petty officer tc
act as coxswain. So 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 O
the ship away from the shore, so tina
the enemy, even with powerful glasses
could not have any idea Of what wa
going on.
Weather Was Too Fine.
Al v ". IL. LhO WCdtACI lOOh0u Wei,
suitable-overcast, with a slight haz
over the land and indications of ligh
rain-but later it cleared up and be
came too fine for our liking.
"At 10 p. m the Majestic's boat al
rived, with Lieut.. C. H. Goodwin, r. N
in charge, and shortly after we pushe
off, with my boat leading and the Ma
jestic following about 800 yards asterr
1T was a bit eerie, steaming alon
in the pitch dark with all lights out /
the boat, toward the distant search
tights, not knowing whether death c
life awaited one.
THE whole distance was about ]
miles from the ship, the last five b
ing the really dangerous part. Up
there ones only danger was mine
and, as we only drew FIVE feet, "
hoped we would go over them all RICH
though it was quite On the cards "
would bump a floating mine.
I'VE kept nearly in the center OF IL
channel to avoid being spotted by IL
Suandere No. 7 searchlight, which W,
not a very high one. We had con
along quite unobserved until we we,
abeam of it, passing the smaller scare
lights without much trouble. Unfc
tunately the men stationed near Il
Suandere searchlight saw us and stal
ed off firing 6 or IL pdr. shrapnel.
THUS the ball opened-we still h;
three or four miles to go. We continu,
our way and approached the 9th
searchlights. The alarm having be-
given, all the other ~searchlights car
on and sent their beams searchi,
round to pick us up, and as a bea
struck us, bang would go another gu
A few seconds later we would hear
ping as the projectile whizzed ps