Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-04-02

MS KING OF q pldn WnlCn VIII DfnS
land to her knees He goes to the British
coast with a submarine.
On she came with the great plumes
Of smoke floating from her tunnels and
two white waves foaning from her
cutwater She was within a quarter
of mile. My moment had arrived. [
signaed full speed ahead and steered
straight for her course My timing
was exact At a hundred yards l gave
the signal and heard the clank and
swish of the discharge. At the same
instant | put the helm hard down and
flew off at an angle. There was a ter
rifle lurch, which came from the dis
tant explosion For moment we
were almost upon our side. Then.
after staggering and trembling, the
IOta came on an even keel. | stopped
the engines, brought her to the sur
face and opened the coming tower,
while all my excited crew came crowd
ing to the hatch to know what had
happened
The ship lay within 200 yards of
us. and it was easy to see that she had
her deathblow. She was already set
Ting down by the stern. There was
a sound of shouting and people run
ming wildly about her decks. Her name
was visible, the Adela Of London.
bound. as we afterward learned. from
New Zealand with frozen mutton.
Strange as it may seem to you. the no
ton of a submarine had never, even
now, occurred to her people, and all
were convinced that they had struck
a floating mine. The StarhOard quar-
ter had been blown in by the explosion.
and the ship was sinking rapidly.
Their discipline was admirable. We
saw boat after boat slip down crowd
ed with people as swiftly and quietly
as if it were part of their daily drill
And suddenly, as one of the boats lay
off waiting for the others. they caught
a glimpse for the first time of my con-
ming tower 50 close to them. | saw
them shouting and pointing, while the
men in the other boats got up to have
a better look at us. For my part,
cared nothing. for took it for granted
that they already knew that Il Subma-
rine had destroyed them. One Of them
clambered back into the sinking ship.
| was sure that he was about to send
a wireless message as to our presence.
1t mattered nothing. since in any case
it must be known: otherwise | could
easily have brought him down with
rifle. AS it was, l waved my hand to
them. and they waved back to me-
War is too big a thing to leave room
for personal ill feeling, but it must be
remorseleSs all the same.
was still looking at the sinking
Adela when Vornal. who was beside
me-, gave a sudden cry of warning and
surprise. gripping me by the shoulder
and turning my head. There behind
u.s. coming up the fairway. was huge
black vessel with black tunnels, flying
the we'll known house flag of the p
and o. company. She was not mile
distant. and | calculated in an instant
that even if she had seen US she would
not have time to turn and get away
before we could reach her. We went
straight for her, therefore. keeping
awash just as we were. They saw
the sinking vessel in front of them and
that little dark speck moving over the
surface. and they suddenly understood
their danger. 1 saw numhpr OF men
rush to the bows, and there was rat
tie of rifle fire. Two bullets were fat
tened upon our four inch armor. You
might as we'll try to stop a charging
bull with paper pellets as the lota with
rifle fire. | had learned my lesson
from the Adela. and this time | had
the torpedo discharged at safer dis
tance-250 yards. We caught her amid
ships, and the explosion was tremen-
dous. but we were we'll outside its
area. She sank almost instantane
OuSly.
am sorry for her people, of whom
/ hear that more than 200, including
seventy Iascars and forty passengers.
were drowned Yes, I am sorry for
them. But when / think of the huge
floating grcnary that went to the bot
tom I rejoice as a man does who has
carried out that which he plans
1t was bad afternoon for the P.
and o. company. The second ship
which we destroyed was. as we have
since learned. the Moldavia. of $4,000
tons. one of their finest vessels. But
about half past we blew up the Gus
co, OF 5000 tons, of the same line, also
from eastern ports and laden with
corn. Why she came on in face of
the wireless messages. which must
have warned her of danger | cannot
imagine. The other two steamers