The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-07-18
Story of Voyage of German u
Boat Across Ocean Out
rivals Fiction.
HOSTILE SHIPS ARE D0DGED
Submarine, During Hazardous 1900
Mile Run, Submerged Many Times
to Escape Possible Attack
From Enemy.

a.
Thousand Leagues Under the Sea-" are
called up by the amazing story of the
trip Of the German U-boat Deutsch-
land across the Atlantic ocean-a voy-
age that has been pronounced the most
daring in the history of the sea.
The story of the remarkable voyage
made by this submarine-the first to
cross the Atlantic ocean-through a
maze Of hostile warships, has been told
simply by Capt. Paul Koenig, com
nAnder of the undersea craft
KOenig was modest about it all. He
had few words of praise for his
crew and none for himself When he
spoke of the fatherland his eyes spar
killed. and his whole body twitched with
eagerneSs. When he talked of ''just
dropping down when he saw a de-
strOyer" his voice was calm.
Would He Surrender?
Just once did he display real emo
ton. That was when toward the end
Of the interview this question was
suddenly shot at him:
suppose on your way back, Just
as you left the Virginia capes you saw
a destroyer bearing mercilessly down
upon you. Suppose there wasn't time
to dodge, wasn't time to submerge,
what would you do? Would you sur
render?"
The undersea shippers face turned
a sudden red that looked queer under
his thick weather tan. His hands
clenched, his eyes flashed, then slowly
each word painfully thought out, came
the answer:
Would / surrender? I-cou1dn't
tell about that-positively l can't. l
don't know-surrender? l think the
moment would bring the decision. Yes,
that moment would carry it's own de-
cisiOn."
That was the spoken reply, but in
every bit of the mans tone, in every
set line of his face could be read the
real ansWer-Capt Paul Koenig has no
intention that the Deutschland shall
ever fall into enemy hands.
Fears No Enemy Warship.
And he has every confidence that
he will take the Deutschland back to
Bremen loaded with the rubber and
nickel that the Fatherland so Graves
for its munition factories.
six, ten, a dozen. twenty cruisers
outside will not stop u.s." he exclaimed.
"We will go back; we will go back
easy. And we will come again. and
others will come and trade will go
back and forth, and the British block
ade-that will be a thing to laugh at
1.-THE future of the submarine has
now been proved to be unlimited he
asserted. There is practically no
maximum to their capacity; their
mechanism has been perfected: we
have shown that they do anything any
other ship can do, and more besides
About that l am positive. The
coming of the Deutschland. $500 miles
to America, and her arrival with
range of almost ten thousand miles
. left, with fuel and water and supplies
and everything for that much travel
still aboard, shows that you can go
with a submarine simply where you
want to co.
Koenig is a small man, ordinarily
looking until he begins to talk, when
his force and personality become at
once apparent.
First Submarine Trip.
One of the first questions asked of
ing replies of the interview. Request
ed to tell in detail of all the submarine
experience he had before being select
ed to attempt the crossing, he replied
quickly:
But you see l have not had ally.
Of course we practiced after we went
aboard. We practiced a great deal
Navigation I know. Submarines I
think know now.
''Was it fun? Sometimes. yes. Most
it was fun in the English channel
There we lay ten hours on the bottom
snug and comfortable. Some of US
slept and some of us read. and most
of us listened to our graphophone play
ing a beautiful song from "Peer Gynt,"
while above us ragged the destroyers
and cruisers that would have thought
US the very choicest of prey had they
but known what lay hidden there be-
low them. 1t was not long ten
hours. We drank a little champagne
and we ate and attended to the ma
chinery.
"No, we didn't submerge because of
any cruiser chasing us; not once were
we chased"
How They Submerged
Nothing more vivid about adven-
ture could be drawn from Koenig than
the detailing of these times 1--WE Just
sank" As far as his words went. that
was all there was to it. A vessel was
sighted; the Deutschland was quickly
submerged; she ran along under water
for a time, and then-she came up
and opened her matches for fresh air,
while officers and men went about
their work, their rest, or their play.
Industry.