The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1916-11-17

a large Dutch flag another flew from
her signal stay, and on her sides was
painted her mime, the name of her
home port, and the Dutch flag, all In
conspicuous letters, To the left OF
her and close 10 us the German sub
marine U-53 was sighted, towing Il
ships boat, painted white. Later our
captain huiled this boat and invited
! Its occupants 10 come aboard. The
| Blommcrsdljk appeared 70 be deserted,
In spite of this fact her lights were
all burning The Invited boat came
alongside, and her occupants were
helped on board 10y our crew.
They were the chief officer. q.
KlanSse; Bontswain +. N. V.n der
Sluys, and Seumen H. IL. Eschbuch,
G. Zeevuart, G. lleddemu, and G. Van
COST, II is quite needless TO say that
they were all received with welcome.
Does Some Tall Diving.
The boatswuin, Van der Sluys, could
speak English very well, having served
on board English ships, and from him
we received news rs to what actually
happened. l will not repeat his exact
words, but will give brief descrip-
ton Of what took place, They had
taken their departure from the light
ship, when Il submarine was sighted
flying the International T. a. f.,
C"Bring your papers on board,D The
Blommersdljk, being slow-mOving
vessel, lowered Il boat, whose crew
were the officers and men named
above.
Chief Officer Klaasse was Informed
by the submarine commander that his
ship was to be blown up at G:3O.
During the time that the two Off
GERS were parleying the U-53 sighted
one of our deStrOyerS standing toward
her She Immediately dived. | asked
the man who told me this If il took her
very long to dive, and he answered, in
Il very sober manner: "Oh, no; only
about 80 seconds. Ye gods but she
can do some tall diving Shortly af-
ter this occurrence we came upon the
scene sighting the submarine with the
BlOmmcrsdiIk's boat in tow. At this
time there were about four destroyers
close aboard the light vessel, nppar-
entity taking of survivors. Quite
number Of small boats were tied up
aStcrn of the lightShip. We stood over
toward the submarine until we -huiled
the boats crew, as | have already
stated
We then stood toward another YES
sci. the Stephano, about two miles
away from the Blommersdiik, to rem
der assistance to her survivors if nee
essary. This vessel, like the Dutch
ship, was ready for slaughter absO-
lutcly deserted. but with all her lights
burning brightly. To make sure that
there was No one left ON board our !
captain ran close to her and had our
forward searchlight turned on. The |
light was swept fore and aft without |
a living soul being visible.
Dutch Ship Dies Hard.
At this time the U-53 was running |
back and forth between the BlOm- |
ond the Stephano, followed
closely by one of our destrOyers, which
did not wish to miss any
thing. The submarine kept continual
" moving about Whether 1t was in
decision on his part cannot say; any
way. at about T:10 our time (seventy-
fifth meridan) the U-53 took station
about 800 yards off the port beam Of
he Blommersdijk, bow on. Expect
ng he would fire. our captain (muny
hanks to him) decided to run over
md observe the effect. We had taken
station about 1,500 yards astern Of
he doomed ship when. at Z 20 (Our
ime) we heard terrible report. Look
ng toward the Blommersdijk l saw q
ligh cloud of water shooting up in the
Iir, higher than the ship, but she didn't
ink.
Feeling cOcksure that their torpedo
or was it a bomb, or perhaps n
nine would finish the ScOtch-built
hip, the German turned her back and
teamed away. l watched the Blom-
nersdijk like hawk, roofing for her