The Washington herald., 1916-06-04
DESCRIBES LIFE ON
GERMAN SUBMARINE
Norwegian Ship Captain Tells of -Four
Days in U-Boat as Prisoner.
Were Well Treated.
SPECIAL to The Washington Herald.

berg OF the Norwegian bark Lindheld.
which was sent to the bottom by the
Germans in the latter part of March.
Capt. Norberg and his crew were
taken aboard the submarine after their
ship had been destroyed.
The Lndfeld, a four-masted bark Of
2E6 tons. has been is days at sea
when on Friday, March "a, about
eighty miles southwest Of Fastnet, a
submarine was sighted on the surface.
The submarine approached and fred
two shots. of which one hit the bark's
bowsprit.
At the same time the German naval
flag was run up and Capt. Norberg
was ordered by signal to send his
ships documents to the submarine. A
lifeboat was swung out and the mate
and four men rowed over with the
documents. while the rest of the crew
gathered their belongings. When the
mate left the submarine she hoisted
a signal ordering the Norwegians to
abandon their ship as quickly as pos
| sible. Captain and crew then took to
the boats and the submarine fred
four shots into the bark. which sank
in forty minutes.
The submarine commander had prom
| ised to tow the boats as far as he
dared toward the west coast of Ire
land. and this was done. 1t was a
rough journey. with the waves break
| ing over the boats, and after three
hours the painter broke. The subma
rine commander then ordered the Lind
fields crew on board his vessel, but
they had to leave their belongings
behind them. The boats were again
taken in tow, but after a few hours
with increasing wind and sea, they
were lost.
Speed of Twenty-Five Knots.
1t was about p. m when the Lind
felds crew of twenty-four were taken
on board the submarine Capt. Nor
berg remained in the coming tower for
an hour chatting with the commander
and the pilot The submarine, which
was marked U-7o. was an excellent sea
boat. 2aO feet in length. with a crew of
| thirty-seven, including the commander,
two heutenants and a war pilot The
captain of the Lindfield was allowed
TO go wherever he liked on board He
was told that on the surface the subma-
rine could attain a speed of % knots,
but that was so-called emergency speed
Below the surface the maximum speed
was l5 knots. The submarine was prob
ably built in 1914. as the motors had
that date stamped on them.
There were two guns on deck and a
supply of 600 shells was carried. There
were two torpedo tubes, on forward
and one aft. and the vessel could carry
ten torpedoes. When the Lindfeld's crew
came on board there were nine tor
pedoes. One had been used the day be-
fore in torpedoing a steamer. Capt.
| Norberg was told that the submarine
could remain away from her base for
thirty to forty days 1t was then a week
since she had left Germany, probably
Bremen.
| On the surface there were four watches
-four hours on duty with eight hours off;
but when the boat was submerged ali
the crew had to be on duty. The Of
ficers' cabin, where Capt Norberg was
| lodged, was comfortably provided with
three berths. The vessel was of course
lighted and heated by electricity, which
also was used for cooking. The Lind
held's crew, including two British sea-
men, who were treated exactly as the
others. were lodged in the torpedo cham
Der.
The prisoners got the same food as
the submarine crew. Breakfast consis-
ted Of coffee, black bread. butter, sugar,
condensed milk and sausages. A similar
meal was served at o'clock and again
at $50 p. m. except in the latter case
there was tea instead Of coffee and
sardines in addition. Luncheon on Satur-
day consisted of mutton stew. On Sum
day there was fresh meat and potatoes,
Monday the midday meal was of rice
and sausages.
submerges in Fifty Seconds.
The submarine remained on the
surface until Saturday afternoon,
when a British destroyer was OBJ
served. The weather was somewhat
misty. The signal to go down was
Immediately given and in fifty seconds
the submarine submerged to about
ten fathoms. A little later she rose
TO eight fathoms and kept at that
depth for three-quarters of an hour,
when she went down again to ten
fathoms on account OF the weather
conditions, which the commander did
not like. There she remained for
three hours Then she rose and tray-
eled on the surface all through the
night and all day on Sunday. At
1888 p. m. on Sunday another British
destroyer was observed and she went
down again and remained some time
During the night she rose again
and remained on the surface until 3:3O
on Monday morning. when she went
down again to eight fathoms on ac-
count Of fog and remained down until
8 o'clock. AS the weather was still
foggy when she rose she at once
sank again and travelled slowly at
depth of six fathoms for a couple Of
hours. For the rest OF that day and
until the following morning she stay
ed on the surface
During this time the weather was
clear with southeasterly breeze. At
10 o'clock on Tuesday morning the
submarine dived for an hour, and
Capt. Norberg understood that she
was exchanging signals with some
other ship. An hour and a half later
she came alongside the Norwegian
bark Silas, and the prisoners were
transferred to this ship with the ex-
ception of one man. who had passed
at the Norwegian consulate as
Norwegian. but was probably Ger
man. The two British seamen were
transferred to the Silas with the
others.
Even after the submarine had re-
manned below the surface for five
hours the air was very good. and there
was no difficulty in breathing and no
feeling of oppression.
Mo-,. E