New Britain herald., 1917-10-08
SMELL RELATES
MURDER BY Sub
Negro Cook Says Crew Was Left
Struggling in the Sea

LOus OCC. c.-W1Cn IHo dp-
prevail of the Navy Department., tho
Committee on Public Information last
night made public an account Of the
sinking last July by a German SUBJ
marine of the British steamer Belgian
Prince, with the loss of thirty-eight
lives. as officially reported to the de-
partment by an American naval off,
Ger in the form of verbatim state
ment from William Smell. a negro
cook on the Belgian Prince. The
story was made public exactly as
taken down by an officer of the
American navy from Smell, who was
one Of the three survivors of the crew
of the steamer. It is practically in
SHELLS own words. The statement
follows:
"About o'clock p. M, July 81, I
heard an explosion-did not know
whether it was a torpedo or a bomb
and I ran to my ifeboat, the boats
having been lowered partly from
their davits. After the crew board
ed lifeboats they were lowered into
the water. and We rowed from the
ship about fifty yards, when the sub
ITldTlu0 Cd1IlC " IHc SuTldC0 dUOuL
100 yards from us and fired at the
wireless on board the Belgian Prince
and tore it down: then she came
slowly between our three boats-the
fourth life boat having been blown
to pieces when the explosion occurred
leaving the captains boat on the
port side of the submarine and the
other two boats on the starboard
side, and asked for the captain. The
captain said, Here I am He was
taken into the coming tower Of the
submarine and asked for his papers,
and they were delivered up to the
commander of the submarine.
1.-The commander of the submarine
said. is there any gunners over
there?' and our officer replied. No,
Sir. they got killed. The commander
Of the submarine said. If there is no
gunners aboard there. bring your
boats alongside And as we got
alongside he said. All hands on
deck When we got on deck he
said, Hands up Then he lined us
up in single rank from the bow of
the vessel as far aft as the gun which
was on board her. forward the con-
ming tower and which appeared to be
a 6-inch gun.
There were two men of the sub
marines crew on top of the coming
tower with guns of a large bore in
their hands, which they kept trained
on us. Seven others of the German
crew stood abreast our line on the
starboard of the ship, armed with
automatic revolvers. guarding us.
The captain Of the submarine was
also on deck and stood near the for
we I'd criu in in,
man to his crew what to do. One
seaman of the submarines crew stood
a little aft the coming tower, about
abreast the breech of the after gun.
1.-THE commander then walked along
the line of the Belgian Princes crew,
asking them if they had any arms on
their persons and searching each lnd1-
vidual. He commanded us to take off
our Hfebelts and throw them on deck.
which we did. AS the lifebelts were
dropped, the commander picked them
up and threw them overheard.
'When I threw my belt down I
showed it ahead on the deck with my
foot, and finally stood on 1t. AS he
walked along the line. he huddled US
together in g. crowd, and then went
and pulled the plugs out of our life
boats, which were lying on the star
board bow of the submarine, and he
then walked aft to the coming tower,
at which time I picked up my belt
quickly and thrust it under big
loose oilskin which I was wearing at
the time, hugging it close to my
breast with my arms.
when the commander went to the
coming tower four Germans came on
deck and got in our captains boat,
which was lying on the port side Of
the submarine. and the submarine
backed a little. then steamed ahead
and rammed and smashed one Of
our boats. which had been lying on
the starboard bow and had been cast
off from the submarine a few mo-
ments before she backed.
THE four men who had gotten into
| our captains boat rowed alongside
| the Belgian Prince. The submarine
| then steamed ahead as near as I can
guess about nine knots an hour, leav-
i ing her four men in our captain
boat alongside the Belgian Prince, all
of us, except our captain. being
huddled up together on her forward
deck.
Into the Sea.
''She steamed thus about one hour
that the water was rising slowly on
the forward deck. and it came up on
my feet. I also noticed, some little
time before this, which time I cannot
accurately state, the coming tower
| had been closed.
THE water continued to rise
around my ankles, and when the wa
ter got six inches up on my legs
pulled my life belt out quickly, threw
it over my shoulders and jumped
overheard. The other men did not
seem to know what was going to hap
pen. some of them saying, 7 wonder
If they are going to drown u.s. etc
About ten seconds after I jumped