Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1917-09-13
Sea Slug Stories
Thrilling Tails of U Boat Hunting. Told by An
American Boy Who Served With the
British Patrol

Hight draft craft to escape because OF
the anchored mines coming to the sur
face.
The men in each crew have been
carefully selected. They are all in the
best physical condition, good swim
mers, and the Brass Hats (ofticers)
have even made certain that none of
them has cold. A sneeze or cough
might betray us. Despite this, the
damp chilly night air makes one OF
the men In our boat sneeze suddenly.
+ sounds to us like the crash of a
mine. don't see why it didn't take
the top of the fellows head off. Our
finely made motors. of course, were
muttled until you could not distinguish
their purr ten feet away.
"a thousand yards or so and we'll be
across the fields" says the Brass Hat
in our boat. He has it figured down
pretty fine. Now we are Ekimm;ng
over bar, where heavier boat could
not go.
Discover Enemy Destroyers.
We strain our eyes ahead to catch
the white CLEAN of the wake of our
leading craft and stare behind to make
out the white bow wave of the one
following us. 1t is the only way we
can keep ourselves in line
Presently pick up out of the black
ness Of the night patch of something
that is even blacker. A ripple runs
0nUn Nhn
has arrived. This is not like chasing
a submarine which is trying to hide
and which you can almost run circles
around. 1t is more like six mosquitoes
tackling a band of giants. If ever
they can hit us a slap we will be
crushed to jelly.
/ point out the black patch to the
Brass Eat. He strains through his
night glasses, then hands them to me.
Destroyer" he says.
The term is well applied. and real
lie for the first time what destructive
power one Of these slick sea fighters
has. She Is running without lights.
We wonder in whispers whether the
other craft have sighted her. There is
no way for us to signal them The
man standing ut the wheel throws her
over a little to starboard, following
the white wake of the boat ahead
OF us.
'They see her." says the Brass Hat
next. They're Circling in
A glance astern shows us that our
followers have observed the change in
our course. l do not know how far
we are from that destroyer. In the
dark she looms so big that it seems we
must be going to Craze her.
There is lurid stab Of red in the
darkness ahead-a deafening roar-the
smell of battle is in our nostrils. The
leaders three incher has barked Ours
barks Mt almost the same time. Ours
has bitten, for we can see the flash of
the explosion as the shell falls on
board the destroyer. That is better
luck than we had looked for.
The Searchlights Scour the Sea.
The flashes have shown us other
craft-destroyers, patrol boats and
gunboats. No hope of concealment
now. We wait just long enough be-
tween shots to make it hard for the
Germans to locate us from the flash Of
the guns. Our engines, with the muf-
fers open to give us all possible speed,
are roaring almost as loudly as the
cannon it seems.
The Boches must be confused. They
haven't fired on us yet. Searchlights
are darting everywhere across the wa
ter and in the sky. Their one object
is to find and destroy us, but they can
not figure out what to look for. They
of course think we have come in
through the channel, and their power
full rays sweep the entrance to the
harbor and the waters just inside,
while others play over the surface
from whence We fired our first shots.
They don't expect craft of our size to
attempt such daring raid.
How much damage we have done
we do not know, but we cease firing