The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1917-04-05
TWICE VICTIM OF |
U.B0AT, QUITS SEA
San Francisco Youth Has Had
Enough of Excitement for
a While.
WILL TRY TO FORGET war
Met His First Submarine In the Med.
iterranean and His Second In Irish
Sea-No Warning Given
Either Time.

Boston.-Joseph Barnett Of San
francisco, late second saloon cook
aboard the Baron Ogilvy, Is only
twenty. But twice he has been the
victim Of submarine.
Young Barnett met his first subma-
rine In the Mediterranean a year ago,
his second In the Irish sea last Janu-
ary. Now he's on his way back to
San Francisco, where the war seems
far away. No more of the sea for
him, he says, until the wars over.
He shipped first, when he was four.
teen, as II galley boy aboard a Union
Line boat plying between Vancouver,
San Francisco and Australia. Four
years later found him second saloon
cook aboard the Medic Of the White
Star line, bound from Liverpool to
Mediterranean ports and the Anti
podes with general cargo.
This was in February of last year.
They had been Is days out and were
somewhere off Sicily, Barnett thought,
though out Of sight of land, when q
torpedo put an emphatic period to
their progress.
Never Saw Submarine.
"We never did see the submarine or
the torpedo" he said. "It was about
dusk, and the sea was fairly smooth.
1 was cooking in the galley when she
hit us. There was an explosion In
the engine room which wiped out the
whole watch below-abOut a dozen Of
them-nnd the ship lurched to star
board suddenly and oil the dishes and
pans went sliding. The cook and l
rushed up on deck, and so did the
rest, but we were ordered back.
ats all right, lads the captain
said. Don't lose your heads. Go back.
It'll be all right now.'
"But she began settling down at the
stern, and soon we were told to take
to the boats. 1t took ten minutes to
lower them-there was no trouble
and then we pulled away and laid by
until she went down, stern first, half
an hour later. A French torpedo boat
picked us up and we were landed in
Marseilles the next morning."
Six months later he shipped aboard
the Baron Ogilvy of the Baron line,
out of Glasgow, again bound for Aus
and back to Liverpool on her, with no
unusual incident to mark either voy-
age. 1t was after his ship had dis
charged her cargo Of frozen mutton
at the latter port and was on her way
to Barry, on the Welsh coast, to load
with coal for the British fleet, that he
met with his second and greater ad-
venture.
For at noon Of the next day the
stern lookout made out periscope
sticking its tiny head about six inches
above the waves in the wake Of the
ship. He gave the alarm, and part
Of the crew was set to work immedi-
ately swinging out the lifeboats. AL
most all the rest were ordered below
to help the stokers crowd on steam,
Meanwhile the gun crew manned the
13-pounder at the stern, and the
captain started his distress rockets
soaring.
But neither stern gun nor rockets
brought results. And with oil the ex-
ira stokers the Baron Ogilvy could
make no more than IL knots. The
submarine discharged hos first tor
l.
get into better position, she rose to
the surface, and in the course Of the
chase circled the freighter two or
three times, diving and rising like q
great porpoise. ..
q. Thought They Had Lost Her.
The Ogilvy appeared helpless. While
the submarine, whether submerged or|
awash, was racing ahead of her or
abreast of her, her stern gun could not
be brought to bear on Its target. The
captain steered Zigzag course, ever
edging toward shore. The submarine
discharged another torpedo about three
o'clock, and missed again.
Then for a while she was no longer
seen. The crew of the Ogilvy thought
they were free of her. Their gun crew
had fred SO shots, all the ammunition
they had.
About five o'clock, to their conster-
nation, the submarine rose from the
sea on their starboard bow and start
ed shelling the Ogilvy with both deck
guns The freighter was only about
three-quarters of mile off shore by
this time, ana Captain Thompson
beachcd her, while the submarine lay
| off half Il mile and continued her shell
| ing. Both masts Of the Ogilvy, her
wireless house and her funnel were
carried away, but the only human casu-
atty aboard her was q leg wound suf-
| fered by one of the gunners.
The battle speedily attracted the
const guard ashore, which brought out
artillery and drove the enemy of. Two
days later the Ogllvy was pulled or
the rocks and into floating dTydock.
Her crew made their way to Barry
and were discharged. Young Barnett
shipped on the Leyland liner Anglian,
at London, February 8, and landed In