Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1917-10-12
NTE were hiI sitting around tables
w in The :Egut" at Keppler's

XNTE were All sitting around tables
w III The :IGUt' at Keppler's
Head, drinkiIIg pink gin and
1T" lit being Any.stura bittcrs. We
were a crowd of ''sca sl:;gs,p as those
who mnn the U bot c!!asers are COM
monty and unlovingiy called by the rest
of the service,
They can talk all they want to about
fhe science %? SUMMARIZE busting" said
one or the boys. ":ivt there's just one
thing that gets submarines-luck. All
the schemes she wise heads devise can't
come up to one little piece OF good for
tune"
"Righto," said a subaltern who had
Just whispered something into tile ear
of San. the girl who serves drinks at
The Knut." you take Max Horton.
now, the man who torpedoed the
MQHke.
The whole thing is mostly luck. It's
luck when we pot n sub, and it's luck
when sub pots anything. had this
yarn straight from Max himself.
HE was submerged in one of our
subs. MI e boat. somewhere under the
ocean, and the plumbing went out of
commission. 1t isn't very pleasant In
submarine anyway. The smells and
the stale air when you are running
submerged are enough to make many
man sick who never turned n hair at
the toughest sea while he was afloat
'Weil, as l was saying, the plumb
Ing went out of commission Just MS
Horton was dressing and had washed
up. He hadn't put his trousers ON as
yet. He ordered the craft to the sur
face so one of the mechanics could
make repairs to the plumbing and
meanwhile went on dressing.
Surprised at Seeing Moltke.
"He was standing on one foot while
sticking the other through trousers
leg Just as the periscope of the subma-
rine stuck out nbove the surface.
Suddenly seaman broke into his
cabin and yelled, There's O. German
warship on our starboard quarter, STRIP
MAX kicked himself free of his
trousers quicker than you could wink,
and IN a matter Of seconds he was
bent over one of the forward torpedo
tubes sighting on the vessel ahead Of
him. The silhouette book showed she
was the battle cruiser Moltke.
"Whiz-z-z! sang the torpedo. Bang!
went the Moltke. Max submerged
again and finished putting ON his trou-
sers. Rather clever, don't you think
standing there with his shirt tails dan
Cling and potting German battle
ship?"
'EThat's good deal like began one
of the other boys, hut before he could
finish the sentence a messenger came
in and spoke to the BRASS Hat" who
was among us. which is to say he
spoke to the senior officer.
Come on, old chappies," said that
Individual. I'VE can't wait for the
last drink San is bringing. little
Job is on our hands"
As we ran down the wharf the men
In the chasers started the motors. and
by the time we had tumbled pellmell
into the boats they were ready to get
AWAY.
Speeding through the solent, still ig-
norant Of our errand except for tho
Brass Hat, we passed miles Of ship.
ping tied up in the harbor waiting for
cargoes or to be unloaded.
Later on the Brass Hat, whose boat
was leading the line because of his
rank, signaled to us that we were
after submarine which a hydroplane
had sighted of the Isle Of Wight.
The U Boat Chase.
Offshore a short distance was pa
troll boat lying very low in the water
and flying distress signals. We ran
over to her and learned that about an
hour before the periscope of subma-
rine had been stuck up not far from
her; then the craft had submerged
appeared again about mile away and
fired four shots, which let in enough
water slowly to sink the patrol, which
before the war had been nothing but a
dirty 1itfJa frau1or