Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-12-27
BRITISH CREW FIGHTS
CALAMITY WITH DEATH
Men OF Ell Threatened by Storm
Fire and Torpedo on
Dutch Coast.
COMMANDERS GRAPHIC STORY
Confronted by Hostile Cruiser, Wa
terloggcd Little Craft Submerges,
to Find Itself Filling From Bot
tOm-Ffglits Back to Surface.
CORRESPONDENTS of Associated Press. ]

81
LONDON. December 12.-Death in
| varied forms mcnaced and played for
many hours with the crew OF tho Brit
ish submarine ELI. wrecked and fin
ally sunk. after glllunt fight for
life, of tho coast of Holland, accord
ing to tho story OF her commander,
now for the first time told. His account
gives vivid picture OF an all-night
struggle to save the submarine and her
company from tho batterinS waves
which hammered tho littlo vessel upon
the shoaf. or fi9ht with fro In her
hold. against leaks that threatened to
Till her with water. and to catch and
secure torpedo thrown from its LASH
inHs with it's war-head in place, mem
acins all with instant destruction
Freed from the shoal only 10 be con-
frcnted by an apparently hostile cruiser
bent on their destruction, the subma-
r.Iie commander tells how no was
driven TO the desperate resource OF sub
mcrEins IN waterloggcd craft and of
the suspense of thu critical moments
when ha discovered that his vessel was
filling at Tie bottom OF the ocean
and OF Fight back 10 the surface to
face the guns OF the cruiser
Writing from 4 Dutch internrncnt
camp. the Ei1's commander. after tell
ing OF the stranGinS of the submarine
and the vain struggle TO float her, adds {:
The antics OF the boat proved too
much for the !ashngs Of one OF the
spare ;orpedoes: the tail held firm.
bu, the nose, with the heavy war-head
in Place. commenced threshing about
in the boat. and would have done 4 lot
OF damage i. il had not been rapidly re-
secured
Large quantities of water had como
down the coming tower and made an
awful mess OF things 1t got at the
electric light sw!tch5oards, fused the
police lights. and started fire behind
the switchboards. which had to be pu,
out with Que OF the patent fire cx-
tinsuishers. Tho resultin. fumes OF
burnt rubber and fire e1tinSuiahcr
made most unpleasant combination
with which We were bottled I'D for
the rest of the night.
HAMMERED ALL NIGHT,
THEY WAIT FOR DAWN
~ was a terrible time. that period
az waiting FOR the dawn. None OF US
thought that the boat could last out,
and take my hat off to the men that
made her; it was simply wonderful the
amount o! hamnering she took. Ny in
spection showed that the rudder had
gone, and the after compartment had
Il large direct connection with the sea-
probably through the hole where tho
ioooei Hsu ocen- ne puiEncad or THIS
compartment had also been strained
and was leaking Both propeller
shafts had been slightly bent by the
humping. and both main engines had
got dump and werc full OF electric
leaks: six OF the big main tanks were
holed. and tho chip was leaking in
ternally in ahont dozen places.
1T looked pretty hopeless. so
started TO destroy all confidential
papers. charts and instructions. the
most secret things being baked In the
electric oven until brittle and then
powdered up. Then I held a council OF
war upon what We should do IL we
could get afloat in tho morning.
had enough faith in the German spy
observed as we were threshing about In
the night and could expect trouble soon
after daybreak.
when dawn came I found we were
barely hfty yards from shore at
point about midway along the island
Without shoals. and that the sea had
gone down a lot. We were leaking so
badly that ! felt that diving would be
n risky experiment. only to be tried in
the EXTREMIST case. With probably a 5
TO chance against US. ! was quite
satisfied. however, that we could get
back to England II the weather held
h
about 9:45. we sighted q cruiser
coming along the coast and steaming
very fast. A rain squall was coming
up behind her which blotted her out
before we could distinguish details, but
she altered her course toward land just
before going out OF sight.
EXPECTED CRUISER
TO RAM VESSEL.
The most hopeful scheme seemed to
he to get straight out seaward. in
hope OF slipping away unobserped in
the mist. 1t was painfully slow work:
ages passed. and we began to cheer
up. thinking all was we'll. Then sud-
denly we spotted her. She had altered
course again, and was now driving up
at q great rate on course that looked
as " she meant ramm!aG.
when she was short half-mile away
I made out the blurred outline Of her
guns. and Immediately afterward saw
them swinging forward. IT is an un-
written law OF the sea never to train
guns on warships OF q nation with
whom one is a. peace-for obvious rea-
sons Therefore, her action in train
ing her guns on us at this moment