The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1917-09-04

were hammering away at us, but the
| terrific heat was so uncomfortable that
nobody minded the shells much. All
Of a sudden something went by my
stomach so close thought it had cut
me in two. Just beyond my boat
shell splashed into the water.
Zone Of the smaller prOjectiles had
graZed and scared me. caved in so
that 1 couldn't walk straight or erect
for several days-and that is literally
! true. My stomach felt all the time as
If some one was drawing a red hot
knife across it."
81 got it worse than that" said the
other chap, who had been in the hos
pItal, abruptly. "My boat bumped e
mine. 1 don't know how it is to get
shot, but when that thing blew up
right alongside of us it felt to me as
though it was my own body exploding
1t seemed like a sudden and terrific
pressure from the inside of me that
was going to burst me like toy bal
loon.
1--WE finally got back to the tender
under our own power. We had to
shore up the bows a little, but we
managed to make it. Mines do freak
iSh things, and don't believe there Is
a man living who can give any logical
reason why we weren't blown into
atoms"
plain luck, / guess" observed Hor-
ton placidly. 'It's funny that mine
powerful enough to sink an ocean liner
or battleship will sometimes explode
and fail to destroy a motor launch or
a submarine that is almost alongside
it. A lot of people think submarines
are very easily put out of business.
We Sea Slugs know it's different, espe-
cially the Z boats. l saw one of our
own down at Gallipoli which had hit
mine and came in with her bow patch
ed up under her own power, just as
you did in your chaser.
Sixteen Dead In Launch.
81 never had the bad luck to bump
a mine myself, but I've had my share
Of being shot up. / had one end of a
cable in a mine sweeping stunt at the
Dardanelles one night when the Turk
ish batteries got the range. The fire
they poured into us is almost unbe-
lievable. / don't see how a stick lived
through it. We were practically under
water all the time, the shells were fall
ing so close and spraying us so stead
lily.
Every once in awhile one came on
board, but they were not exploding
right-that is, not right from the Turk
ish point Of view. We were perfectly
satisfied to have them fail to 60 off.
"The other chap, though, the fellow
who had the far end Of my cable, was
getting it pretty badly. He was in
terrible shape, and after particularly
vicious burst of fire his engines stop
ped and he began to drift. l ran over
to him. We couldn't sweep with only
one end Of the cable in motion.
"Of the eighteen men in the other
NJ. L. found two alive. They weren't
conscious, but they were still alive.
The sixteen others were dead. We
took these two aboard our launch and
got back to the base. That night was
hell"
| have quoted the stories told me by
these two nlen as nearly in their words
as / can remember them to show
phase of the submarine chasers' work
which is seldom thought Of, AS Hor-
ton said, most people think the NJ. LIS
do nothing but cruise around in COM
parative safety looking for submarines.
This is only one of their duties.
Most of the Sea Slugs have been
taught to operate machine guns, and as
result they were frequently used for
landing parties at Gallipoi, running In
under the Turkish guns and trying to
J hang OH, by their finger nails almost,
to the cliffs. Some of the Sea Slugs
! were on shore for a long time and
served i'm the trenches. One of them
told me bad feature Of the fighting
there was trying to keep clean. There
wasn't water enough to drink, to say
nothing about washing, and the only
way they could clean their shirts was
to lay them on the ant hills. Even at
that If they left them there too long
the shirts themselves would disappear
Another Job the M. LIS had down
there was boarding all the fishing
smacks and other apparently noncom-
Blatant vessels and searching them for
ammunition and mines. l talked to
one man named D., brother OF the
| officer l told about in my first article
who rammed one Of his own subma-
rines, mistaking her for German,
who had a fight with two Turk aero
planes while he was visiting number
of such vessels.
Fought Planes With Rifles.
I'VE are just running over to fish
| ing smack 70 search her." said d.,
..wben I hear the throbbing of an aero
plane engine. A few seconds later the
roar of another engine cuts in, and
preasantly l located them with my
glasses. 1t never occurs tome that