Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-10-23
SWIFT AND DEADLY
RAIDERS TAKE
NORTH SEA TOLL
Two British DeStroyerS and
Eight Unamed Merchant
men Sent to Bottom After
Brilliant Fight by Former

LONDON, Oct. 20.-Two British de-
stroyers and eight unarmed merchant
men was the toll which two extraor-
dinarily swift and heavily armed Ger
man commerce raiders took Wednesday
in North sea battle anpounced tonight
by the British admiralty.
The traditions of the British navy
were fully sustained by the two British
hornets of the seas-the Mary Rose and
the Strong Bow. Outranged by the raid
ers' guns, out-speeded, they nevertheless
went eagerly into battle and fought to a
finish with their formidable antagonists,
two pigmies against giants. Eighty
eight officers and men persisted on the
Mary Rose and AZ on the Strong Bow.
The two German ships of prey slipped
out of their harbor on one of the recent
long, dark nights. They sped north,
securing the seas for merchantmen
bringing supplies to England. SomeV
where between the Shetland islands and
the Norwegian coast-far to the north
ern boundary of the North sea-they
came suddenly upon a feet of Norwegian
and Swedish merchantmen, conveyed by
the two British destroyers.
The battle was fast and furious, but
unequal from the start, The courageous
attack of the British ships, however,
enabled three of the neutral merchant
men to escape. When the British de-
stroyers were sunk the Germans prompt
ly proceeded to their assault on the I'M
protected and unarmed merchantmen.
Five Norwegian and three Swedish ships
were sunk at once-without examina-
ton of their papers, without warning.
and without any regard for the lives Of
fhnn1.
Then the two marauders, fearing arrival
of British patrol boats, turned tail and
fed back home. Not an effort was made
to rescue survivors who struggled in the
water Another dark night apparently
enabled them to make good their return.
British vessels attracted by the sound
of the gunfire later picked up 80 Norwe-
gians and others. A Christiana dispatch
tonight added that the admiral com
mandant of the Swedish navy had re-
ported the rescue of 81 persons from
Norwegian and Swedish ships"-pre-
sumably survivors of the same German
sea victims.
The admiralty statement, issued late
today, revealed all these details and
aroused England to a fever of fighting
bitterness Not since the destroyer
Brooke fought her heroic fight against
would-be German cruiser raiders last
spring has England been so thrilled by
the heroism of her men afioat as by the
tale of never-fiinching courage which
the admiralty told of the officers and
crews of the Mary Rose and the Strong
Bow.
A supplementary admiralty report, is
sued later, had this to say in addition
to the details of the fight already re-
ported:
.,1rL. n, or~oo,, oA8oial stotayoan+ oF tha
North sea fight says the attack occurred
in the territorial waters of the Shetland
islands and that all escort vessels. in.
Guiding the destroyers, were sunk, with
the exception of one escorting fisher
boat Both statements are untrue. The
enemy raiders evaded watching squad
rons during the recent long dark nights.
They hurriedly sped outward and back
home again."