The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1917-07-19
YORK BOY ABOARD SUBMARINE.
Held for Twenty-three Days and Fin
ally Landed Il Prisoner in Berlin.


Norweeian freight steamer StOrskOS,
on which he was d seaman, hello a
captive in Berlin from March , to
June IS. James Moore. the lS-year-
old son of ". T. Moore. of York, re-
turned home this week after a series
of adventures abroad that sounds
like sheer romance. That they are
true in every particulari however. no
one doubts who is familiar with the
youth reputation for veracity, while
the letter received some time ago by
his father from the Norwegian ship
ping firm announcing that his son
was detained in the German capita!
following his capture as the result
of the sinking of the Storskog by a
submarine bears out the lads stir
ring narrative of shipwreck in the
treacherous waters of the war zone.
Young Moore as lad of Is left
York three years ago and after drift
ing from point to point in the North
finally shipped from Newport News,
Va, as an able seaman on vessel
bound for France. After crossing
the Atlantic he made voyages to vari-
Gus parts of the world under the
flags of several different nations. He
experienced many vicissitudes, but
nothing specially out of the ordi-
nary occurred until February S, when
the freighter, Storskog, on which he
was an able seaman and the only
American on board, was torpedoed
by a German u-boat. The vessel was
carrying a cargo or grain and was
bound from Buenos Ayres to Queens
town. The story of what happened
is best told in Moore's own words:
1T was about midday when the
torpedo crashed against our ship and
l was sound asleep. The explosion
was terrific and, of course, awoke me
instantly. The vessel seemed blown
clear out of the water and then set
tied down, listing heavily forward.
Everybody was excited, but there was
no panic. A hurried attempt was made
to launch the six lifeboats, but three
were crushed against the sides of the
ship. The other three were success
fully launched and all of us, with the
engineers and firemen, crowded in.
I'VE pulled clear of the sinking
ship, which was now being .shelled by
the submarine and in few minutes
it went to the bottom. After the
Storskog had been disposed of the
u-boat turned her attention to the
life boats. All three were wrecked
in as many shots and the first thing
! knew was struggling in the water,
which seemed icy cold and chilled me
through and through. Why they did
it, / will never know, but maybe the
sight of us struggling for life in the
water caused the Germans to relent
a little, for seven OF us, gasping and
benumbed, were taken aboard the
submersible. The only injury suf-
fered during the affair was a bruise
to my right knee which still causes
me to limp little.
+ 'HNe were treated fairly we'll on
the U-60, being given fair allow
ance of bread and water twice a day.
We were closely guarded and given
no opportunity to do any harm, even
if We had been so inclined. Their
fare seemed almost as meagre as
ours, though they had few sweets
to give variety. Nearly every men,
Der of the crew of S3 men could
speak English and the commander
had lived in the United States sew
eral years, could discourse in our
language almost as fluently as an
American. The Germans were not
averse to talking to us, but could not
be induced to discuss the war. De-
spite our crowded quarters and en-
barrassing predicament, we were not
as uncomfortable as might be imagin-
ed, though I could not say that life
on a u-boat is especially attractive.
1--WE cruised about day after day,
our captors keeping sharp lookout
for vessels. They found them. too,
and in the 23 days that we were
aboard the u-boat, ~ were torpe-
doed. None of them made any re-
sistance. At last, after life in our
new quarters had become monoto-
nous and irksome to us, the subma-
rine ran into the harbor of Heligo-
land. At this place We were put
aboard a torpedo boat and taken to
Bremen, fro mwhich we went by rail
to Berlin.
Il was without funds when | arriv-
fo1