Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-10-17
Then the Battle With the Sub.

Then the Battle With the Sub.
10 p. m. Sept. IA, Friday-We have
had some day Of 1t. Fine weather all
day and calm sea. Sighted land about
3 p. m.-the hilly peninsula Of Wales
and have been within sight Of it
couple of English dirigibles this aft
ernoon, evidently doing patrol duty
along the coast We are nearly to
Liverpool nov and expect to land to-
morrow and go-somewhere. But the
real thing of the day happened this
evening at 7:15 p. m. just before dark.
We had a real sure-enough mixup
with a submarine. I hope the censor
lets it pass; it will probably be in
starboard side when suddenly the
boat turned sharply at right angles
to her course-leaning over from the
suddenness Of the turn. Fellows were
running for the port side and I Joined
and saw our little destroyer racing
to our q There was q German
U-boat 500 yards to the rear and the
three destroyers were after it hot foot.
1t evidently didn't have time to aim
merge after a few shots from the de-
stroyers. I never saw the submarine
when all Of a sudden there was q
boom and the ship %quivered. Were
hit" flashed through my mind and I
was putting on my life preseryer
when the ship whistled, Get to the
life boats and everyone started.
Some ran and showed but cries of
Take your time" soon quieted them
markable speed and lack of confusion.
1--WE Got the SUBJ" 81
After roll call-all present-we stood
around waiting for orders to lower
the lifeboats-it was only two or
three miles to shore so we were prac-
tically SUR of getting there-but no
order came We stood around talk
ing and joking in low tones-the boat
still kept on without any perceptible
not be fatally injured after all when
all of a sudden the cry anne I'VE
have not been hit and they got the
submarine" There were cheers
which were quickly hushed and we
all filed down on deck in the dark
and gathered in little groups all over
discussing the fight. 1t developed
that the shots of the destroyer fright
ened the sub before it had a chance
merged the little destroyer went right
over the place it disappeared and
dropped a conclusion bomb and hur-
ried away. The conclusion of the ex-
plosion Jared our ship enough to
think we were t~orpedoed. At the dis
lance we were you can imagine
what happened to the submarine. 1t
sure was thrilling for awhile. Funny
what thoughts a person has at times
like those. While we were at the
lifeboats before we knew we had not
been torpedoed I remember wishing
that I had a diary with me as it
would be lost down below-also that
if I got through all right I would have
something to tell you folks about. 1t
never really occurred to me that I
would not get ashore all right. We
were laughing and joking about
cigarettes and chewing gum while
waiting for the order to lower the
lifeboats which did not come. I had
all, the thrills of being torpedoed with
out the after effects-for we all
thought we had been HIT must
have been ten or fifteen minutes we
were up there in suspense-at first
we thought they were going to beach
the ship as'we were running direct for
land but it got dark rapidly and we
could not see where we were going
when the news came that broke the
tension. I hope the other boats got
through as lucky as we did.
-. & -Ronnie