The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-08-17
Captured by a
Cruiser
By DONALD CHAMBERLIN


most famous Of these was the En-
den, and she continued the work longe
than any other privateer
During the first year Of the war
was acting as chief engineer of tn
British ship Tommy Atkins, running
between London and Valparaiso. I
wasn't long before the German cruiser
made themselves evident In the soutl
Atlantic, and after crossing the equa
tor we began to fear we might fall Int,
the hands Of some one Of them. Sur,
enough one day we saw black smok,
on the horizon which grew palmer ev
cry hour, and we soon made up ou
minds that she was coming toward us
She proved to be the Emden, ant
when she came near enough to us she
fred a shot across our bows, and q
few minutes later l got a signal te
stop the engine An officer from the
cruiser came aboard and directed every
one to get ready to be removed to his
ship. He came down into the engine
room, where / was waiting In case
was wanted there, and, seeing me, he
asked me II l was the engineer |
told him | was, and he ordered me on
deck and put me In charge of a sailor,
who took me aboard OF the cruiser.
When l saw the officer again he told
me that one of their engineers had died
Of fever, another had broken an arm
and they We're short of engineers.
must take one of the periods of run
ming the vessel.
In couple of days we fell In with
an Austrian bark bound for German
port, and all the passengers and crew
except me were put aboard of her, for
our ship had been sent to the bottom
as soon as we were transferred to the
Emden. 1t was a sad sight for me,
seeing the others leave the Emden, and
l forced to remain and work for the
enemy. But what could do?
From the moment the last boat left
the Emden for the other vessel ! be-
gan to think how I could escape a
service that was undesirable In that 1t
was for an enemy.
We were moving down the Brazilian
coast, sometimes within a few miles
of land. My watch, or period Of duty,
had been changed from night to day,
for l was breaking down under the
strain, and 1t was one night when l
was supposed to be asleep that laid
my plans.
One of the crew had died the day be-
fore and was laid out for burial Be-
side him was the sack in which he was
to be sent to the bottom. 1t occurred
to me that if / could get rid of him
and put myself in the sack | would be
thrown overheard. Land had been In
sight during the day, and /, being a
good swimmer, might keep myself on
the surface long enough to be picked
up by some passing boat.
1t would probably result In death, |
but preferred to take the chance rath- |
er than remain in the enforced service. |
l, a Briton, to be the slave of Ger |
man! Better hundred deaths.
At first the Germans kept close
watch on me, but gradually they grew
lax. could do nothing harmful which
would not react ON myself as well as
on them. Every one about me was
sound asleep. Those on deck were
wide awake, but all below, tired with
the heavy duties, were glad to sleep
when relieved.
arose, went to the corpse, put it on
nv shoulder, carried it to the ships
side and through an open space drop
BED it overheard. / next stole a knife
rom sleeping sailor without waking
him. Then l got into the burial sack ]
Ind awaited my fate.
By this time | had learned a little
iernan, and in the morning / heard
'oice: Where is Hans7 He was not
tut In the bag" / heard footstep
oming toward me and felt a hand !,
rip my shoulder Here he is" said !,
he man who gripped me. Some one
must have put him in. But he is not
ewed up. That must be done at once.
chneider, come here"
Some one came and sewed up the
ack. Very soon after this | was car =
led to the forward deck. There was
ome kind of service, but I did not
now enough of the German language :"
, determine what 1t was. Then / felt a
lie board on which was placed tilted. y
nd slid into cold water. ~
l must have gone down forty feet i,
Id was thinking that would never 81
op when my feet struck bottom. This =.
me, for the shallow water %
dicated that was near land / cut NJ
the weight that pulled me down and Di
lished freeing myself by cutting my
ay out of the sack; then, bracing my VI
OF against the sand, rose rapidly to M
e surface The first thing did on gr
tting my head above water was to DIR
ok for the cruiser. Seeing her some
0 yards from me, l drew a long ma
cath and ducked to give her time to tn
farther away. I'M
When looked again, there, a couple y
miles away, was the South American
asst. The sea was calm. and | hoped rs
be able TO swim the distance. though sp
vas weak from overwork / struck ere
/ slowly and soon came to a piece of ms
ft~sod On this I rested for some Fr
ne. then swan about half a mile. l ms
s too weak 10 accomplish the task lea
would have drowned had not a
all fishing boat passed near me. The bri
pper picked me up. and eventually wi
vas landed on the Brazilian coast
lfter all. was more lucky than my cor
a. -