Daily Kennebec journal., 1917-10-26
SEVEN WOUNDED
A m e rican n Steamship
Beats Off German
Su b m arine e After
Thrilling Fight

A French Seaport, Wednesday. Oct.
o4-Escaping from a German suoma-
rine after bitter fight lasting nearly
four hours. and with seven of her crew
wounded, two of them seriously an
American steamer arrived here this
morning from an American port
The timely intervention of an Am
erican torpedo boat alone saved the
ship from being sent to the bottom.
A few hours after the vessel had en-
tered the danger zone, a lookout sight
ed submarine on the port bow, but
before he had time to report its pres
ence the submarine fired shot which
missed the stern Of the ship by but a
few yards. The captain Immediately
sent a wireless call for assistance, as
the position of the submarine was such
that escape was nearly impossible.
The gun crew of the submarine and
the steamer then began TO exchange
shots. The chief gunner of the steamer
opened fire at a range Of 5000 yards but
all of the shots fell short. The sub
marine kept maneuvering TO keep out
Of range Of the steamers guns, at the
same time maintaining a running fire
in an effort to disable them. The mer-
chant ship after altering her course
started at fun speed in an attempt to
escape.
The stubbornness of the battle is in
dicated by the fact that the submarine
fired o34 shots at the steamer which
responded with more than 260 shots.
After the fight had continued for
haf hod a
struck the ship, wounding four men,
one shell hit the vessel and exploded in
the engine room. putting the engines
out of commission and rendering the
ship helpless. The German command :
er then approached nearer and the
submarine continued to rain shells
upon the disabled craft.
The sea was running high at the
time and there seemed little hope of
saving the ship when a low streak of
black smoke was sighted on the hori-
Z0n. 1t later proved to be an -Ameri-
can torpedo boat destroyer coming at
full speed, running right into the sea
and at times nearly disappearing from
view.
The destroyer had heard the calls
for aid sent out by the steamer and
travelled at a speed of as. high as 80
knots to come to her assistance. The
DESTROYER Immediately made for the
submarine. which dived and disappear
ed beneath the surface. The Ameri- :
can warship circled about the spot,
dropping a few depth charges but no
more signs of the U-boat were seen.
While coming to the steamers as
sistance the destroyer kept sending
assuring messages such as Hold on
"Stick, we are coming"
The steamers wireless apparatus.
however, had been disabled soon aft
er the fight began and the messages
never were received SO that the ar
rival OF the American destroyer was
quite unexpected The submarine ap
parcntly was aware of the destroyer's
presence because she submerged before
the destroyer could get within range.
4 doctor and two assistants boarded
the merchantmen and attended to the
wounded.
The engineers had great difficulty in
repairing the steamers engine, and
during the night the destroyer and the
merchantmen lost each other but A.
nally the steamer made port in safety.
The wounded We're transferred to a
hospital in this city. Two of them
shipS crew.
The steamer was not hit below the
waterline but her cargo caught fire
during the engagement. The amount
Of damage has not been ascertained.