The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1917-09-04

hOun0 ana round they circle just
over our heads, getting lower and low
er ali the time. until at last they start
dropping bombs.
Bang! goes one not thirty feet off
my starboai bow, and we are sprayed
with the foam she throws up. But
the target is too small, and the planes
are travelling SO fast they can't get us
with bombs, so they veer off and come
SWIMMING back very low in straight
line dead for us. They are so close to
our heads that feel like ducking, just
as one does going under q doorway
that Is actually high enough to walk
through upright, but which looks too
low.
Suddenly they begin to spray us
with machine gun fire. Two of my
men are hit, and the decks are flying
into splinters. All have on board is
couple of 1890 rifles, and begin
firing with one, while my first officer
uses the other. The three FOUNDER
can't be elevated enough to use it as
an air gun.
1--WE can shoot rapidly, but nothing
like the fire Of that cursed spew of
lead spraying from those machine
guns.
"Once they drive straight over us,
and now they are coming back. If we
don't stop them this time we are gone.
I squint along the sights of my rifle.
7 70 Lot ~
out and hold the rest, so that my shout.
der will not be moving as squeeze
the trigger.
II am sighting right for the pilots
chest. I fire. He veers off like
wounded bird. His plane wabbles. 1t
looks as If it was going to fall, but he
gets it Strengthened out and flies away.
Both Of us begin to fire at the other
machine. 1t rises. The pilot does not
dare to fly straight into the rifle fire.
From alOft he contents himself with
dropping more bombs, but he must be
within range of our rifles, for presently
he flies away and does not bother us
any more.
"1f he had been a German air man
the end of the story might have been
different"
Sea Slugs Are Fighters.
The crews which officer and man
the submarine chasers are not trained
navy men. They don't know overmuch
Of the kings regulations, and the
discipline they maintain is most Ger
tainly not that to which one is accus-
toned OH board ship.
But-and 1 want to emphasize this
strOngly-they are scrappers. They
fight in their own way. They may
not know how to do it according to
the book, but they are among the gam
est men afioat. Many of them are
wealthy and formerly owned and Op-
Grated their own boats. They are a
hard fighting, hard riding crew, and
the devil himself can't scare them.
Before they are assigned to boats
the men are given about a ten day
course In navigation, for they must
sometimes cruise out Of sight Of land
and at night. Many amusing and some
times almost tragic incidents arise
from their ineXperience.
was out once in an Nj. l. command
ed by subaltern named G. All he
knew about navigation had been taught
him in ten days. He got lost, was
ashamed to say so and admit that he
didn't know how to get his location.
He figured for two days trying to find
out where he was. He'd get his sun
observations, and by the time he had
away that he had to do it all over
again.
He figured for two days, and all the
time he was getting shorter in provi-
sions and fuel. For the last half day
he followed destroyer, thinking she
was running into port He wouldn't
signal her and ask for instructions or
! for his location, SO he just trailed along
after her as though he knew where he
was going. He was too proud to- ask
the road home.
The sun was under clouds. but it
came out just before sunset, and he
| discovered that he had been running
lISuC away IIOuu CuSldnu. we SOt
back off Portsmouth at night But our
signal box had been lost oversize, and
we couldn't reply to the signal at the
entrance to the harbOr, which came
within inches of costing US our lives,
as our own batteries fired q couple of
Ats at us, and we had to run out and
cruise around the rest of the night to
save our skins. However, we hung
in sight of the harbor so as not to
get lost again.
This same chap, though he was short
on the science of navigation, >was long
on fight. When cruising at night the
M. LIS, of course, show no lights, and
it is very hard to maintain an absolute
ly even speed and keepsjust the prop
er distance from the other craft
Steam engines can be controlled right
down to the inch, but the gas engines
which drive the NJ. LIS are not so read
lily regulated. A single notch increase
or decrease on the throttle may make
difference of q whole knot in speed.