The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1917-08-30
PROLOGUE.

PROLOGUE. .s
The author of this series of four a'ti-
cles is a young American, 1oho has spent
most of his time since the aCdr started
acith the British patrol fleet, taking an
important part in helping to organize
that branch of the service knoaCn as
the Sea Slugs Submarine chasers).
| He has accumulated remarkable
collection of anecdotes incident to this
e1citing branch of the service, and
mdny of these acre personal adUe1l-
lures in 41hicb he tool; part and achicb
make one of the stirring narratives to
come out of the aCdr. He recently re-
turned Sto the United States to sssist
the American nary i'm organising the
same branch of the service and should
be of great Udlue because of his expert
ence abroad. So far as knoaon he is the
only American q1ho serUad s0ith the
British patrol prior to the ,sdUent of
our destroyer fotilld in British l1aters.
OF course some of his experiences, of
military rdlue to the enemy, cannot be
related. At the request of the service
publication of his name is aCithheld.
"TE were all sitting around tables
Wv in 1.-THE Knut' at Keppler's
Head, drinking pink gin and
1T" ''it' being Angostura bitters. We
were a crowd of .'sea slugs," as those
who man the U boat chasers are COM
monty and unlovingly called by the rest
of the service.
'They can talk all they want to about
the science of submarine BUSTING" said
one Of the boys, 'but there's just one
thing that gets submarines-luck. All
the schemes the wise heads devise can't
come up to one little piece of good for
tune"
"Righto," said a subaltern who had
just whispered something into the ear
Of San, the girl who serves drinks at
''The Knut."l "You take Max Horton,
now, the man who torpedoed the
Moltke.
'The whole thing is mostly luck. It's
luck when we pot sub, and it's luck
when sub pots anything. / had this
yarn straight from Max himself.
HE was submerged in one Of our
subs, an e boat, somewhere under the
ocean, and the plumbing went out of
commission. 1t isn't very pleasant in
submarine anyway. The smells and
the stale air when you are running
submerged are enough to make many a
man sick who never turned hair at
the toughest sea while he was af1oat.
"Well, as was saying, the plumb
ing went out Of commission just as
Horton was dressing and had washed
up. He hadn't put his trousers on as
yet. He ordered the craft to the sur
face so one Of the mechanics could
make repairs to the plumbing and
meanwhile went on dressing.
Surprised at Seeing Moltke.
"He was standing on one foot while
sticking the other through a trousers
leg just as the periscope Of the subma-
rine stuck out above the surface.
Suddenly seaman broke into his
cabin and yelled, There's German
warship on our starbOard quarter, sirv'
MAX kicked himself free of his
trousers quicker than you could wink,
and in a matter of seconds he was
bent over one Of the forward torpedo
tubes sighting on the vessel ahead Of
him. The silhouette book showed she
was the battle cruiser Moltke.
"Whiz-z-z! sang the torpedo. Bang!
went the Moltke. Max submerged
again and finished putting on his trou-
sers. Rather clever, don't you think
standing there with his shirt tails dam
Cling and potting German battle
shipW
THAT'S good deal like began one
of the other boys, but before he could
finish the sentence messenger came
in and spoke to the Brass Hat" who
was among us, which is to say he
spoke to the senior officer.
"Come on, old chappies," said that
Individual. 1--WE can't wait for the
last drink San is bringing. A little
| job is on our hands"
As we ran down the wharf the men
| in the chasers started the motors, and
by the time we had tumbled pellmell
into the boats they were ready to get
away. r.. III
Speeding through the Solent. still ig-
norant of our errand except for the
Brass Hat we passed miles of ship
ping tied up in the harbor waiting for
/ cargoes or to be unlOaded.
Later on the Brass Hat, whose boat