The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-09-15

in the German submarine aho 'o
 pedo boat serxtce..-.-.ee--.-s-
 Tn the month. of July, 1911, was .r sbore leave AtT Travimunde,- nleasant holiday resort on the baleie Sea. when I received a telegram rom nv commanding officer, Oberieuten- Inf zur See Otto Steinbrink He is now a captain, the chler m structor of the great school or sup marine craft at Kiel, and wears the order Pour 1e Merite, conferred upon him by the Kaiser in person TOT the sinking of the Lusitania. :. Tn those days, as say, he was Just a first navaf1 lie utenant's though q man whose name was ~celeDra.eu throughout the whole German Navy. It was he who commanded the very first German submarine that ever plunged beneath the surface or sne watefr. the famous U 1. From that lime forward he had preached the doctrine of the submarine by nlgnr and day, in the face of much mocKery and open contempt. By sticking to his guns he had al raa d1sw beronres aEkifowledBe r as f the f,rat fnrracticaf exp p6nent of Underwater warfare in the German navy. when he dismissed me for my leave, he hao whispered in my ear his good news He had just been appointed to the command of U 21, the newly equlp- ned under sea marvel; the largest fastest, and best-armed submarine the world had ever seen-
 Have a good time, Axel,' he warn ed me, ;.but, be ready to join her at a rnonant,sa notices Is sFhe here.1is impor- tant work ahead of us!5rA sg..
 I had been with him from the very first in his underwater work, hav- ing volunteered for the first dive with him. because had learned to know him so we'll on the torpedo we used to call the Reindeer. \ He was the man to lead through adventure to good pay and rapid pro- motion; the very man for sailor to 4 follow. < N The result was that on that dark night in July, 1911, when I joined the U 21 at Kiel, had become his boat :. swain and the recipient of many oi his ambitious schemes
 Us21, when had last seen her, was berthed between two old ships of the Kaiser class, both temporarily out oi commission. They lay so close to- gether that nobody would have sus- pected that the new wonder of the German navy was concealed between them, with her deck awash and he1 coming tower so painted that 1t look ed part of the rusty sides of the olo back numbers that lowered on eithel side. M
 When arrived in hot haste at Ktel she had been shifted to. another moor ing. I found all ready for an imme diate departure when boarded her having found a man at the station C aF fho dark " where a dinghy was waiting to tak' me aboard.
 Steinbrink greeted me hearth! when he saw me. "A cruise afte your own heart, Axel," he said. "B quick; we were only waiting for you
 Ten minutes later we were in tn relation of chief and subordinate; got the word to carry on. Twent. minutes later the submarine wa plougning the waters of the Kiel Can al. ,bound for Wilhelmshaven and tn North Sea.
 It was still dark when we cleare the sluggish waters of the canal. an could hear the waves tapping on he :. thin sides, Stein brink laid her cours right out into Heligoland Eight.
 When grey dawn came, he took m into the coming tower. and togethe we scanned the empty horizon. Ava soxfthsasfeather4 of smoke caught hi eye. and he gave the, order to sub merge.
 Thereafter we travelled under wa ter, with only the periscope above tn waves. He laid his course from tn coming, guiding it by the plume C smoke to the south. His excitemer was obvious, and communicated itse to the men. The gunners whispere
 IL z crews singled out. Heaven know what they thought was about to haI pen. STn A ,gJY 6 t1 tt
 The sun had well risen, when Steir brink called me to him.. nt-Do yo know that vessel. Axel?" he aske with wide grin.
 looked in the reflector, and bt held a stately wide yacht, the line of which I know as well as the stre, where my wife lives.
 The Kaiser's yacht! The HoheI zollern, exclaimed. a.
 with His Majesty on board for h summer cEYise in the North Sea, al sented, Stefnb rift K. .e' Afid how. look. ' <, He manipulated the reflectors, { that saw, away west of the Hoher zollern, another vessel. as unmistaI z able to my eyes as the Emperor yacht herself.
 "An English torpedo-boatn I gasI ed.
 'Iet us say, toierable imitatio of one," he drawled. "But His Ma esty has no better destroyer in h navy and no more loyal servants tha her crew. Now we are going to pIa Englander, Axel; put on these oi skins"
 We both struggled into oilskin ar sou'-wester of the British Navy pa tern; he gave a command, and tl submarine reared her coming tow and her narrow deck from the gret sea. The matches were thrown ope !. and Steinbrink, with glasses in h hand stepped up on deck ordering n to follow.
 Coolly be leved his glasses at u deck of the yacht. where my train, eyes told me some unusual distur ance was taking place
 "All Highest is on deck all right he muttered calmly. ''He seems be having some kind of a fit Tin for us to go, Axel, like our friel yonder."
 Before left the deck I took glance at the torpedo-boat, whi. could now be seen, hull down, on u horizon rapidly disappearing. On u Hohenzollern they appeared to making some signals, but my busine