Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-04
Atlantic City, June 4.

TNHE German submarine which bombed
L the steamship Texel. formerly a
Dutch ship sixty miles south by south
east of Sandy Hook on Sunday, carried
two guns, one of which Is believed to
have been of six-inch caliber, according
to members of the crew of the Texel,
who landed here al o'clock this morn
ing.
|, A sailorman who was one of the last
to go over the side of the TeXel said
the German commander Of the attack
ing U-boat spoke almost perfect Eng
lish and even joked while examining the
ships papers.
The men. who were famished when
they landed and almost completely eX-
hausted after thirty-siX hours at the oars,
were in excellent spirite after breakfast.
They joked as II being sheled by a sub
marine was an everyday experience and
made much OF the ships cat of the Texel
which came ashore in the arms of one Of
the crew. II II expected that the sur
vivors will be sent to New York this
afternoon
Ensign e c. Kelly. of the coast patrol.
whose scout cruiser ran into the boats
from the Texel off Brigantine at mid
night and escorted them in. Is in charge
of the survivors today. They are virtual
ly prisoners in the Hotel Thurber, with
policemen on guard.
Polite. But Eficient
So far as an enemy can be. the lieu
tenant Of the submersible was a gentle
man and a scholar. He formerly was a
deck officer of the Hamburg American
line running into New York. which fact
may have accounted in the estimation of
Charles Peterson, of Railway, n. j.,
chief engineer Of the Texel. for his
punctiious. II not friendly. treatment of
Captain X. B. Lowry. the Brooklyn skip
per of the Texel.
THE Texel was stopped at 4:21 on
Sunday afternoon and she plunged to
her grave in the Atlantic at 52s." Peter
son said this morning in the first coher-
ent account Of the hold-up and sinking.
II know ! am right about the time,
because I was talking with Captain
Lowry about setting our clock ahead
when I heard shot A shell whizzed
over our heads. between the bridge and
the mast. 1t struck the water with
terrible splash.
There's a sub =" shouted and Cap
tain Lowry asked where, so ] pointed
her out. She was either running sub
merged or had just come up, for only
the coming tower was awash. She
looked white and ghostly. about $50
yards from US, l should say.
soon a boat left her and pulled over
to where we had hove to. \ young
officer, a Lieutenant | suppose because
he had a single stripe, stepped on board
and called for our papers. Captain
Lowry turned them over to him and then
he said that we must get off and away
as soon as possible, because they were
going to destroy the ship.
He was mild-mannered and pleasant
spoken ! didn't get exactly what he
said, but it was something about re-
GREETING that it was necessary for us to
leave and that no harm was intended
10 ourselves. He shook hands with
Captain Lowry and said he had been
in the Hamburg American line service
before the war.
"They began carrying the bombs on
board before we had entered the boats
They had them in a sack. three or four
of them. Tney were cylindrical, about
three inches in diameter, | should say
and painted black and yellow. The,
put one beside the mainmast and car
ried the others into the hold.
I'VE were in our boats in about ter
minutes after the party came on board
but we lay by, because we were no
quite sure they would not fire on us i
we tried a quick getaway.
The explosion occurred at SIS p. m