The Washington herald., 1918-09-15
HOW A SUB CREW BEHAVED
ON YIELDING TO AMERICANS
Vivid Details of Well-Known Incident; How
a Boat from a Sunk Ship Was
Strangely Rescued.

An American Base Port, Sept i
CBy MaiD.-Tales of the sea abound
here; a new sea. darker, more mystic
rious, more dangerous than in the
days OF the first explorers who fear
fully put forth in their frail barks to
dare unknown terrors. Nineteen such
tales out of twenty cannot be told;
but here are two good ones, upon
which the seal Of official approval has
been placed.
One, the story of the surrender of
a German submarine to an American
destroyer. told in full and accurate
detail from the stories Of the Ameri-
can seamen concerned. The other, a
weird tale OF hide-and-seek with a
convoy, with a German submarine
and a dash Of the Far East thrown
in; a story that sounds like fiction,
but isn't
The first narrative is that of our
capture of a U-boat. After depth
charges had been dropped. instead
of oil and wreckage coming to the
surface, the enemy's conning-tower
appeared. The subs hydroplanes
had been injured, forcing her to
broach.
First a metallic speck, painted
light gray. pricked the water. It
appeared a quarter mile nearer the
merchantmen than the point where
the periscope had vanished, and 1t
was moving toward her faster than
before. But this was not the peri
scope. AS the thing emerged. It
grew into the narrow oval OF the
conning-tower itself The periscope
had been housed. Radio wires met
at an angle over the stumpy sheath
fn rrlhaa Thav -
toward the surface the whole, long
monster. First the bow and its net
cutter, with teeth like field
harvester; then the gun. a metal
life the well-deck-all as
blank and dumb as the destroyer's
crew.
Crew CrawIs Out.
Suddenly the round top of the con-
ning-tower lifted like the cover of
ground-spider's hole. A man
climbed out, clutching unsteadily.
More men crowded after him. Some
wore tight jerseys. others leathern
legsings like our western chaps; a
few had on their flat-hats with the
crossed ribbons waving behind.
They gathered aft and, except one
OF them, kept carefully clear of the
guns. This man started defiantly for
ward to the bow 22-pounder. A SHARP
command recalled him-the first
sound TO be uttered. The rest had a
hang-dog. yielding air, not the chal-
lenging bearing OF fighters. They
were going to surrender.
This was clear before the last man
appeared. He wore an officers can
and yellow coat-the Captain. He
raised an arm horizontally, barked
out an order. All hands went up. His
words could not be heard-'Kameradw
perhaps or 'Schwein!-because our
men suddenly yelled and yelled so in
triumph.
The subs bow was now settling.
Her speed relaxed. Her stern raised,
and one saw the mouths of two tor
pedo tubes and some twisted false
work on her port side. The first
depth-mine had wrecked her diving
planes and burnt out the motors. She
mad blown all tanks to reach the
surface. but once more was sinking.
slowly she steadied on an even
keeL The men began to stagger
aIons the deck. The wash sprayed
Up ana swirled along its embossed
All the time the wary, re-
tetss destroyers circled her, with
guns trained on their quarry. The
yelIow man climbed back into the
conning-tower, followed BY two
DINERS. One wondered IL he wore
gong TO open the seacocks Rut
no matter. The u was sinking
anyway.
Go alongside" signallsd the 1eoI
boat. Take prisoners" The a.
stroyer eased her starboard side tn
the enemy's port, bow toward how
nifty feet apart The Hun was tbe
longer OF the two as she Law, Lines
were cast, one from forward on.
from aft. Hardly had they been
secured when the captain came ont
OF the conning-tower. The whole
deck at last was Under water, the
lines straining the destroyer's bits
so that they had to be cut.
Struggle in Water
sidesrms were passed out to our
men. for the broad Hun features
were plainly visible. They were At |
and rudy. only slightly bearded,
ana stirred a nurmur of surprise, !
again that Captain raised a stiff |
arm, gave another cultural order.
MS men started TO shout, and i'm
nedlstely afterwsrd to jump over
BOARD For a moment II was Curl
pussy IKE boys plunging of a raft.
anu none too soon. The water was
knee deep on the deck The port
side listed deener ana