The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1918-03-17
HOW THEY ROPE IN !.
HIDDEN SUBMARINE
SEAPLAN SPOTS VICTIM ON SEA
BED AND THEN GOES TO WORK

London Feb. 2.-One of the methods
by which, as the First Sea Lord, Sir
Eric Geddes said recently, the sub
marine menace is being held" is vivid
ly described by a writer in the Liver
poole Journal of Commerce.
seaplane had spotted a subma-
rine lying on the sea bod Instantly
the observers finger commenced to tap
4 key and ten miles away, long, lean
destroyer and four squat trawlers de-
tached themselves from a pack of
hounds working covert and fastened
to the xii. Meanwhile the seaplane
circled around, but when the surface
ship arrived her instructions. delivered
| by wireless were curt and precise.
Acting upon them the trawlers station
ed themselves at the four corners of a
wet quadrangle, while the destroyer
kept her guns ready to talk to Fritz
should he appear above the surface.
The trawlers at the corners of the
wet quadrangle got out their sweeps
long wire hawsers of an incredible
stoutness, with a heavy kite" in the
center to keep the brights down to the
seabed-and commenced to steam to-
wards each other. AS the pairs of yes
sells met, their wires simultaneously
engaged themselves under the U-boat's
bow and stern, and commenced to
work their sinuous way between her
hull and the sea bottom
Then the strange thing happened.
Two round, black objects seemed to
detach themselves from her hull and
float surfacewards, to hover a second
and then to commence bobbing down
the tide-bobbing down lane much
freQuented by those ships that brought
food, munitions of war, and hundreds
OF other things to England's shore.
"Minelayer, eh?" called the sea
planes observer.
That's it, lad" came the telephone
answer, "but her eggs can wait for a
minute"
The trawlers now crossed their de-
pendent cables and thus held the u
boat in kind of a wir1 cats cradle.
She seemed to suddenly wake from her
LANCER, for with bound she tried to
disentangle herself from the meshes
which held her. But it was no use;
the trawlers had been too long at the
game to leave loopholes and the sub
marine was doomed . '"'
Got him." signailed the seaplane
Thanks" replied the destroyer.
We'll give him five minutes to come
up and breathe, but no longer That
time passed but still Fritz made no
further move.
At tagged signal from the destroy
/ INC pun IOl Sl1Ool CIdWlSI' dllU luS
starboard after one clipped small
red tin of high explosive to the bar
taut wire, and allowed it to slide down
til it touched the U-boat's hull. 1t was
the seaplane's turn to wave a flag, and
Immediately there followed the crash
ing of two fists upon two firing keys;
the uprising of two grey mounds of
water and rumbling, muffled explo-
sion.
"The seaplane circled twice above
the patch of rising OIL ascertained
that Fritz had been destroyed, and nc
tilted the destroyer of the fact Then,
With her observer slipping a drum Of
cartridges into his machine gun she
sped on after those objects bobbing
down tide. A burst of rapid firing
and the frs of the devils eggs its buoy
ancy chamber punctured, sank with q
gurgling; the second gave a better
show for it exploded grandly-and
harmlessly-as the bullets reached it.