The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1918-08-14
GERMAN SUBMARINE
| ',~."':':HES GAS ATTACK
Six Ov. rcome at North Carolina Sta
ton
FIRST MOVE OF KIND
Destroyer Attacks Sub Off Virginia
Coast, and After Dropping II Depth
Charges, Appears on Surface
TWO STEAMSHIPS SUNK
British and Swedish Vessel Sent to
Bottom in New England Waters
Sub Commander Talks
Boastfully


Washington, Aug. 12.--Gas from oil
discharged on the water by the Ger
man submarine operating off the Mid
die Atlantic coast overcame six men
in the coast guard station and light
house on Smiths Island, N. c., Satur-
day evening the Navy Department
was advised today by the commend
ant of the Sixth naval district.
If the gas attack was deliberate, as
most officials believe, it constituted a
new and ingenious form of "fright-
1ulness" and, SO far as has been re-
ported was the first direct 2ffort Of
the German raiders to ham persons
or property on tho American :n..r"".
The gas WIS said by the cA:>'a'nr.:.
ant of the coast guard static TO ~ -
much the same effect rs tho ,nustar
gas used by the Germans no the west
ern front. The men were laid out for
more than half an hour, but apparent
lv suffered no serious effects.
Destroyer Attacks U-Boat
The dispatch relating to the gas at
tack was one of series concerning
German submarine warfare off the
Atlantic coast received during the day
by the Navy Department. One tol dof
an attack On submarine 100 miles
east of the Virginia coast by an
American destroyer, which discharged
seventeen depth charges where the
raider was seen to submrrgc. The re-
suit Of the attack was not determined
but after oil had appeared On The sur
face two bombs were dropped on the
spot, and the submarine was rot seen
again.
' British Steamer Sun1,
Sinking Of the British! St. amer Pen
lstone, of 4,139 gross tons, and the
Swedish steamer Sydland, of 3,O31
gross tons, III New England waters,
near where ten fishing smacks were
destroyed Sunday, was also reported
to the Navy Department during the
day. The former was to~pcdood Sun
day, with the fate of her crew still
undetermined, while the latter was de-
stroyed by bombs August 8 and her
Still another dispatch said four sur
vivors OF the fishing schooner Katie
Palmer landed at Now Bedford, Mass,
reported they had been taken aboard
the submarine, the commander of
which boasted. that he was equipped
to remain in American waters for six
months. if he desired
Big Type Sub
men as being about $40 feet long, with
a coming tower Is feet kign, and
mounting one gun. The raider carried
a crew Of sixty men, according to the
SURVIVORS, who were held aboard the
submersible for time Snd later set
adrift in a dUry.
While the reports from 'the COM
nandants of the Smiths HSland coast
guard station and Sixth naval distric.
clearly indicated their firm belief the
gas attack on the island was dclib-
crate some officers today thought
there was a possibility that the sub
marine had discharged The oil and
gas after being wrecked on a recf.
Attention was called to the fact
that the action of, salt water @n elec.
trio batteries used Wy submarines gen
crates chlorine gar, which is similar
TO mustard gas in lbs effects and is
deadly if encountered in closed
space. If the submarine ere wrecked
1T was said, this gas would be gencYat-
cd and would come to the surface with
the oil which would be freed.
Official Statement
No such possibility, however, was
mentioned in the Navy Departments
announcement, which said:
THE Navy Department has received
a dispatch from the commandant of
the Sixth naval district, Charleston,
S. c., stating that an attack with gas
was attempted on the North Caro-
lima coast about 5 O'Clock Saturday
afternoon, with the result of ten,por..
arily putting out of business the
coast guard station and light house
personnel" The report goes on to
say:
about forty minutes after the at
tack three large oil spots, each over
one acre in extent, were observed
passing by Smith Island to the north,
This oil from which the gas was no
doubt generated must have been re-
leased from submarine in the vicin-
ity of the entrance to the channel with
the hope that it would come in with
the tide, but fortunately set along the
island.
Probably Mustard Gas
Report fas made to Col. Chase,
coast artillery corps, Fort Caswell,
NJ. C., w Capt Willard, of the Smith
Island coast guard after the effects of
the gas were noted. Six men were
gassed. No deaths. The gas had the eff
feet Of mustard gas and was effective
about thirty-six or forty minutes.
Color Of the gas has not yet been
ascertained and its effect on trees and
shrubbery not yet determined. The en-
tire, matter will be investigated ard
report made
"Phe incident was reported by Col.