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

NelU Type Bomb
Destroyed Edna


mander supplied with the new time
bomb halts a defenseless ship, takes off
the crew or forces It into its boats
suspends the bomb in such way that
It rests against the outside of the
vessel, adjusts "A time fuse. lights II
and speeds away. knowing that in three
hours or whatever other time Is deter
mined upon. the vessel will be blown
up. Were the bomb placed inside the
ship the explosion would be deafening
and would be heard for miles: the ves-
sci would be set on fire. The blaze
and the explosion would be warning
and shortly the submarine would find
itself beset by enemies on all sides.
Another advantage of the bomb Is
that 1t is lighter and smaller and less
noisy than a torpedo, but just as ef-
fective.
Bomb Saves Use of Torpcdoes
The bomb can be used on small ships
that are neither able to defend them
selves nor fast enough to escape. Then
the torpedoes can be saved for the big,
fast and armed ships.
Heretofore the size and weight of tor
pedoes has constituted a disadvantage.
Only a limited number of torpedoes
could be carried by a submarine. Ere
queutly it would exhaust its supply with
out getting victim and then would
have to make a long journey back to its
base or to n supply ship for more tor
pedoes.
1t is believed that the Germans are
making use of this method for the first
time now. They are far from their
bases. even If they have bases on this
side of the Atlantic, as many persons be-
lieve.
Every ship they can sink with a
bomb means another torpedo in reserve
BY some chance or other the Edna
was not sunk, but remained as a dere-
lct. If the bomb had worked as il had
been intended to work the Edna would
have been sunk without a trace" Even
the crew believed the Edna sunk. AS
shown by the narrative of the Edna's
boatswan, Roker.
Boatswain Describes Encounter
We left the Delaware Breakwater
on May "a, bound for Santiago with
a cargo of case OIL" said Roker 1T
was about O'Clock in the afternoon
of the following Sunday that the Z
boat got in our way. The first we saw
of her she seemed to be a mere speck
on the horizon.
While we were gathered on the
deck wondering what 1t was shot
came whstlng over our heads. 4 sec
ond later another shot came toward
u.s. ricocheting over the water. The
submarine then raised the A. B. signal
which, in marine language, means heave
to. and we sure hove to with a Ven
geance. 1t was plain that the submarine
meant business and we did not feel
like fooling.
while we were waiting for a life
boat TO put out from the submersible
the German flag broke out on her
dinky mast and futtered in the wind.
THE cook who was standing by me
on the deck took his pipe out of his
mouth and exclaimed:
why it's an English submarine.
Don't you see the cross of ST George on
it?"
"'St. George, the devilm answered.
That's the iron cross. Don't make any
mistake about that, young fellow. We
are in for a hot time And we were.
U-Boat Commander Comes Aboard
Instead of putting out a lifeboat, as
We expected, the submarine got under
way. coming in our direction. She drew
up alongside Of us. There was no doubt
in our minds by this time that we were
virtually prisoners
The cook got so mad when he was
really convinced that he swore softly
to himself, then threw his pipe over
board and spat upon the deck. which
had just been holystoned.
THE coming tower popped open, a
lifeboat was thrust out and along with
it came the submarine commander, a
second lieutenant who could not have
been more than twenty-one years old.
He spoke perfect English and seemed
to have pretty fair manners seeing that
he was in the pirate business.
When the submarine got within hail