New-York tribune., 1918-07-29
Torpedo That Sank Trans
port Missed 1t by Matter
of 100 Yards
Submarine Battle
Shrouded in Mystery
Passengers in Boat in Same
Convoy With Wrecked
Vessel Tell of Sea Fight

big British steamship whose guns
on three occasions had opened up on
submarines on the trip just ended yes
terday arrived al an Atlantic port from
England with the tidinss shat she may
have sent an American submersible to
the bottom of the Atlantic on Saturday
night some two hundred miles off this
coast.
She had had All adventurous run
across; had fought her way clear of u
boats and come through untouched;
but fear was felt by officers, crew
and passengers yesterday that she may
have destroyed a friendly submarine
that was patrolling the coast.
This one-sided encounter of Satur-
day evening occurred at 5:45 O'Clock.
The gun crews had been on edge ever
since the liner escaped from the at
tack that ended the career of the JUS
tica July 10 and we're ready to blaze
away at anything that floated low upon
the sea- Few on board were surprised
when the after gun sent three shots in
rapid succession at a submarine that
came up suddenly some three miles to
the northeast.
Refused to Take Chances.
The activity of U-boats in these
waters was known aooard the Britisher
and the master was not willing to take
chances. After the first shot ne sig
nailed to the stranger, "Who are
you?" Before she could break out
signal the second and third shots were
fired and then came an order from the
bridge TO cease firing. Whether the
command came too late is a matter of
conjecture. The fact that the sub
marine came in SO close, floated so
high and did not fire caused the skip
per to assume that perhaps sne might
be of the United States navy.
The first shot was seen to go astern,
the second was wide across the bow
but the third and last appeared to hit
true amidshlps, sending up cloud of
water, under which the submarine
slowly submerged.
An hour later other submarines ap-
peared, a fleet of them, but all had
marks which showed that they did not
belong to Germany
Among the travellers on the liner
were Mr.. and Mrs. Edward II. Butt, the
former being brother of Major Archi-
bald Butt, the military aid of Presi-
dent Taft, who was lost on the Titanic.
The Butts have been in Liverpool for
twenty years, where Mr. Butt is cot
ton broker. Both are on their way to
spend the summer at Cape May with
their daughter, Mrs. S. c. Morgan.
Mrs. Butt said that she and the two
English women, the only women travel
lers aboard, were experts in lifeboat
drill
at would have been strange if we
were not" she said, cas- we were prac-
tising nearly every day. Three times
while the guns were firing we took our
places at the lifeboats, each time think
ing it might be our last drill We left
Liverpool after sunset on July Is, and
at 2:45 D. m. on the following day our
convoy was attacked by submarines
when about seventy-tive miles off the
Irish coast don't know how many
U-boats there we're in the attacking
fleet, but ! saw one, big one, that
fired a torpedo directly at us. 1t missed
our stern by about 100 yards, cleared
the stern of another vessel of our con
voy by about the same distance and
found its mark in the engine room OF
the Justicia, which was about 400 yards
away.
The Second Encounter
Our second encounter" she con
tnued, occurred about 700 miles east
of this coast at l. 40 p. m. Friday. We
We're called to station at the lifeboats
oy the four blasts of the whistle and
presently | heard some one shout,
There he isl | looked off to star,
board and there at a distance the gun
crew estimated to be about six miles
saw a super-s submarine.
1T was U-boat and rode high in
The water. had hardly sighted it
when it fired at us with two guns.
our guns replied instantly. but our
shots. like those of the enemy, fell
snort because neither combatant was
within range. Our vessel presented its
stern stern to the German and proceeded on
enis course at top speed. The U-boat
after firing dozen solid shells changed
20 shrapnel, but this ammunition also
was too feeble to reach US.
1, The gunners told me that the fire of |
,ne enemy fell short between 500 and |
d,vVo yards. Presently another enemy
supmersible of the same super type ap-
peafed, but was engaged in attacking a
ihs british freghter. We learned
.s.er by wireless that the merchant
man mad sunk the enemy