Evening star., 1918-11-25
SWIMS THE RHINE IN ESCAPING
FROM PRISON CAMP IN GERMANY
Lieut.. Isaacs Describes His Capture, Hard
ships Endured, Efforts to Escape and Final
Getaway, With Interesting Sidelieht.

after the sinking of the United States
troop transport President Lincoln
being in the U-boat when depth
| bombs were exploded around it by
the destroyers which rescued the sur
vivors OF the Lincoln; taken to Ger
many and at last escaping from
prison camp after nearly q dozen at
tempts, Lieut. Edouard Victor M.
lsaacs. U. s. n, recently reached
Washington and is ready for duty
! again in the Navy.
Soon after he arrived he called upon
Secretary Daniels, who warmly con-
grat,lated him upon his escape. He
received a cordial welcome from Conn
mander Percy w. Foote, naval aid to
the Lincoln, and last saw Isaacs when
he was taken aboard the submarine.
Lieut.. Isaacs. who arrived In New
York on Saturday. November g. has
done some quick travelling; A httie
more than a week before he was In
London, a week before that in Paris.
a week before that in Switzerland
and a week before that he was escap-
| ing from Germany.
The Lincoln, on which Lieut.. lsaacs
was an officer. was torpedoed the
morning of May 81 at 9 o'clock. Fiji
cen minutes later all hands aban-
doncd ship. Isaacs had stepped from
the q,larter deck to a light raft Hoat-
picked up by one of the boats. Five
minutes later the submarine. which
had fired three torpedoes at the snip,
came to the surface ana. making lts
way through the nest of light RATS
and boats, reached the craft in which
was the lieutenant. The young officer
Immediately lay down in the stern
sheets, covering the stripes on MS
sleeves with his body. The ruse was
discovered, for the submarine ap-
captain. with megaphone, called 1or
h i'm to come aboard. Relating the IN
cident of his capture, Lieut.. lsaacs
says:
Lieut.. Isaacs Tells Own Story.
"our boat was pulled alongside of
the submarine, and stepped aboard.
AS 1 did SO a German sailor took my
gun. I made my way to the coming
tower, where the captain asked me II
/ were the commanding officer OF the
not and that 1 thought the captain
had gone down with the ship. The
officer in charge of the submarine
then introduced himself as Capt. Remy
of the U-90, and said that he was un-
der orders to take the senior naval
officer prisoner whenever he sank a
navy ship. He then had me remain
aboard, telling me to point out the
captain to him or it would oe ncees-
sary to take me instead. According
iy I called out to the men In the TaIts
ans boats for the captain. but there
was no answer and l told Capt. Kenny
that l thought that our captain had
gone down with the ship, whereupon
he sent me below. where / was given
warm clothing and allowed to lie
down.
Early the next morning the U-boat,
on which was now a prisoner, IN
tercepted a radio from one OF our own
destroyers stating that survivors OF
the President Lincoln had been picked
up and that few were missing. That
afternoon American destroyers were
sighted and Capt. Remy at once sig
nailed full speed ahead and sub
merged. A few minutes later we
heard depth bombs exploding all about
us. In the space of four minutes
twenty-five exploding bombs were
counted, five of which were very
close or seemed SO to me, FOR they
shook the vessel from stem to stern.
Of sixty meters for perhaps an hour
after the explosion, coming to the
surface and continued cruising. This
was about 300 miles west OF BTest. or
what the submarine captain called mis-
cruising ground.
During the ensuing time Lieut..
Isaacs used every effort to get infor-
nation from his captors. On one oc-
casion Capt. Remy turned to MIN ana
asked that he cease to ply his ques-
nature for him to answer. He also
relates an incident of how German
submarine captains change their bills
of fare by calling at small island
west of the Orkneys known as North
Roma. Here there are plenty OF sheep,
EhOt
enough to make a good supply Tor the
larder.
not be seen and picked up again after
1 had jumped into the water. l had
on my life jacket, which had not been
removed. Although it had not grown
mind that it was time to make move.
While going over towards the side OF
the platform abaft the coming tower,
a German destroyer was sighted bear
ing down on US from the east at high
speed Just as 1 was going over the
side Capt. Remy caught me before
could jump and ordered me below.
Rising early on the morning of the
10th | was allowed to go on deck and
I found that we had passed into the
Baltic and we're heading in south
erly direction; there was no sign or
other craft. AS was allowed to re-
main on deck 1 made many valuable
observations as W. OdlllCSilpo
and cruisers in maneuvers.
ut was o'clock on the afternoon
of June 10 when we entered Kiel har-
Dor, which was protected by net and
guarded by dozen destroyers of
smaller type. On or arr al v WV
helmshayen we tied up alongside the
mother ship Preussen. I was taken
barred port and locked door and an
armed sentry placed outside. although
we were lying in some backwater and
, il would have been impossible for me
to escape Even If I could hove g"'""n
away there would have been little
chance as this they cali the mos, =.
tensely guarded city of Germany. In
fact, one of the German officers told
me that it was practically impossible
even for him in uniform to get out
of wilhelmshaven without passing
through an enormous amount OF red
tape Twice while here saw the
commanding officer. who brought me
also called on me. After a while prac-
tically all l had to eat was some sour
black bread, almost impossible to eat,
and some warm water colored with
Ersatz kaffee, which we found out was
made with roasted acorns and barley.
Belittled American Effort.
zone day l vast taken in launch
to the chief of staff on the Kaiser will
helm III and questioned. This officer
could not understand why America
had entered the war and belittled the
result of our entry into 1t. Why,
said he, we expected you to enter on
the side of Germany The following
day was taken to a prison on shore
called the Commandatur. I was ee-
corted through the streets by a war;
rant officer wearing side arms and
with 1nar ri of four men Here was