New-York tribune., 1918-06-04

Shrapnel Swept Deck
Captain K. B. Lowry. of Brooklyn,
before he was sllenced bya young
naval officer in charge of a patrol ship
who said he was acting on orders from
Rear Admiral Helm. OF the Foutl
Naval District, Philadelphia, said:
We were about sixty miles off New
York Harbor Sunday afternoon The
sea was calm and there was no sign
of any hostile submarines.
Secretary Baker added that neither
in his observations abroad nor in re-
ports to the War Department had he
seen or heard of the cucifixion Of
American soldiers or the finding of SOL
diers with hands cut off or eyes gouged
out or otherwise mutilated by the
enemy.
"He looked at them for moment.
then turning curtly on his heels said:
We will give you time to get off, then
we shall sink your vessel
I'VE manned two boats, and every
body was saved. When we were leav-
US. The captain ordered our crew to
back away"
Suddenly a U-boat loomed up OF
the bow. 1t red three rounds of shrap-
mel. The hail of exploding shells swept
the deck like rain. The U-boat was only
nifty. feet away. 1t was so close that
1t almost crashed into the lifeboats
that were lowered later.
when the shrapnel struck us
who came aboard, speaking English.
cried: Let me see your papers."
turned the ships papers over to him."
stopped. The skipper Of the U-boat
Suffered for To~I- Ny.A.
William Laufer, reserve engineer, of
the boats:
:" We had few biscuits and a little
water, and among the thirty-six men.
these did not go far. In the broling
sun yesterday, we suffered terribly, and
several of the men unused to expos
ure, showed signs of exhaustion. To
these we gave out the water as spar
lngly as possible, the harder of us de-
prlvlng ourselves that those suffering
might be relieved
Since Monday morning we were
without food or water. We pulled hard
and drlfted with the current. Not a
said did we see that was near enough
for us to attract the lookouts' atten-
tion. Finally tonight, we saw the
lights of the city and headed for the
shore"
The survivors landed at Vermont
Avenue and the Boardwalk. 1t was
motley crew Almost every race un-
der the sun. except a German, or one
who acknowledged to be such. Negroes,
Irish, Americans, Scandinavians and
Dutchmen were in the aggregation that
filed wearily along the Boardwalk to
the Atlantic City coast guard station.
Three Bonnie SurL Ch;n
The men were in highly nervous
condition. Frank Ryan said he expect
ed the crew to be slain when the shrap-
mel swept the deck
The ship was not torpedoed," he
said. ut was bombed 1t looked to me
as though the Germans were saving
their torpedoes for bigger game. They
used three bombs to sink the ship. She
lurched, listed to starboard and then.
with a mighty heave, sank.
We thought that we would be the
next to get ours. but the U-boat turned,
sped along the surface for short dis
tance and, heading north, sank be-
that we saw of her.
While these survivors were relatinc
their experiences, the records of crew
and their names were being tabulated
al the life saving station. Efforts to
get the names and residences of the
men were curtly refused.
Her other officers we're: First mate.
Frank Nelson, Brooklyn; second mate,
V. x. Borgersen. Marietta, Ca; chief
engineer, Carl E. Peterson, Railway,
N. D.; second engineer. Robert Light
boon. New York, and third engineer,
Grover Z. Carver, Waltham, Mass.
The TeXel was on the way from Ha-
vana to New York. having just taken a
cargo of coal to the Cuban city and
being on hef way home
According to member of the
IeNel crew two submarines were
present at the sinking the sugar shin.
one of which, however, merely filled
the role of spectator.
THE Texel," he said, was 264 feat
long and each of the submarines was
longer The captain that boarded our
ship and condemned the vessel, said:
) nate Ike hell to- do this, but we
have received orders to get into action
or return home"
evidence that the submarines have
been lurking on this side of the A.
lantlc for months was evidenced as
the German skipper continued. ac-
cordlng to the member of the TexePs
crews:
"We have been over here for two
months This, according to naval men
here showed that the German subma.
r'nes have base on the Atlantic
coast.
presorfs