The Elk Mountain pilot., 1918-07-18
VERY ENTERTAINING LET.
TER FROM DEAN QuIeLEY
Discussing Matters Of Greatest In
tcrest Regarding U-Boats

terest Ne9oroiu8 O-Boats
Dear Mr.. Kelley:-I am writing you
from the Bryant-Eagle Hut in New
York City; have but just returned
from trip to England with Brit
ish boat carrying the 363rd Kansas
regiment. In day or so I shall sail
again, and this time shall stay in
France.
On the voyage out, June to Is,
our convoy of eight ships and nine
or ten destroyers was successful. 1t
lost none. On the return trip, June
"a to July 5, we lost one transport
out of a fleet of nine, just north of
Ireland, where there seems to be
veritable nest of submarines. One
can't help suspecting that the Huns
have base somewhere on the Irish
coast, for they are all the time get
ting the returning ships at that
point Another explanation of their
better success in getting returning
ships may be that information about
the sailing time of any convoy leaks
out over there more readily than on
this side. Why, here in New York
one expecting to sail has to depend
on instinct to know when to get on
his ship so as not to be left.
The ship was torpedoed in the
stern. AS soon as water could get in,
in sufficient quantity, in about twen-
%., oh ct0
perpendicularly on end and sank out
of sight. In another minute it
emerged in the same perpendicular
position, elected by the explosion of
the boilers, you know, and then it
disappeared forever.
The destroyers-fast little sub-ma-
rine chasers-that accompany the
transports through the so-called
danger zones" on both sides of the
Atlantic-began to drop depth shots,
bombs that sink to certain distance
and then explode, destroying every
thing for several fathoms in all di-
rections. These boats are so swift
that they can run away from their
own charges before any damage can
be done; but the U-boats are slow,
only ten knots under water, and so
they are usually caught by the shots
of the destroyers. Nine of the
bombs were dropped, in this instance
before we saw the cloud of black
smoke arise from the water, that in
dicated that the oil tanks of the
great submarine had been reached.
There is some satisfaction in know
ing that the Huns "got theirs" in
this case.
The ship lost represented property
valued at about one million or more.
The crew got off in four life boats
during the first five minutes after
the strike. Loss of life occurs at the
explosion Of the torpedo when men
happen to be in the steerage or in
the locality hit by the shell, or to
death at the hands Of the U-boat
crew after capture; for instance,
these crews are accustomed to mur-
dering by torture, or otherwise, the
gunners of any boat sunk and also
any other person in uniform. They
sometimes set the common seamen
adrift.
1t is a rule of the seas now that
when one ship of fleet is hit, the
others must "beat it" at full speed,
and must not wait to be blown up
by depth bombs or lurking U-boats.
We "beat it" in proper style. and in
about two hours and half we saw
an object that we at first took for
another submarine. 1t proved to be
a life-boat adrift. The destroyers
picked it up and little later report
ed by radio that it had contained
seven Norwegian sailors who had
been adrift for twenty-four hours,
their ship having been sunk by
German torpedo. Norway has lost
about five hundred ships in this way;
England twelve hundred. But
truly marvellous work is being done
with the transports. A million SOL
diers are already over there, and in
the getting of them across, only one
man out of twenty Thousand has been
lost. You see they are SO thoroughly
drilled in life-boat and raft service
that only those who are killed by the
explosion are lost.
At midnight, wireless came from a
great English freighter, Atlanta, re-
porting that the ship was going
down. The location was almost ex-
actly that at which OUR ship had
been lost. Property amounting to
two and a half million went down
with the Atlanta. We learned no
further details, for we were still
beating it."
You can easily see what \ joyous
and reassuring experience sailing in