The Robesonian., 1918-06-06
STORY OF SURVIVOR,
Captain OF Vessel Sunk by U-Boat
Tells of His Experiences.

Forty-elght survivors of vessels
sunk by U-ooat brought to ,ort IIon-
day by coastwise steamship were
landed Monday night, states a New
York dispatch. About half Of them
had been prisoners for several days
aboard the submarine.
TIE survivors were from the steam |
ship Winnie Connie and the schooners
Hoppaug, the Isabel B. Wiley the Hat
tie Dunn and the Edna.
Captain Charles E.. Holbrook, COM
mander Of the Hattie Dunn said his
vessel had been sunk May 25 and his
crew taken prisoners by the subma-
rine.
The survivors were fro mthe steam
ship Winneccnnie and the schoone1s
Hattie Dunn and Edna Twelve more
survivors Of the schooners Hoppaug
and Isabel B. Wiley who were making
for shore in motor yawl last night,
are believed to have landed somewhere
further down the coast.
The vessel which brought in the as
survivors was an American steam
ship which picked them up at 9 o'clock
this morning twenty miles from Bar
netat, n. j. Captain Holbrook Of the
Hattie Dunn told the following stary
of how he and his men had been kept
prisoners for nine days on board the
submarine:
eve left New York for Charleston
in ballast on May % and when two
days later we were about Is miles
south Of Winterquarter lighship bowl
! ing along under an eight-k knot breeze,
I heard shell pass near the vessel.
| Then came another shell which fell
perhaps quarter Of mile away.
81 was about two miles away what
| thought was an American submarine
at target practice. A third snei. ex-
ploded close by US on the weather
quarter and [ knew that Whoe*'er It
was they wanted us to stop.
81 brought the vessel up into the
wind. The submarine with her su-
perstructure and coming tower show
ing plainly above the water came
within 200 yards and I saw that she
was flying the two code letters "A B"
meaning stop immediately
"From a staff at the rear end Of
the superstructure fluttered small
flag of the imperial German navy. An
officer and three men came over IN a
/ small boat, not over II feet long. In
perfect English the officer told US to
get into our boats and that we had
bur ten minutes allotted US TO get
clear Of our vessel.
:! :'They placed bombs along the side
of our vessel and blew her up imn1e-
diately in the meantime putting an
armed German sailor on board the
small boat in which were seven men
!. and myself. This did rot give me
, time to rescue my personal effects and
, nautical instruments and 50 LOST
them all. My men only saved what
: they stood in.
, "Perhaps l would have been given
more time if the commander OF the
5 submarine had not seen the Hoppaug5
under full sail, about four or five
2 miles away. Like US the Hoppauge
t was light and l understood bounc
from Portland to Newport News.
7 'They destroyed Captain Sween5
n fin new schooner, after ordering hin
and his crew to take to their boa1
2 and within half an hour both crew
r were on board the submarine and botf
the small boats had been placed OF
: the submarine deck and lashed down
We were kept below for several hour
}; until the submarine picked up Cap
g tain Gilmore and the Edna at
o'clock in the afternoon. Then CUES
e the commander thought he had dom
); a good days work for he was in eN
cellent humor and told us that w
could go on deck and have srloke
h He did not extend liberty to the oth
! ers that day, but later they got til
" chance once in while.
t I'VE submerged many times durln
$ the first three days on board aad to
n man like myself who is not used to !
it was an unpleasant experience. In
Ia pressure of submerging resulted j
d smashing our boats which were lash
20 ed to the submarines deck and IN
few days they were kindling WOO
ID and thrown away.
5 "Of course we had many expe
le riences and shall not forget Monda.
May 27, when we had our dinner WIT
I'd the submarine lying on the bottom