American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-09-17
BOMBED

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Some OF the gamest fights of the war
on the sea have been those of mer-
chant shippers who. in the days be-
fore their ships had guns Of any de-
scription to keep air craft at a dis
lance, brought their vessels through
by the exercise OF the unlimited re-
source which ch~aracterizes their kind,
usually by sheer skill In m"aneuverinQ.
A remarkable instance of this kind
1 heard OF a few days ago from a
y naval reserve officer who fig
ured in 1t.
Il was in a British ship. temporarily
IN the Holland-South American SER
wee he said, and we were outward
bound from Rotterdam after dis
charging a cargo OF wheat from Mon
teYideo. IL was a clear afternoon
with a light wind and lighter sea, and
we were steaming along at about nine
hnoes, heading Tor the Straits OF Dow
err "hen the lookout reported a squa-
iron OF airplanes approaching from
the south.
Holding to It's course, the squadron
passed over US, a mile or more 10
s~.arDoard' n II was already some
uis,ahce astern when | saw one ma
ohine-l think the one leading the W
-detach itself from the others and
neau Duck IN our direction. Descend
ing swiftly as he approached, the Hun
passeu over the ship %diagonally at a
no'snt oi oVO or 500 feet. 'That1l end
y thouBht our marks and the fact
shat we IRE In ballast ought to salts
y MN IL was at the next run or
TWO mat the thing began to get on nv
nerves and called up the skipper
on h voice pipe
me old mamie had sailed TO the
no de la Plata for many years and
80 picked up a good many 'Spigotty'
hablts-Was in the middle of his ar
terhoon siesta, but he tumbled out and
am putting up to the bridge on the
doubie- We were looking at the ma
chine az an angle OF about As degrees
so that he must have been about as
iar ahead OF us as he was high. saw. a
mare yards-when | saw a small
dark object detach itself from the
tuselage and come directly toward us
almost as though shot from a gun
IRON y on we knew IL was a fight
for life.
Just why he returned to the at
TACK with his machine gun we would
only guess.
Anyhow. flying just high enough
to clear the tops Of the masts. he
came swooping back. and was firing
on us, Two or three men / saw fall
under the rain of bullets, among these
our freight clerk. who had also been
Knocked down by the explosion of the
first bomb. But a minute or two la
ter saw him, legs wide apart to keep
his balance, pumping back at the Hun.
who had swung close again in the in
term. with a rifle, a weapon which |
later learned was an old Winchester
which had been rusting on the wall of
his cabin ever since the ship had been
In the beche de mer trade in the
south Pacific.
The old mans plan of action at this
j~uncture must pretty nearly have
marked a milepost in merchant ship
defense against aerial attack.
N-3 he shouted, reckoning me
to his side; duck below, clean out all
the stuff in the paint lockers, and
chuck 1t in the furnaces. specially
the oils and turps. Jump lively
"Linseed oil, turpentine. and some
tins of fine lubricants-I had them all
tumbled out of the forepeak and car
ried. rolled. dragged, or tossed down
TO the stOkehole. There was an omin-
Gus cracking and suffering in the
furnaces. The whole ship was ashiver
with the roaring conflagration in her
furnace as | reached the pper deck.
and above a fluffy. white frizzle of
escaping steam rolled a greasy let OF
smoke that looked thick enough for
a mon TO dance a hornpipe on.
What tempted the Hun TO make
that fatal final swOop we never knew.
Anyhow, back he came allowing
plenty Of leeway to miss my smoke
screen II he had been content to
sit tight the chances are nothing
would have happened TO him. But the
temptation TO have a closer look at
his handiwork. and to jeer at his
beaten enemy was too much for
him. The crack of the Winchester
reached my ears above the roar of
the seaplane's engine, and the next
thing | was clearly conscious OF was
the machine swerving, sidewise -and
downward, and plunging straight in
TO the trailing column of black smoke.
Neither the skipper nor the clerk
were much hurt. and as for the ship.
she probably suffered In the long run
more from the loss Of her paint and
oil supply than from the Huns bomb
and the fire that II started. Lewis
r. Freeman. In the October Popular
Mechanics Magazine.