Weekly journal-miner., 1919-01-01
DECOY SH|PMADE .DAR|NGAT.TEMPT
 ID SINK SUB
DESPERATE BATTLE BE TWEEN DIVER AND BRIT ISH VESSEL RESULTS IN LATTER BEING DESTROY. ED BY FLAMES.

EO b FLAM hS.
 LONDON, Dec. 25.-The loss of
 the British decoy ship Dunraven in a
 desperate battle with a German sub
 marine, the story of which has now
 been made public by the British ad-
 miralty, constitutes one of the most
 daring and heroic episodes of the
 anti-submarine war. With their yes
 sel ablaze, and boxes ot cordite and
 shells exploding every few minutes,
 the after gun crew stuck to their gun
 until the magazine exploded and blew
 them and their gun into the air,
 Meanwhile the battle with the sub
 marine was fiercely waged.
 This action took place in August,
 1917. The vessel was one of the de-
 coys which was commanded by Cap
 tain Gordon Campbell, who had pre-
 viously won the Victoria Cross by heroic and successful work in decoy- ing submarines to their destruction.
 In her role of an armed merchant
 ship, the Dunraven was zig-Zagging her course in the lanes haunted by the submarines when a U-boat open ed fire upon her at 5000 yards The Dunraven returned the fire with her merchant ship gun and reduced her speed to enable the Hun to overtake her To coax him on, wireless sig nals were sent out reading: Help
 Come quickly. Submarine chasing and shelling me"
 Finally when the submarines shells began falling close, the Dunraven stopped and the usual panic party abandoned ship. The Dnnraven was then on fire aft and the submarine closed in to distance of 400 yards, but was partly obscured from view by dense clouds of smoke issuing from the Dunraven's stern.
 Although he knew that the maga- zine must explode if he waited, and that gun and a gums crew lay con cealed over the magazine, Captain Campbell reserved his fire until the submarine had passed clear of the smoke. A moment later there was a heavy explosion and the Dunrav- ems gun and its crew were blown into the air. The concussion started the fire gongs at the remaining gun positions The screens hiding the 1 guns were dropped and the only gun that could be brought to bear opened fire The submarine commenced tc 1 submerge. Knowing that a torpedo l would surely follow, Captain Camp bell had all the wounded brought up 1 and concealed in cabins. The after | part of the Dunraven was mass of l flame but the crew fought the fire | with hose while wireless signals were sent out warning all other vessels te | keep below the horizon so as not to 1 the final phase of the fight. 1
 Twenty minutes later another tor pedo struck the ship abaft the engine room. Another panic party" was sent away in the boats, leaving the ship apparently completely abandon ed with the British flag flying and her guns unmasked, but Captain Campbell and a handful of officers md men had remained on board and ay hidden for nearly an hour while the submarine commander held of the burning ship through l lis periscope.
 During all that time boxes of cor lite and shells were exploding every CIV minutes and the fire was blazing Eventually the submarine merged astern where no guns could ,e brought to bear upon her, and helled the Dunraven for 20 minutes. The U-boat then steamed past the hip 15O yards off and Campbell fired me of his torpedoes at her but miss d by few incaes. A second tor 1edo also missed. The submarine aw it and submerged A third panic ,arty" was planning to jump over ,oard and leave one gun crew for inal attempt to sink the U-boat when British and American destroyers ar ived on the scene. The Dunravcn's wounded were transferred, her guns ecalied and the fire extinguished. The Dunraven, in a sinking condition ,as taken ill tow, but the weather rev worse and on the following morning she sank with her colors lying.
 MORE TANKS COMING.