Grants Pass daily courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1919-1931, 1919-07-18
SUBMARINE CHASER MAKES PORT
WITH SAILS OF BED CLOTHING
Engines No. 2s Break Down. Despite Applications Of Salad Oil
and Butter When Lubricatng Oil Gives Out and Craft
Is in Distress for Thirty Days-Crew
on Short Ratons.

go. Ir crew of submarine chaser
rigged up bed clothes as sails, their sig
mails Of distress falling 90 bring help
after the vessels engines were dis
abled and her navigating instruments
washed overheard In midOcean. aud
how they pIloted The craft through the
'open sen for month until they
reached the Azores. Is graphically de-
scribed In the report Of Alexis Puluhen.
the sailing master In command. which
has just been made public by the navy
department.
The submarine chaser, which was
called No. 20, was American built and
0ne Of group turned over to the
French government. Manned by French
crews fhe vessels left the Bermudas
on January 7, 1918. and soon struck
heavy weather. The tugs and chasers
found II hard 10 keep together In
terrific storm on January y the tug
convoy WIS scattered and No. 2S lost
sight Of her companions.
Heavy seas carried away her lIfe-
boats. dsVits. boxes Of coal and gasO-
line and ventilntors. The engine room
was flooded. but the crew managed TO
start one engine and keep the vessel
going. When the weather moderated
somewhat NJ. ~ started Oui IN search
OF her convoy. She then developed en-
gInc trouble. and The shortage Of iubri-
cntlng oil became nlarming.
Although The crew worked frantical-
~ they could NOT locate the trouble
and the engines finally went dead"
Submarine chaser No. 2s was therefore
helpless. aud allhough many signals Of
DISTRESS were sent up nobody seemed
10 see them.
Reported st the Azores.
When The group of chasers reached
the French port No. os was reported
missing and II was generally believed
she had been lost. Then on February
rs. much TO the surprise of both the
French snd American navy depart.
menis. she was reported NJ the Azores.
The expedlents TO which the crew OF
the vessel resortrd In their month at
sea Hre best related In the sailing mas
ters own report:
The machInists set to work 10 Ak
the engines. and on Wednesday, Janu.
AIRY l6, at midnight. the central engine
started mp. | set course east. There
was nothing In sight. At 3 a. m. we
again broke down. Al $50 u. IN.
saw lights Of two steamers TO port ON
the horizon. headed east. | showed
two red lights at the masthead and sig.
nailed TO them with the bllnker. They
did not answer me and continued on
their course 10 the east.
''The boat continued stopped and the
machlnists kept at the repair OF the
engines. l kept pumping the bilges
where the water reached a height af
about 20 inches. The boat made q lot
Of water from the sprlnging OF her
beams.
AT ten minutes TO ~ u. M. | saw
the mast Of scout boat on the horizon
TO the northwest. Considering my boat
TO be IN q critical condition by reason
Of the length of time II had been dis
abled aud the near exhaustion OF my
iubricatinE oil, l fired salvo OF six
shots and hoisted the signal Of dis.
tress. ! obtained no answer and could
see nothing more Of them few min.
utes later. At noon the center engine
started up; course east. Nothing In
sight. At y. m. II new breakdown OF
the engine. The chief mschinlst. Falg.
nou, reported to me that the lubricat-
ing oil was all gone. Thereupon used
soap suds and several greasy sub
stances to replace the oil, but these
gave bad results.
IL then gave all the salad oil and
butter for the fabrication OF the en-
gines. These latter gave very good re-
suits, but were not sufficient. There
was about Ave gallons. At 20 minutes