The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-10-04
VIRGINIA BOY
|h NINE SWEEPER
N THE NORTH SEA

ccial to The Richmond virgtnian.l
Point. Va. Oct s.--rhe fol-
{ ~ = n extract for mthe Orcadian OF
+ I&xfabcr III. u paper published at
RI &WA1L Orkney Islands, is OF NJ
4 3sS As a boy from WEST foi1' a. -
L A5Nf machfnisi on sabehaser NO. %
ftn~ mine sweeping fleet NO"
fE0rking La thu North sea. When theSe
VI 4knx5yx picturts are shown No; ss
IA MI sba seen trading fish with mine
W&erer and also at the moment when
"a III. yeAS hit by q mine, and beinG
~ q back 10 the base after her en-
x13Ne& hni beer pun out Of commission
S6y the Nxplosion.
sAfovirg pictures Of the work OF the
z4 lI14fe-swarni ping forces, operating in
the North sea, have been secured,
And In the very near future the pnblc
&NEtls haze tho opportunity OF SEEING
Il hi ii rcalla{iG manner the Amej lean
snxve ut work. The squadron Of Amer
lean Y7.sne~sweepers has been working
R1eAs The Norwegian coast and now
sen4akaa cleaning up The last remain
I 3nE f3esi which Is Close to the orb
maya The efficiency OF the Arn"ri-
tas5x has Increased zoe per ccnt5 and
thep are WORKING very rapidly on Inc
] 4Hid which hefars seemed almost IN
Aprroaehabie One ~ the interest
Ing operations IN connection with
Ssssrrsng is tl.e disposal 81 a nm r
1Fher. ii come 10 the surface and IS
taken care Of by the sub~chascrs,
fheee vessels travel At great speed
Ecrf ss the n1ineiIela and explode Tho
Aaarf@ce mines by rifle FIRE. The
natat swecreys work in pairs and as
,s4hn tweep cuts through the mOorngs.
4he mines, owing TO their bouyancy
cnra< ~ The cUr;acc. ard ihen arc de-
h 0trdycd One or the risks nf Tho
Operations Is counter~minlnG against
sMAieh There is 10 remedy. mlna
when struck aT1di ezsssses33zssAe4a- makes SO
much con1motion that IL causes coun~
n ter-nining In TIRE vicinity The morale
of the men who carry out those todi-
I Gus and most dangerous operations is
wonderful,
IAN illustration will show the cor
I factness Of .ha. statement In re-
cent operation one of the ships struck
u mine that disabled II entirely. She
blew her siren for help. Within SIX
] minutes the nag ship Of the squadron
WAS alongside, had run out hawsor
and hose and had begun To pump out
4 the water,
ss The suhnariEe-chaser 80. engaged
with the American mine sweeping
4 floor, has hean extensively damaged
( by i mine. and has been towed into
Kirkwali in a disabled condition.
Slight mishaps have occurred 10
other sweepe-s thus necessitatine
the cooperation being prolonged II is
expected that this will involve the pro-
1onk1xton OF the work Of sweeping the
n - by week"
The extensive damage to sub chaser
~ WAS. described by Machinifst Rich
Ardson I'm a letter to his mother as
f01trwz:
I'VE went out to the fields last week
from Lerwick, ard had ii fairly good
/ for awhile The weather was very
good for this time of the year aud
the nrs. afternoon we made record
IN sinking mines; got i0e of them In
Aye hours, an average Of one every
Three minutes for Ave hours, II was
surely some shooting. shot rife
that day until II was so hot and smok
ing 90 that couldn't see the forward
sight Had to quit To let II cool
Managed 10 burn my hand on the
barrel, however, and charred the wood
on Ii some.
The next lay We started 10 n
boat that was bit. when another
Fweepar reported q mine ara started
firing on It, We ran up but Just as
we got there il started to sink wa
got under way to get away from il but
fust as we were abreast Of IT, II went
on ana @everF tf1tfw 4st4ftsfiea dead on