The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-03-14

vi -l1it morning or september three
subchaser units, under the command
or Ensign Ashley ID. Adams, u. S. r.
f., were listening at point about $50
miles west Of Lands End. At about
eleven thirty. two of these units de-
tected what was sunquestionably the
sound OF a submarine. Moreover, the
usual fixes disclosed that the enemy
was close at hand; so close that two
of the units ran up and dropped their
charges. This first attach produced
no result on the submarine; the depth
charge from one of the howitzers, how
ever unfortunately landed near one of
the chasers, and, though it injured no
one, it put that particular unit out of
commission. However, for two hours
Ensign Adams division kept closely
on the heels OF the quarry, now stop
ping to obtain a fix now running
full speed to catch up with the flee
ing prey. At one o'clock the plotting
room reported that the submerged
boat was just about a hundred yards
ahead. The three chasers laid barrages
according to pattern, and the three ''Y''
guns shot their charges; the region of
the "fiz1'' was so generously sowed
with these bombs that 1t seemed an
impossibility that the German could
have escaped.
What the Tubes Heard.
AS soon as the tumult quoted down,
the chasers put out their tubes and
listened. For twenty minutes not a
sound issued from the scene of all this
activity Then a propeller was heard
family turning or attempting to turn.
The noise this time was not the kind
which indicated an effort TO steal away
furtitiveiy; It conveyed rather the i'm
preston OF difficulty and strain. There
was a slight grating and squeaking
such as might have been made by
damaged machinery. This noise last
ed for few seconds and then ceased.
Presently it started up again and then
once more it stopped. The submarine
was making a little progress, but fit
fully; she would go a few yards. and
then pause. A slight wake now APP
peared upon the surface, such as a sub
merged U-boat usually left when the
water was calm: the listeners at the
tube were pleased 20 note that the
location of this disturbance conceded
precisely with their fix and thus, in
a way, confirmed their calculations.
One of the subchasers promptly ran
ahead and began to drop depth charges
on this wake. There was not the
slightest doubt that the surface boat
was now directly on top of the sub
marine After one of the depth charges
was dropped a black clinderical OBJ
1ect, about thirty inches long. was
hurled sixty feet into the air; just what
this unexpected visitant was, no one
seems TO know, but that it came from
the hunted submarine was clear.
Could the u-Boat Play Dead?
Under such distressing condition. the
U-boat had only a single chance of
saving itself; when the water was suf-
ficiently shallow-not deeper than
three hundred feet-it could safely sink
TO the bottom and play dead hoping
that the chasers, with their accursed
listening devices, would tire of the
vigil and return to port. A subma-
rine. II In very good condition, could
=. aemain silently on the bottom for two
or three days. The listeners on the
chaser tubes presently heard sounds
which suggested that their enemy was
perhaps resorting to this manoevre
But there were other noises which in
4 dicated that possibly this sinking to
the bottom was not voluntary. The
listeners clearly heard a scraping and
a straining, as though the boat was
making terrific attempts to rise. There
was numbering noise, such as might
be made by a heavy object trying TO
drag its hulk along the muddy bot
tom; this was followed by silence,
showing that the wounded vessel could
advance only a few yards.
A terrible tragedy was clearly be-
ginning down there in the slime OF the
ocean floor; a boat, with Twenty-Five
or thirty human beings on board, was
hopelessly caught, with nothing in
sight except the most lingering death.
The listeners on the chasers could fol-
low events almost as clearly as though
the inside of the U-boat could be seen;
for every motion the vessel made,
every effort that the crew put forth
70 rescue itself from this living hell.
) was registered on the delicate wires
which reached the ears of the men on
the surface.
Suddenly sharp metallic sounds
came up on the wires. They We're
clearly made by hammers beating on
the steel body of the U-boat.
''They are trying TO make repairs,
the listeners reported.
If Our subchasers had had any more
depth charges, they would have
promptly put these wretches out of
their misery, but they had expended all
their ammunition. Darkness was now
closing in; our men saw that their vigil
was to be long onei they sent two