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

chasers to Penzance, to get new
supply of bombs, and also sent a .adio
call for a destroyer. The spot where
the submarine had bottomed was
marked by buoy; lanterns We're hung
out on this buoy; and two units OF
chasers, six boats in all, prepared to
stand guard. At any moment, of
course, the struggling U-boat might
come to the surface, and it was neces-
sary to have forces near by to fight or
accept surrender. All night long the
chasers stood by: now and then the
listeners reported scraping and strain.
| ing noises from below, but these grow
| fainter and fainter seeming almost to
register the despair which must be
Selling the hearts of the imprisoned
Germans.
| At three o'clock in the morning a
British destroyer arrived and presently
| the two chasers returned from Pen
zance with more ammunition. Mean
while the weather had thickened, a fog
had fallen, the lights on the buoy itself
had been pulled under by the tide. The
watching subchasers were tossed about
I by the weather, and lost the precise
bearing of the sunken submarine.
When daylight returned and the
weather Gained down the chasers again
put over their tubes and attempted
to fix the U-boat.
Twenty-Five Reports.
They listened for hours. without
hearing a sound; but about five
o'clock on the afternoon a sharp
piercing noise came ringing over the
wires. 1t was a sound that made the
listeners blood run cold.
Only one thing in the world could
make "A sound like that 1t was the
crack OF a revolver. The first report
had hardly stilled when another shot
was heard; and then there were more
in rapid succession. The listeners on
two different chasers heard these pis-
toll cracks and counted them; the re-
ports which these two men indepen-
IDENTIFY made agreed in every detail In
all, twenty-five shots came from the
bottom of the sea. AS there were from
twenty-five to thirty men in a subma-
rine crew the meaning was all too evil
dent. The larger part of officers and
men, finding themselves shut tightly
| in their coffin of steel, had resorted
to that escape which was not uncom
monty awaited of by German submarine
crews in this hideous war. Nearly all
of them had committed suicide.
| "Juggy" Nelson at Corfu.
! Meanwhile our subchaser detach-
ment at Corfu was daily performing
excellent service. In these southern
waters Capt. G. p. Nelson commanded
two squadrons, comprising thirtysix
vessels. The American Navy possessed
few officers more energetic, more eff
cient, more loveable or more personally
engaging than Captain Nelson. The
mere fact that he was known among
his brother officers as "Juggy Nelson"
gives some notion of the affection
which his personality inspired. This
nickname did not indicate, as might at
first be suspected, that Captain Nelson
possessed qualities which flew in the
/ face OF the prohibitory regulations of
our Navy; 1t was intended, 1 think, as
a description of the physical man. For
I Captain Nelson's round figure, jocund
lcountenance and always buoyant
spirits were priceless assets to our ma
val forces at Corfu.
Living conditions there were not OF
the best; disease was rampant among
the Serbians. Greeks and Albanians
who made up the civil populations;
there were few opportunities for enter
tainment or relaxation it was, there
/ fore a happy chance that the com
mander was a man whose very pres
ence radiated an atmosphere of gem
| iality and enthusiasm. His converse
tional powers for many years had made
him a man of mark; his story telling
ability had long delighted naval Off
GERS and statesmen at Washington;
mo other selection for commander
could have been made that would have
met with more whole hearted approval
from the college boys and other high
! type civilians who so largely made up
our forces in these flotillas.
At Corfu, indeed. Captain Nelson
quickly became a popular favorite:
/ his mind was always actively forming
plans for the discontinue OF the Ger
man and Austrian submarines; and all
our Allies We're as much impressed
with his energy as were our own men.
For Captain Nelson was more than
humorist and entertainer; he was pre-
eminently a sailor OF the saltiest type.
and he had a real barbaric joy in a
fight. Even in his official communica-
lions to his officers ana men he in
jvaraibly referred to the enemy the
Hun" the slogan on which ne in
sisted as the guiding principle of his
flotilla was get the Hun before he
1 has chance to get us He had the
supreme gift of firing his subordinates
with the same spirit that possessed
HIMSELF and the vigilance, the constant
activity and the courage of the SUBJ