Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-05-12
DESTROERS' GREAT
RECORD IN GUARDING
u. s. TROOP SHIPS
Continued from page I

was finger periECope, {. tiny thing only
an inch and "a half in diametes no larger
than walking stick. it wne lifted fGr
only few seconds. hut the keen eyes of
r,oomis caught a glimpse of Il. and he
estimated its distance and location--thrao
points on the port bow. 4oo yards dis-
tant. moving across the bow at two
knots speed.
The Tanning headed for the epot. f,ill
speed. and az IL crossed the course
dropped a depth bomb. The Nicholson
changed course and was darhing across
to drop another charge when the conn
ing tower OF the submarine appeared.
The Nicholson headed for the submarine
fun speed and the Tanning turned in
her wake 10 attack. The Nicholson
dropped A depth charge alongside the
L boat and turned. firing from her
stern gun The subs bow Camc up
rapidly. She seemed 10 be down By the
stern and was evidently damaged. but
tried To right herself and increased her
speed As the Nicholson cleared the
Fanning opened hrc with her bow gun.
At the third shot the German crew
came on deck and held up their hands.
At 4cS the submarine surrendered Il
had been only eighteen minutes since
Loomis had sighted her periscope.
scuttIe Surrendered Boat
The dcstroyers got a line to the Grip
pied craft preparing 20 take Il in tow.
But two Of her crew disappeared for a
moment. They scuddled the boat. As II
sank the Germans jumped into the
water and swan for the Tanning. Heav-
ing lines were thrown to them. and all
a j..
il was seen that he was sinking. two Of
the Fanning's men. Chief Pharmacists
Mate Elzer Harwell and Coxswain Fran
els G. Connor jumped overheard to res
cue him. They got him aboard the
Tanning. but in spite of all efforts TO
resuscitate him he died.
The Germans were given hot coffee,
sandwiches and cigarettes. Men Of the
Tanning loaned their warm clothing,
and no prisoners were ever better treat
ed When they were in the boats that
were TO take them ashore they cheered
the Tanning and its crews.
This il one case in which the au-
thorfties could not throw doubt on il by
any dubious credit of slightly damag-
ed" or possibly sunk" There was no
doubt whatever that the submarine. the
C-5s, had gone to Dayy Jones locker.
And the prisoners were glad enough to
escape with their lives.
The O'Brien. Trippe, Warrington, Jen-
kins, Wadsworth, Jacob Jones, McDou~
gal. Davis. Conyngham. Allen. Reid
Stewart Porter. Patterson. Beale, Bur
rows, Allen. Sterrett and Tucker were
officially credited by the British ad-
miralty with successful attacks, and
there were others which probably de-
served it. but were not able to present
such clear evidence. For the authori-
ties over there required pretty good
evidence before they gave any credits.
Good Work of Armed Yachts.
The armed yachts, those fine craft be-
longing to wealthy Americans which,
from luxurious private possessions were
turned TO purposes Of war and performed
splendid service on the coast of France,
also played we'll their part and the
Noma. Wakiva. Piqua, Christabel and
I.ydonia We're accorded official praise
for damaging or sending down sub
marines. The subchasers at Plymouth
and Corfu had their victories.
But withal. It was the gallant de-
stroyers which did most to combat the
submarine menace. They were the bull
ly boys who always kept the subs on the
run. At sea two-thirds of the timR they
escorted three-fourths Of the transatlan-
tic tonnage in and out of European
ports. Some of them made astounding
records. The first yearjafter we entered
the war at least three, the Porter,
Davis and Conyngham, steamed about
SIS 900 miles each. nearly three times
the distance around the globe, while the
Oldwell for some time averaged $500
miles a month, over ESQ miles a day.
No class of ship, big or little, ever ex-
eelled this record.
"Giye Him Anything He Wants.
Regarding the Caldwell, I must tell
Voy in British waters when at 40 d. IN.