Middletown transcript., 1921-12-03

Little Cargo Tramp Steamer Attackeo
by Three AirpIanes and Driven
Among Mine Fields as She Avoided
Her Enemy Of. the Air-captaln
Killed on the Bridge After Clever
ly outmaneuvering His Attaeker-
Son Carries on.
The indomitable spirit of mercnan'
sailors combined with their mastery
seamanship, were responsible for many
heroic episodes in the great war, some
Of which are only just being Drough'
TO light, says the Montreal Herald.
A thrilling tale was told OF the
dinky little cargo tramp steamer Avo.
Get attacked by three airplanes ana
driven among mine fields as she AVOID
ed her foe Of the air.
Bound from Rotterdam to England
with land still on the horizon, three
German planes sailed out Of Belgium
bent on her destruction. Two OF them
we're tiny scouts, but the third was
Of the type used to fly across tne
channel and bomb London.
The first bomb aimed at the Avocet
missed it's mark by about fifteen feet
Altogether she was pelted with thirty
five of them, some escaping crashing
on her decks miraculously. The big
bombing plane especially was handled
with great skill. For 1t would ny
over from stem to stern In order to
have her full length for target ana
not lust her beam only. But each time
It laiN course parallel to her length
her officers would swing her out OF
the line. And while this maneuvef
was going on the two scout planes
kept flying across her, dropping bombs
Fought AirpIanes with Rifles.
Only a few rifles had the Avocets
crew to fight their foes with. Yet
with them they managed to maintain
such a constant fire that none of the
airplanes dared to descend low enough
TO make sure Of hit. Even distress
signal rockets were used and the
chief officer was fortunate enough to
>explode one within few feet OF the
battle plane, driving it to a higher
altitude, For half an hour the tghf
lasted, with the Avocet zigzagglng tt
dodge the dropping bombs and con,
stantly being in danger of striking
mines. Furthermore, the big plane
turned its machine gun on the ship
hoping thereby to kill the officers OF
drive them to cover. SO that being NJ
longer so cleverly nayigated the Avo
Get would become an easier mark t.
hit.
When the planes finally gave it w
and flew away the ships decks were
Uttered with shrapnei. Yet nobod!
was killed or even wounded. the
lookout man in the bow stuck to his
post throughout and actually reported
to the bridge a floating mine dead
ahead while the fight was at its hot
test. 50 much for the air attack.
AS to submarine attack, the first
case Of the peppering Of an unarmed
merchant ship with shrapnel was that
of the Anglo-C Californian. It happened
on July 4, 1915-just two months
after the Lusitania.
The fret intimation that her com
mander, Capt. Parslow had that his
ship was in for an UNUSUAL experience
was when the ~" boat came to the
surface, fired a shell into the shiI
and repeated the dose in rapid sue
cession. Captain Parslow tried tC
escape, but on the surface the sub
marine proved to be possessed OF
greater speed than the heavily lader
cargo boat, and it wasn't long before
things began to look pretty blue.
Finding that he could not escape
Captain Parslow adopted the tactics Of
a cornered animal, maneuyeripg his
ship, keeping her bow always pointed
at the enemy SO that even though she
was being constantly shelled the sub
marine couldn't hit her with a tor
pedo. Round and round the Anglo
Californian the ~" boat steamed,
blazing away with her gun as she
sought to get into position where she
could deal a death blow. Frequently
she came so close that men on hel
deck raked the Anglo Californian witt
rifle fire.
Captain Killed on Bridge.
Throughout it all, ia spite Of burst
ing shrapnel raining death about him
Captain Parslow stood on the bridge
and outmaneuvered his attacker
Finally a shot struck the bridge it
self. The concussi0p killed Captain
Parslow outright. His son. the second
officer, who was also on the bridge
though knocked down, was not hurt
As the "U'' boat was then close ir
and using rifle fire, young Parslov
crawled across the shell-torn flooring
Of the bridge, grabbed the spokes Of
the steering wheel and. keping ar
eye on the enemy through holes in the
canvas ab0ut the bridge trail, ma
neuvered the Anglo Californian as
cleverly as his Ather had done.
piece Of shell broke some Of the
spokes of the wheel, yet the younger
Parslow still carried on until, foul
hours after the hght began destroyer.
appeared, and th". ~" boat was
A>~~@S - coal~ nornk~~ ~, c,,hv, o,srxlv, -