The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-05-13

 coal war. The British note, it is considered certain, will not be worded in such way as to antago- nize France or Belgium. the middle of the field two lifeboats, jammed full with survivors.
 o o O
 U-Bont Throws Out LifebeIts.
 We advanced at full speed. Ordi- narily l permitted the crew to come on deck in such cases to recompense them for their enforced confinement below, where they could see nothing. On this occasion, however, l left them below to spare them the sight of this terrible human misery l summoned only two sailors on deck.
 We threw lifebelts and rings to several of the survivors who did not have even piece of wreckage to cling to. and pulled aboard the U-53 two men who had no support. De- spite the extraordinary success which we achieved, this was one of the hardest and bitterest hours of my life. In other instances we had reg ularly had to deal with merchant ships, which put to sea in order to r.ake money and which employed against us methods that we consid cred a fragrant breach of the most sacred international rights and had compelled us to resort to the indis- criminate submarine warfare. But here we had to deal with honorable enemies, men who had unselfishly risked their lives without hope of reward in the service of their father land.
 But I could not save more. There was no place for them but on deck, a first time we had to submerge. went away with heavy heart. Rose Envies Foe Who Dies.
 A few yards from the U-53 man was struggling with death. I can see him yet, He looked over toward us. He gave no cry for help, no cry of anguish, none of fear. Silent. res- olute. heroic, he went down as we passed, dead for his country.
 I hold this brave enemy in honor and in spirit cast with these words a wreath on the waters above him. He gave his life for his fatherland as a real hero. His soul is now in Val halla. But we the Germans, must live here, defeated and vilified; life is dreadful to us. What we did was actuated by the same impulse that drove this brave enemy to die in the wintry waters of the Atlantic. envy him.
 The two prisoners were separat ed and brought below. They were given hot tea to clear their throats of the sea water and tar oil which they had swallowed; their wet clothing put to bed. Stein and I each con- trIbuted a. suit of wooden under wear. It was reported to me from the forecastle soon afterward that neither of the men had suffered any damage from the immersion. But the shock from the two explosions must have been terrific
 The first thing that one of the men cried out, after being hauled on board. was:
 Get Away, Quick"
 Captain, get away quick, We sent out a wireless and there'll be another destroyer here right away"
 This was not cowardice. It was an instinctive, involuntary reaction to the horrors just passed through. The man wanted no further acquaintance with torpedoes.
 As soon as the two men had recu- perated and composed themselves, I had them brought into my cabin where they sat down on my bed From them I learned that the de- stroyer had been the Jacob Jones.
 They had left Queenstown a week earlier, conveyed one fleet toward the west and another from the edge of the danger zone to Brest. On the way back to Queenstown they had done some artillery practice at ob- Jects thrown out for targets. The other destroyers had also gone north ward and the Jacob Jones was hur- rying to join them when the torpedo was observed.
 They said the officer of the watch hpd trin to fhv of but 1t was too late. The torpedo struck one of the boiler rooms. and the ship sank about a quarter of an hour later. The crew sprang into the water A few seconds later there was terrific explosion.
 German Radios to British.
 Obviously one of the depth charges had gone off when it reached the depth for which it was set. The men said the pressure was so great as a result of the explosion that it almost rendered them unconscious.
 They had then floated about until they were picked up.
 They could give no details about the alleged wireless message for help of which they had spoken. They were il clined finally to believe that none had been given, and that the crew had merely been told that one had DteI SeHt lO Qulet tneHl.
 Thereupon we wirelessed with our highest tension the following mes sage, in German. to the English sta tion of Lands End:
 Destroyer Jacob Jones sunk 49 degrees 20 minutes north degrees IS minutes west. Save survivors. U-U-U."
 The air became perfectly still after we had sent this message. and we repeated it very slowly. letter by letter.
 Such an action was doubtless un- usual during this murderous war. and I debated with myself whether it before the souls of our U-boat men who were killed in gruesome manner by the enemy. I wavered a good deal, but finally decided to let mercy prevail in order to do what l could to bring a bit of chivalry into the conflict.
 shortly before II o'clock at night we had the satisfaction to inter cept the following radio:
 The U-boat's Gali Bring. Aid.
 UZAG on Lands End: U. s. s. Jacob Jones torpedoed 1925 9622 at p. m. Survivors on board; three rafts still at large.'
 Our call had been heard an. needed.
 Our prisoners accommodated them selves rapidly to their new manner of life and they and the crew became fast friends.
 One was a middle-aged man named Murphy, a cook; the other youth around IS, a signalman named Alfred De Mello, of Portuguese descent.
 l fitted them out with pipes and the crew gave them some tobacco. When the weather was good the crew used to come up on deck and sing old German songs. Then Mur phy and De Mello contributed Ameri- can airs, "Oh, the Moon Is All Agleam on the Stream and so on "Hiawatha," I think, was the name of it-and Yankee Doodle and