Evening star., 1928-11-04

E1EAFbO tIIc BIOWilllS WIltl6 OF L0e
Shell-an unmiStakable sound tx
one who has been under fire before
4 and saw in a somewhat wild
glance a small hole show itself in
the foreSail. Later an examination
proved that the foremaSt was grazed
Had the enemy U-boat scored a hit
the greatest thrill Of my life might have
been my last.
But there was nothing visible to ac-
count for screaming shells or the up
Spouting torrent of water that almost
Immediately followed My lookoutS were
vigilant, and doubly SO, because / had
recently Issued an JIfer OF S25 per-
Sonal reward to the man who first spot
= ted submarine if we engaged it. /,
myself, keeping the morning watch, as
I always did, because it was during the
dawn watches that the most interesting
things happened. had seen nothing.
The sun was about four degrees clear
of the horizon and a brilliant, near
binding path Of gold ran from it across
the waveless sea toward Brig v. Sight
less as We were, we were obviously seen,
for that peremp*oFy shell was a chal-
lenge: l spotted the enemy craft a
minute later; he was lying clean in the
sort of cover by reason of its glare. And
then I knew that what we had waited
and hoped for vas happening
In obedience to orders, was cruising
In the Q-boat Brig Y south of the island
of Crete. Hostile submarines had been
devaStatingly active in that vicinity ever
since the convoy system lad been in
Stituted The U-boatS were clever in
their methods and were sinking allied
shipping at rate that threatened early
starvation. Since every surface craft
was a potential enemy. the U-boats
were able to carry out their campaign
with practical impunity.
All that was necessary was to cruise
until the considerable canopy of fur
mace smoke created by an assemblage of
perhaps "a full-powered steam freight
erS, together with its attendant guards,
was sighted and then to cruise past
the large, unwieldy and distinctly vul-
nerable convoy during the night and
take up station in its tracks with moth
Ing but periScope showing.
Simple calculations discovered the
approximate and relative positions of
convoy and rising sun, and by keeping
his periScope on a line between them
the enemy U-boat could remain visible
for such period as was necessary to do
his work. He usually selected the finest
two ships in the convoy, fred a left
right hit; fired again, if circumstances
permitted. and then promptly dived
underneath the convoy, where the es-
corting destroyerS' and Sloops' depth
charges were useless because of the pos
Sibility Of damage to friendly ships.
It was a simple, logical method of at
triton, so difficult to deal with that in
sheer despair the Q-boat strategy was
devised A big, valuable freighter, la
den with food for Semi-starving coun- |
try, was a good prize; safer from the |
enemy'S point of view at the bottom |
of the sea than in friendly port. 1t
was worth eXpending torpedo to de- |
prive the allies of such ships services |
especially so when such torpedo could |
be fired to hit without the f1rer reveal
ing himself
The natural counter to such propo- |
sition was a craft that was not worth |
the expenditure of torpedo valued at |
B5, ,000--that was oStensibiy harmless |
enough to be approached on the sur
face to be destroyed either by short |
range gUnfire or by small bombs placed |
In its holds, but, too, a craft that could |
Fetaliate on the aggressor to good effect. |
u x X
ORIG " was a 200-ton Italian coast |
II ing brigantine, to all outward ap- |
pearance-di and meagerly |
equipped, manned by a visible crew OF |
eight men and sailing under the Ital-
ian merchant flag-or under the Greek
flag, or. indeed, under any deceptive COL
ors likely to serve as ground bait to an
inuuiring U-boat Below decks she was
a fighting ship, armed with ore 4-inch
Mark VI rifle, two 12-pounder @. F.
guns. a depth-charge thrower and
smaller armament and manned by As |
trained men, an about even mixture OF |