White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1929-06-28
CHAPTER Iv-Continued

raised as gun SnlelQ. IL dropped
gathering and revealed the muzzle of
the cannon. Up with the German flag
and fire, one across her brows.
It was the Seeadler's first shot
against the enemy.
What's that, by Joe? Nothing hap
pened. no movement on deck, no slow
ing down Of the ship. Then flag
went up the mast, the British flag. 1t
was like the fantastic things that hap
pen In dream. thought must be
asleep. Another shot across her bows.
She suddenly changes her course.
Hello, she wants to get away. A shot
over the stern, another over the
smokestack, and now she hove to.
A boat was in the water rowing to-
ward as. We all put on our best man
ners, and I welcomed Captain Chewn
aboard the Seeadler. What did we
want of him. he asked, so bewildered
that he suffered well, first
friendly chat" l replied. He was an
old salt with a scraggly gray beard.
liked him right off. Els ship was the
Gladys Royal, bound from Cardiff
with FIVE thousand tons Of coal for
Buenos Aires. / told him that, much
as disliked sending any ship to the
bottom of the sea, nevertheless. we
must sink the Gladys Royal.
"Oh, no." he argued, 1--WE are bound
for neutral port and won't harm
anything. It will be bad for me to
lose my ship, and l have wife and
children at home"
"Do you believe, Captain Chewn,
that, under the same circumstances, a
British naval officer would show any
mercy to German ship?"
He made no reply.
We now got an explanation of the
queer behavior of his ship that had so
puzzled us after our first shot Cap
tain Chewn, an oldtimer at sea, simply
thought we were trying to compare
time in the old traditional way, by
firing blank mortar. He had raised
his flag to serve as the mortar shot on
his side. He would afterward lower
1t to give the exact moment. That Is
the way in vogue today. But when
our second shot was fired, the cook on
the Gladys Royal saw the shell strike
the water and thought we had sighted
a submarine and were firing at it. He
gave the alarm, and the captain
Started to zagzag 1t was only after
the third shot that they saw our can
non pointed at them and the German
battle flag at our masthead.
"By joe" and the captain pounded
the rail with open admiration, "you
fooled me bloody we'll. 1t was the
d-dest trap ever saw"
sent prize crew. aboard the
Gladys Royal with orders to, have her
follow the Seeadler. wanted to wait
and blow her up after nightfall. Cruis.
ers might be roaming somewhere in
these parts, and 1t would be unwise to
run the risk of attracting their atten
ton with the sound of an explosion.
We photographed our capture care.
fully. AT dusk we transferred the
steamers twenty-six men. white and
black, to our ship. The captain
brought his belongings aboard also
sent Lieutenant PRESS to pack up ev-
erything aboard the captured vessel
that he thought we might need and
ferry It over. He displayed excellent
judgment, too, and turned up with
welcome store of excellent provisions.
We sailors could be content with
sailors. fare whenever need be- but
we wanted our guests to dine we'll at
all times to help make up for the sor-
row of losing their ships.
Preiss and his men planted bomb
In her hold, lit the time fuse, and
took to the boats. Fifteen minutes
passed. Then the Gladys Royal trem.
bled fore and aft.
She went down stern first, and in
ten minutes her forward quarter stuck
straight out of the sea. Her bow re.
NAMED above water for long time.
A steamer hove into sight. She car.
ried side lights, and from that we
judged her to be neutral. Suddenly
second explosion. from the accumu-
lation of air pressure. burst the bow
Of the Gladys Royal. With a final
culver, she took her last plunge into
the depths and slid out of sight, while
we scurried away into the night with
all sails set.
Captain Chewn was agreeably sur
prised to find himself assigned to
coy cabin. His only complaint was
that he had no one to enjoy 1t with
him. This sociable mariner liked com.
pany. So we promised to supply Him
with companions as soon as possible.
Much as we. wanted to please Cap.
tain Chewn and show him that we
were accommodating hosts, we al
lowed the next ship to sail by in
peace. She was British passenger
steamer bound through Gibraltar. We
had room enough for all her passen-
gers, but we did not want to be both.
cred with women and children.
At noon, with heavy sea running
we sighted steamer cutting diagon
ally across our course. No flag. no
name. We signaled her for infOrma
ton, but there was no response. Sure.
ly she must be an Englishman with
hard-bOiled efficient skipper. You