Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1937-03-21


them, Bill Reed, who inspected
the foundations of piers for the
San Francisco Bay Bridge a
man whose diving experience COW
ers over 80 years Later by some
weeks, Chief Gunner's Mate Frank
Crilley tried the same job, he
came up with the bends" and
developed pneumonia Several
divers at last passed chains under
the sunken sub, six cylindrical
shaped pontoons were built, water
was shot out of the pontoons by
compressed air piped from the
surface-and the FL came up. I
heard after the war that her
seams had opened. and the crew
crowded into the engine room,
shutting the door tightly. The en-
CINE room bulkhead gave way
under increased pressure. and the
sub flooded.
There was nothing we could do
but offer sympathy and set
out in search of German raiders.
Through the islands of the coral
sea. down between Australia and
the Marshalls, we met a Japanese
man-of-war. and two French war
ships and ourselves Joined a
convoy headed for England. Seven
men stood watch, but until we
were two nights out of Liverpool,
no hostile ship or sub was sighted.
Then
"Periscope, how the lookout
cried. Two points off port bow"
"All hands to battle stations."
We jumped to positions, l be-
side the forward gun :. little
four-pounder but afraid to
fire. One of the convoy was just
ahead of us. We watched for long,
tense moments. A small black OBJ
ject cut through the water some
200 feet away. A mist lay about
us, a light fog which made the
ship ahead dim and vague. We
ran through a clear patch of mist,
and l got a clear look at the
speeding object. 1t was a bit OF
black spar which the preceding
vessel lowed as a warning to keep
us from running her down,
@UR skipper did some edu-
~ Gated cussing. When the fog
cleared, he used his supply of
semaphores and blinkers, and
wore out two strong signal men
telling the other commander how
he felt.
In Liverpool, Hindus, Austral-
ians and English Tommies packed
the harbor. Warships and mer-
chantmen crowded every avail
able foot of space. Again, the
Dardanellesi What else could or
ders mean that sent us immedi-
ately to sea to join the Royal Di-
vision in the Aegean?
April "a: A convoy of French
and British ships steamed out OF
Mudros, stood out for Tenedos and
the Peninsula. 1t was four in the
morning, an early start, since
dawn came within the hour
and a new landing at Gallipoli
had been planned before the sun
rose. We were to have protection,
the help of fleet fire overhead. At
exactly five o'clock, a heavy bar
rage was laid down on the higher
Turkish positions.
Shore parties piled into whale
boats, towed by steam launches.
It was daylight, by this time.
Bright, clear, fine day to die.
Whale boats, barges packed with
infantry, made the best target
Johnny Turk had seen in months.
He'll broke loose. Direct fire-the
first burst-killed most of the
men in the leading whale boat.
Some jumped overheard, swan
and crawled ashore :. to be shot
in the water or drowned by heavy
packs. A few made the beach by
grace of God, and were slaugh-
tered by rapid fire. A dozen or SO
survived, no more.
While this went on, the con-
verted s. s. River Clyde-an old
ex-merchantman with exit ports
cut through the level of her mid
die decks just above the water
line-steamed close to the beach.
She scraped bottom and stood
still. Barges and lighters were
sent between her and the beach.
Ports swung open and a whole
company of AnZacs stormed out
of her for the shore. They ran
like the devil followed, but steel
devils met them And / don't be-
lieve single soldier of the group
made the beach alive. Rapid fire
concentrated on the River Glide
and on the improvised bridge of
pontoons. Crews were blown into
the water as they rushed out;
some escaped, probably, but we
never knew who-if a man had,
lhe'd have told about it. Lines Of
men were cut into strips by Turk
fish batteries.
| The old steamer lay some IS
fleet off shore. Her decks were
protected by boiler plates. She