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Kttack Swift and | lent Personal Experience of an Officer in the British Mer- , chant Service Describing How it Feels to be Torpedoed AM an officer in the British mer- I chant service holding a first mate’s certificate and was recently third officer of a steamer which left the port of Liverpool bound south. The following day we were torpedoed at the mouth of the Bristol channel. It was late in the afternoon when we passed the Bar lightship and we were congratulating ourselves that we were well clear of all submarine attacks. We little knew that another vessel had been sunk three hours before a similar dis- aster overtook us. Up to this time all hands had been kept on deck keeping a vigilant lookout for submarines. In addition to the men on the forecastle head, one was in the crow’s nest and two were stationed aft. Our boats were swung out all ready for launching. Shortly after mid-day I came on deck to relieve the second officer for lunch; the captain was, at that time, on the bridge. It was a lovely clear day and the horizon was plain all around, the sea being quite calm. The second officer remarked to me, as he left the bridge, that we were fortunate in getting clear of the beggars before leaving the Irish coast, but his remark did not make me relax my vigilance. About 15 minutes after the second officer left me I was standing on the port side of the bridge looking at the water, when suddenly I saw what I first took to be a fish coming to the surface from a depth of 3 or 4 fathoms. Then, like a flash, I noticed that the dis- turbance of the water increased and I could see the shimmering body of a torpedo coming, as it seemed, from the depths of the sea at an angle of some 45 degrees. -I rushed across the bridge and dashed at the engine room telegraph, ringing it to stop. At the same moment a terrific explosion rent the air and the force of it swept up the water like a huge cataract and sent above the height of the funnel a shower which descended upon me, drenching me to the skin. The bridge chart-table and other port- able fittings were completely wrecked. By this time I could see bales of sack- ing which formed part of our cargo floating on the surface of the water, but there were no signs of the sub- marine or its periscope. All hands were quickly mustered, the ship slowly sinking by the head. There was no panic. Every man proceeded to Reprinted from the Nautical Magazine, Lon- don. his proper, station, the lifeboats were lowered, and the forward part of the ship sank deeper while the stern rose proportionately. At the time the boats were lowered the vessel had a heavy in- cline forward. In seven minutes every man was clear of the ship and we were able to save absolutely nothing but the clothes in which we stood. Most of ‘us were drenched through by the sea which followed the explosion as it came on board, and we looked fairly miserable objects. It was by no means a warm day but, in the excitement we did not feel the cold at all until we had been in the boats for some time. We pulled away from the ship and it was then, for the first time, we sighted the periscope of the enemy, who had not yet shown his hull. : They were evidently watching us in the boats. They also observed—as we did—that while the ship sank down to a level with her hawse pipes she did not go any deeper. The blades of the pro- peller were just showing above the water. After watching our old ship for a little while, we agreed that we would hang on to see if we could save the ship by bringing her back to port. For a few moments the periscope disap- peared and we thought that the sub- marine had gone for good. Unfortu- nately this did not prove to be the case. We had not. progressed more than a couple of hundred yards to- wards the ship, with the intention of boarding her again, when the sub- marine rose to the surface between ourselves and the vessel. Her. con- ning tower cover quickly opened, and an officer shouted in English to us: to “elear out’. Four or five seconds later another torpedo was fired at our ship, which hit her in the stern and completely shattered the after part of the vessel. A terrific explosion followed the dis- charge of the torpedo, and we thought that our boats were shaking to pieces, so greatly did they oscillate. We then saw that our ship was doomed, for within a few minutes she began to settle more deeply in the water and before we could row away from the scene she was out of sight. The submarine which attacked us was a huge vessel and carried a heavily mounted gun aft. This gun was in no way covered up, for before the peri- scope of the submarine came to the 328 surface it showed itself in position. The enemy’s. craft was a long, thin vessel of considerable length. In fact, it looked as large as our own ship when the latter was nearly submerged. The officer in command of the sub- marine evidently had other work to do, for he did not stay to converse with us or assist us in any way. After he saw that his last torpedo had de- molished the ship he quickly closed his conning tower and, with a consid- erable roaring noise, submerged and disappeared. We rowed away from the scene and, after being in the boats for some 12 hours, we finally picked up a friendly shelter in the shape of a light vessel, where we remained until the following day, when we were taken off by a passing steamer. There is one curious feature about this attack on our ship and that is the absence of the submarine’s periscope. None of the look-out men saw it and, from the direction in which the tor- pedo came, I should imagine that the submarine was fitted with some kind of plate glass look-out in the conning tower where she could see the object of her prey through the water. It would have been impossible to have fired at such close range and become submerged without warning us by the noise which I understand is caused by the water entering the tanks and -the air escaping. As to her armament, I am ready to state that the gun she carried was much larger than a three- pounder, as I have seen three-pound- ers, six-pounders, 12-pounders and 4.7 guns, and it looked to me more like one of the latter type than one of smaller caliber. I have no doubt that many merchant service officers have had similar experiences to my own, but, doubtless, others who have not will be interested to read this account. New York Gains Shipping A total of 5,243 vessels entered the port of New. York from foreign ports during the year which ended July 31, 1915, an increase of 465 over the cor- responding period of 1914. More Am- erican, Scandinavian, Dutch and Ital- ian vessels, to the total number of 1,055, and fewer German, British and French vessels, to the total number of 590, entered the port, than in the previous 12 months.