CHAPTER XVII
WHEN THE U-BOATS CAME TO AMERICA
WAR OFF OUR COASTS FROM MAY TO SEPTEMBER, 1918—GERMANS SENT SUBMARINES TO INTERRUPT TROOP AND SUPPLY TRANSPORTATION, BUT TRANSPORTS WERE SO WELL GUARDED THAT NOT ONE WAS ATTACKED OR EVEN DELAYED—MANY SCHOONERS AND SOME STEAMERS SUNK, BARGES AND LIGHTSHIP SHELLED, BUT GERMANS FAILED IN THEIR MAIN OBJECT.
Europe was not the only "war zone." There was war off our own coasts from May to September, 1918, and the Navy had to protect transports and shipping, to escort convoys and hunt submarines on this side of the Atlantic as well as off the coasts of Great Britain and France.
During that period the Navy was as much in active war service in home waters as it was in Europe. And our methods were quite as successful here as there, for in the entire four months in which German submarines operated off our coasts not one convoy was attacked, and not one transport was delayed in sailing.
Will you ever forget that Sunday, June 2, 1918, when a German submarine suddenly appeared off the New Jersey coast and sank six vessels, ending the day with the destruction of the passenger steamer Carolina?
The first news came at 5:30 p. m., from the Ward Liner Mexico, which radioed that she had picked up three lifeboats containing fifty men of the Isabel B. Wiley and other schooners that had been sunk. This message was immediately broadcasted with a warning to all ships along the coast. Naval vessels were at once ordered to the vicinity and patrol craft in that region and all along the coast were notified to keep a sharp lookout for the submarine.
The passenger steamer Carolina, en route to New York from Porto Rico, was 13 miles from where the Wiley was sunk, when she received the warning at 5:55 o'clock. Darkening her lights, she steered due west, putting on full speed. The captain had just got his vessel steadied on the new course, when he sighted the submarine two miles away. In a moment or two the U-boat fired three shells, which landed near the steamer. At the second shot the captain stopped his ship. He had ordered the wireless operator to send out an "SOS" signal, stating that the vessel was attacked by submarine. But, realizing, he said, the uselessness of trying to escape, and fearing if he sent out radio messages the U-boat might shell the ship, endangering the lives of those aboard, the captain recalled the order. The radio operator stated that the submarine had wirelessed to him, under low power, "If you don't use wireless I won't shoot." That was the reason we were so long in getting news of the sinking of the Carolina. She sent out no distress signals.
At his third shot, the submarine bore down on the vessel, which was flying the signal "A.B."—abandon ship—and was lowering its lifeboats. "Women and children first," was the rule, and after they had been placed safely, the men entered the boats. As the captain, the last to leave, cleared the ship's side, the submarine commander ordered him to make for shore. The U-boat fired several shells into the vessel, and she finally sank at 7:55 p. m., with the American ensign and signals flying. Clouds of fire and steam arose as she went down.
The Carolina carried 218 passengers, and a crew of 117. All got safely into the lifeboats, which were moored head and stern, one to the other, except the motor sailer and boat No. 5, and all headed for shore, on a westward course. They had smooth seas until midnight, when a squall came on with heavy rain and lightning. The boats, which were connected by lines, were anchored until the storm passed. At daylight they began to proceed singly, to make rowing easier.
At 11 o'clock the storm-tossed survivors sighted a schooner, the Eva B. Douglas, which took aboard all that were in sight, 160 passengers and 94 of the crew. But about noon one boat, in attempting to weather the rough seas, capsized, drowning seven passengers and six of the crew. There were still three boats to be accounted for. The next day, 19 survivors were picked up and carried to Vineyard Haven, and 18 were rescued by the British steamer Appleby, and taken to Lewes, Delaware. Lifeboat No. 5 was rowed to shore, and the thousands along the Boardwalk were amazed when it came in sight and was landed through the surf at Atlantic City.