A SKIPPER'S TALE 



same with the rest of the crew ; and in addition to 

 that our 160 boxes of fish and the fish that was in 

 the net — all that we had worked so hard for — went 

 to the bottom. The Germans were in a hurry and 

 wanted to get the job over, and they made no at- 

 tempt to do anything but get the ship's papers. 



" Having done this to the Lobelia, the torpedo- 

 boat commander went to another steam trawler — I 

 forget her name, but she was a Grimsby boat — and 

 did the same thing as he had done to us ; so we had 

 another fishing crew on board with us, making 

 about forty fishermen in all. We were kept on deck, 

 under an armed guard ; but we were allowed to talk 

 amongst ourselves. I must say that while we were 

 prisoners at sea we were treated fairly well, under 

 the circumstances ; but once we stepped ashore and 

 got under the military we copped old boots. 



" We were on board the torpedo-boat for about 

 six hours, until nine o'clock in the evening. I 

 could never find out her number or any marks on 

 her, and I believe she had none ; but, as I say, she 

 was like an eel. Her commander was a young man 

 of about thirty-five years, and he spoke very good 

 English, as so many of these Germans do. He 

 began at once to try and find out things, but we told 

 him nothing. 



" He said, ' You have got no men ; but we have 

 got the men and we have got the food.' I remember 

 those words. 



"The commander asked us a lot of questions about 

 the British Fleet and said he wanted to know the 



Gl 



