ADVENTURE WITH GERMAN PIRATES 



fore she could get under way a submarine was 

 rapidly approaching her. For a moment or two the 

 skipper felt sure that the enemy craft meant to 

 ram the drifter and cut her in two, for she was going 

 straight at the helpless vessel ; but just in time, 

 as he expressed it, " she stopped like a train, and 

 her bow came round until it was touching well 

 forward." 



The events that quickly followed showed how 

 carefully planned the Germans' programme was, and 

 indicated a close acquaintance with this particular 

 form of cowardly attack and ruthless destruction. 

 The vivid picture which the skipper drew did not 

 tend to create a favourable impression of the men 

 who did the dirty work of the German Navy. The 

 officer in command was a " strapping fellow of about 

 twenty-six }-ears of age," and the skipper declared 

 that there was not a man of the submarine crew 

 who was under six feet in height. These heroes, 

 uudisturbed except by horrifying visions of the pos- 

 sible swoop of men of the British Navy, hurried to 

 complete their task. 



No time was given for the drifter's crew to take 

 away their belongings — and this was one of the 

 minor but serious hardships which the Germans 

 imposed, for it frequently happened in the fishing 

 industry that when a man lost his personal posses- 

 sions he lost his all. 



The situation was bad, but it was relieved by one 

 of those incidents which, though supposed to be 

 particularly Scottish in character, are peculiarly as- 



139 



