Stories from our pages over the last 150 years.
Further evidence of the lack of animosity on the part of German submarine crews which sank many British ships during early days of the war is brought to Victoria by Mrs. Ethel McCall, 1315 Tolmie Avenue, who arrived home Monday from England.
As a passenger with eight others aboard the Norwegian freighter Ida Bakke, Mrs. McCall returned cheers from a German crew as the freighter took aboard British sailors from the oil tanker British Influence, sunk by the submarine a few hours before.
The picture of the U-boat above was taken by Mrs. McCall as the Germans cheered from the conning tower.
"Those Germans were human beings before anything else, for their only concern when they torpedoed the ships was the safety and welfare of the officers and crews," Mrs. McCall said.
She left Belfast on September 13, the ship being eight days late out of port after being scheduled to sail Sept. 5.
"It was on our second day out, when we were about 200 miles off the Irish coast, that a German submarine suddenly came alongside and radioed that she had torpedoes the British Influence," Mrs. McCall said.
"Pick up two lifeboats. Please follow me," we heard the German captain shout through a megaphone from the deck of the submarine. Our captain turned about and we followed for about half an hour when we came across two lifeboats containing the captain and 48 men of the British Influence," Mrs. McCall continued.
-- Victoria Daily Times
