The New York Times/1916/11/22/Storm Saved Vessel Attacked by U-Boat
STORM SAVED VESSEL ATTACKED BY U-BOAT
Siamese Prince, Carrying Fifty-four Americans, Got Away After Being Shelled.
According to Captain William Anderson and the officers of the British freighter Siamese Prince, which arrived yesterday from Brest in ballast, the vessel had a narrow escape on Nov. 4 from being sunk by a German submarine, which fired three shots at her. The steamship was saved by a heavy rain squall and the high seas which prevented the submarine’s getting the range before she was lost to view.
In addition to her own crew of forty-two men the Siamese Prince had on board fifty-four American hostlers who had gone over on the ship from New York to Brest to take care of a cargo of horses consigned to the French Government.
Captain Anderson said that the submarine’s attack was made at 7 o’clock on the morning of Nov. 4, when his ship was about 200 miles off the French coast. There was a strong gale blowing with a heavy sea, and the first intimation he had of the presence of a submarine was three shots coming from the port side about a mile away. Two shells passed over the port quarter of the steamship and another shot fell into the sea just under the stern. The Siamese Prince was stopped immediately, but on account of the heavy rainstorm and heaving seas nothing could be seen of the submarine. After waiting for about fifteen minutes the Captain ordered the engines full speed ahead, and proceeded on a zigzag course for New York.
Captain Anderson and his officers could not say whether their vessel was pursued by the submarine or not.