Diary of a U-Boat Commander

s

the same old sp

s breath smells like a distillery; he is apparently

e, judging from the condition he was in when he came on board last night. He was really totally unfit to take charge of

s yellow colour, he seems quite all right. I sha

gsters with a seasoning of half a dozen older men. The coxswain, Schmitt by name

to the younger members of the crew, who

ite expression

y's future lies on the sea; I say G

es in the course of a day, he is liable to become suspicious, and if his questioner is within range Schmitt stares at him for a few seconds in an absent-minded way, then an arm like that of a gorilla shoots out, and the q

going to be, or if he is steering her on a course he predicts the directio

ut before I lose the savour I must record t

drinker by nature, Alten is a strict abstainer at sea. Accordingly I produced a small flask of rum, half-way through dinner, and helped myself to a liberal tot, placi

flask to him, remarking at the same

e muttered, "No! Y

my eye I watched his left hand on the table near the flask. It was most interesting

omething about needing a breath of fresh air. As he got up

the cloth as he got out from between the

able of apologizing, fo

avigating officer came do

What do y

rooper, and told me to get to the devil out of it; it didn't se

should take the Captain a little brandy in case he was not feeling well, but the navigator declared he was going to stay down in the w

nerves of iron; noth

ad my account of our day in the fores

5 a.m. this morning, though at midnig

watch, when I was awakened by the

y bunk and groped for my short sea boots, the navigator and helmsman came tumbling dow

s had them "hard-to-

nd Alten, who had jumped into the control room, imm

wenty degrees down by the bow, and I had sat down heavily on the b

r or even inquire the reason for this sudden dive, the noise increased to a terrifying extent, and whilst I prepared myself for the wors

y as suddenly as it came; a moment later there was a severe

denly seen two white patches of foam 800 yards on the starboard bow, which resolv

w, driven by 30,000 horse power, had slid through

We were not, however, completely free of our

the foremost hydroplanes, the plane motor fuses blew out. This showed that the

nosing about we were very anxious not to break surface. We just blew "A." [8] At least we started to blow "A," but Alten wisely decided that, as it was a calm night with