Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 265, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1917 — OCEAN SAILORS FEAR SUBS [ARTICLE]

OCEAN SAILORS FEAR SUBS

Many Deep-Water Tars Went to Great Lakes, They Assert, to — Escape Divers. Ocean sailors went to the Great Lakes this year in greater numbers than ever before. The majority of the applicants sought able seamen’s papers for work on inland waters. Sftme negroes, some white and some yellow. Most of them gave as their reason for leaving the ocean their fear of submarines, When John Ojala, a native of Finland, applied for papers, the examiner asked Ojala “ the usual questions, and then a few personal ones. Ojala said that he had _sailed the seas tor 15 years, but being twice on vessels sunk by submarines was enough for him. He said that he was going back to the ocean at the close of the lake navigation season. Qn November 29, 1915, Ojala was sailing dn the Mediterranean sea, about 50 miles from Malta, aboard the English ship Malinche, bound frdni Salbnikf to Philadelphia. A U-boat stopped the Malinche and two German officers, after chasing off the crew’, placed bombs in the boat. Ojala shipped again aboard the Norwegian sailing ship Falls of Afton, which was sunk about 20 miles off the coast of England. S£ven shots from a deck gun on the sub sent the Falls of Afton to the bottom.