Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1919 — How Man “Tackled” a Deadly Depth Bomb and Saved a Ship [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

How Man “Tackled” a Deadly Depth Bomb and Saved a Ship

IT ISN’T recorded that John' Mackenzie, chief “Boatswain’s mate in the United States naval reserve force, was once a great football player, but he was recommended for an honor medal and a gratuity of SIOO for doing one of the greatest foot by II stunts ever reported. The navy department report shows that on the morning of December 17 a depth bomb on board the destroyer Remlik broke loose from its position on the stem of the craft, and, bursting itsboxing, went bouncing about the deck. A heavy sea was on at the time; in fact, the waves werebreaking far over the stern of the destroyer, and the rolling and pitching of the little craft sent jhe big bomb flying backward and forward to port and starboard, crashing into the rails of the vessel and hitting everything upstanding on the deck

with a force that threatened to explode it at any moment and blow the boat to scrai> iron. The actions of this engine of destruction recall Victor Hugo’s great description of the gun which breaks loose from its moorings on shipboard and “becomes suddenly some indescribable supernatural beast. It is a machine which transforms itself into a monster. This mass turns upon its wheels, has the rapid movements of a billiard ball, rolls with the rolling, pitches with the pitching; goes,

comes, pauses, seems to meditate; resumes its course, rushes along the ship from end to end like an arrow, circles about, springs aside, evades, rears, breaks, kills, exterminates.’’ The bomb was a regular sized depth charge, weighing hundreds of pounds, and it would have been impossible for anyone to have lifted it and carried it to safety even if one of the crew had cared to take the risk of catching it in its wild rushes and rollings about the deck. So the officers and men stood .for a time watching the charge as it thrashed madly about, wondering what to do, and not knowing what minute the infernal machine might explode and send all hands flying into eternity. Suddenly someone cried “The pin has come out I” Whether Mackenzie had been in some other part of the ship until that moment, or whether he had been standing with the others staring in hopeless wonder and was only aroused by the cry, reports do not say. But it is recorded that less than a second after the shout was raised the plucky Yankee boatswain’s mate dashed down the deck and flung himself on the rolling bomb, much after the fashion that football players throw themselves on the ball. Three times he had his arms about it, but each time it tore away, once almost crushing him as the roll of the ship hurled it upon him. The fourth time, however, he got a firm hold on it, and with almost superhuman effort heaved it upright on one flat end. Then Mackenzie sat down on the deadly charge—though even in that position the bomb might have exploded and blown him to atoms —and succeeded in holding it until lines could be run to, him and the charge lashed safely to the deck. The commanding officer of the Remlik in his report recommending that the medal of honor be conferred on Mackenzie, says: * “Mackenzie, in acting as he did, exposed his life and prevented a serious accident and probable loss of the ship and the entire crew. Had the depth charge exploded bn the quarterdeck with the sea and the wind that existed at the time there is no doubt that the ship would have been lost.” Mackenzie is a native of Massachusetts. His home is South Hadley Falls.