The doctor trusted to them until three o 'clock in the morning, when he found the ship had run aground. Then he took a hand in navigation. The captain and the mate were examining a chart on deck and wondering how they had missed the shore light. Studying the charts, the doctor told them they should have been twenty miles further east, and said, "Now, I'll take charge." Fortunately, it was low tide when the ship went on the beach, and when the flood-tide came at daylight, the vessel, using her engines, was backed off. By eleven o'clock they had reached the entrance to Havre. Seeing her coming, with the marks of battle upon her, the people crowded down to the water-front. They cheered the Navy gun-crew, the sailors, and there were tears for the wounded and cheers for the doctor as he came down the gang-plank with them. Attacked by a submarine off the Spanish coast, a shell exploded in the gasoline tank of the _Moreni_ and set the ship afire. Chief Boatswain's Mate Andrew Copassaki and his gun-crew had begun firing as soon as the "sub" was sighted, but the _Moreni_ was slow and the U-boat had a decided advantage. Raining shells upon the ship, the enemy shot away her steering gear, and the vessel, beyond control, began steaming around in a circle, but the naval gunners kept shooting away. Two men were wounded; one lifeboat upset as it struck the water and two of the merchant crew were drowned. But the armed guard kept up the fight until the entire ship was in flames. During the contest, which lasted over two hours, the _Moreni_ fired 150 shots, the submarine 200. The ship was hit 45 times. When the Spanish steamship _Valbanera_ came up to rescue the survivors, both the Spaniards and the Germans aboard the submarine cheered the _Moreni's_ naval gun-crew for the brave fight they had made. After his return to this country, I had the pleasure of congratulating Copassaki, who came to my office. Tall and bronzed, with a sweeping black moustache, he was a stalwart figure, modest as he was brave. "That must have been a thrilling experience you had," I remarked as I thanked him. "It must have been terrific for those men at the guns, with the flames mounting around them." "It was pretty hot," modestly replied Copassaki, who seemed to think that about covered the subject. The first Americans taken prisoner by the Germans were Chief Gunner's Mate James Delaney, four members of the armed guard and the master of the _Campana_, which was sunk about 150 miles from the French coast on August 6, 1917. But they were captured only after a running fight of more than four hours, during which the _Campana_ fired 170 shots and the U-boat twice as many. After three hours' firing, the _Campana's_ captain wanted to stop and abandon ship to avoid casualties, as the vessel was clearly outranged by the more powerful guns of the submarine, but Delaney protested, and kept up the fight for an hour and ten minutes longer, firing until his ammunition was exhausted.