The submarine now headed for the beach about 1-1/2 miles away; 29 shots had been fired at her the second time. One of the last shots had hit and exploded close, or at, where her propellers were churning. As she was heading for the beach and quite a ways off, I ceased firing. The bow swells of the submarine could still be seen, but the churn of the propellers had ceased. Shortly all disappeared, about 4,000 yards away. On March 21, the _Chincha_, whose armed guard was then commanded by E. D. Arnold, chief boatswain's mate, encountered a large type submarine, which was driven off. But one of its shots struck the vessel, killing one member of the armed guard, and two of the ship's crew. _El Occidente_ had an exciting fight on February 2, the armed guard commander, Chief Boatswain's Mate Dow Ripley, reporting that the ship was apparently attacked by two submarines. One discharged a torpedo, then came toward the vessel with a rush. The Navy gunners got the range, Ripley reported, and "as their shots were hitting on top of her, she suddenly disappeared, acting as if in distress." When the _Santa Maria_ was torpedoed, February 25, Chief Boatswain's Mate John Weber and his armed guardsmen stood at the guns until the water swept around them. Chief Gunner's Mate Joseph E. Reiter and the gunners on the _Paulsboro_, when that vessel was attacked, held their posts while shells burst above and shrapnel fell all around them, drove off the U-boat and saved the ship. Twenty-four men--eight of the armed guard, and 16 of the merchant crew--were lost in the sinking of the _Motano_, which was torpedoed the night of July 31, 1917, in the English Channel off Portland. The vessel sank in less than a minute after she was struck. There was no time to launch lifeboats, and the men on deck were washed into the sea. Survivors of merchant vessels sunk far from land, left in open boats to make their way to shore as best they could, underwent terrible hardships. When the _Rochester_ was sunk November 2, 1917, 300 miles from the Irish coast, the second engineer and an oiler were killed by the explosion of the torpedo. One of the three lifeboats was lost. In another four of the crew perished before reaching land, and three died later from exposure. Five men of the armed guard were lost at sea and one died after rescue. After the sinking of the _Actaeon_ (the ex-German _Adamstrum_), November 24, 1917, a boat containing 19 of the armed guard and 6 of the merchant crew became separated from the other boats, lost its course, and rowed, sailed and drifted for eleven days before it reached Cape Villano, near Coruña, Spain. Four men died before reaching shore, three of the armed guard and one of the merchant crew.