THE DIARY OF A U-BOAT COMMANDER WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATORY NOTES BY ETIENNE AND _18 Illustrations on Art Paper by Frank H. Mason._ [Illustration: "We rammed a destroyer, passing through her like a knife through cheese."] * * * * * BOOKS BY ETIENNE STRANGE TALES FROM THE FLEET A NAVAL LIEUTENANT 1914--1918. "In collaboration with Navallus. Five Songs from the Grand Fleet." [Illustration: "...they are so black and swift I don't go near them."] * * * * * LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "We rammed a destroyer, passing through her like a knife through cheese" "...they are so black and swift I don't go near them" "Steering north-westerly ... to lay a small minefield off Newcastle" "He had suddenly seen the bow waves of a destroyer approaching at full speed to ram" "We were put down by a trawler at dawn" "The torpedo had jumped clean out of the water a hundred yards short of the steamer and had then dived under her" "A moment later there was a severe jar; we had struck the bottom" "As the dim lights on the mole disappeared, the ceaseless fountain of star-shells, mingling with the flashing of guns, rose inland on our port beam" "We hit her aft for the second time...." "The track met our ram" "In the flash I caught a glimpse of his conning tower" "The 1,000 kilogrammes of metal crashed down" "Good-bye! Steer west for America!" "It is a snug anchorage, and here I intend to remain" "A trapdoor near her bows fell down, the White Ensign was broken at the fore, and a 4-inch gun opened fire from the embrasure that was revealed on her side" "I sighted two convoys, but there were destroyers there...." "... when there was a blinding flash and the air seemed filled with moaning fragments" "When I put up my periscope at 9 a.m. the horizon seemed to be ringed with patrols" * * * * * INTRODUCTION "I would ask you a favour," said the German captain, as we sat in the cabin of a U-boat which had just been added to the long line of bedraggled captives which stretched themselves for a mile or more in Harwich Harbour, in November, 1918. I made no reply; I had just granted him a favour by allowing him to leave the upper deck of the submarine, in order that he might await the motor launch in some sort of privacy; why should he ask for more? Undeterred by my silence, he continued: "I have a great friend, Lieutenant-zu-See Von Schenk, who brought U.122 over last week; he has lost a diary, quite private, he left it in error; can he have it?" I deliberated, felt a certain pity, then remembered the _Belgian Prince_ and other things, and so, looking the German in the face, I said: "I can do nothing." "Please." I shook my head, then, to my astonishment, the German placed his head in his hands and wept, his massive frame (for he was a very big man) shook in irregular spasms; it was a most extraordinary spectacle.