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Show GERMANS WAR Ofl BRITISHCOflERCE SUBMARINES SINK BRITISH STEAMERS AFTER CREWS LEAVE VFSSELS. Give Men Chance to Escape From Doomed Vessels, After Which Torpedoes are Fired and Ships Sent to Bottom. Liverpool. The German submarine (J-21 on Saturday began raiding Brit-lish Brit-lish shipping on the west coast of England Eng-land in the path of transatlantic steamships. The North Shields steamer Ben Cruachen was torpedoed off Fleetwood, Fleet-wood, Lancashire. The entire crew Df twenty men was landed here The freght steamer Linda Blanche was sunk only eighteen miles norths west of the Liverpool bar lightship. The crew of eleven men was brought into Fleetwood by the trawler Neblec, Another ship is reported to have been sunk by the submarine, which, also pursued but did not overhaul tha B.el'ast-Liverpool steamer Graphic. All England is greatly disturbed by this latest attempt of the Germans U enforce the doctrine of Admiral von, Tirpitz to prey on all shipping enter-, ing British . ports. The captain, of the Ben Cruachen, the first ship to suffer, says he and bis crew were given ten minutes ta leave the ship when overtaken by the submarine. Hardly had the crew got into the boats when a torpedo was fired and the steamer went down. The Ben Cruachen, which was of 1978 tons register and belonged to the Morrison Shipping company, was on a voyage from the Orkney islands to Liverpool with a general cargo. Fleetwood is one of the principal shipping ports and watering places on the west coast. The crew of the sunk Linda Blanche tell that the submarine, after suddenly sudden-ly coming to the surface, moored herself her-self to the leeward side of the steamer. steam-er. The crew of the German subma-rne subma-rne gave cigars and cigarettes to the steamer's crew, but the latter were eventually given ten minutes to leave the ship. The German officers said the regreted having to sink the Linda Blanche, but they had order to do so and must obey them. |