Skip to main content

January 16, 1918 - German U-Boat Commander's Taunt

Don Martin diary entry for Wednesday, January 16, 1918: 
Saw Mr. Sutherland, Secretary to Lloyd George relative to interviews with the Premier. He thinks he may be able to arrange one. Pretty difficult to get things done quickly in England. Called on Louis Nethersole at Lyric Theatre to arrange interview with Doris Keane, American actress who has been playing [Mme. Margherita Cavallini in] “Romance” here for 3 years. He said he would like to have me at luncheon with her next Thursday.
Had dinner at Simpson’s with Mr. Whaley, the man whom I met on the ship. Then went to Fleet St.  Judd Welliver came into office and Champion and I went to his office to see photographs of his family which just came. A fine family he has.
Weather rainy + foggy

      Don Martin wrote a story about a famous German submarine commander that day, which was published in the New York Herald the next day on Thursday, January 17, 1918.

‘COME AND GET ME; HERE I AM,’ IS HANS ROSE’S NIGHTLY TAUNT TO U.S. DESTROYERS
Famous Commander of U-Boat Gives His Position to Americans by Wireless, but They Never Have Been Able to Find Him
[Special Cable to the Herald]
Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet Street, London, Wednesday
     Commanders and crews of the American destroyers operating in European waters are talking about a grim piece of Hun humor. Nearly every night the commander of one of the destroyers receives by wireless a message reading:--
     “My position is (so many) degrees north and (so many) degrees west. Come and get me. I’m waiting for you.” The message is always signed Hans Rose.
     Rose is the German who took a submarine into Newport[, Rhode Island] two years go, welcomed society aboard his craft and then went out and sank several steamships almost within shooting distance of Nantucket. According to the story passed around by the men engaged in the thrilling and hazardous task of seeking submarines, the captain to whom is directed the nightly messages of the German subsea craft sank two. The commanders of both were intimate friends of Rose. He has sworn vengeance. Not only does he send his taunting message to the man he has never seen, but he goads him further by flashing a message defining the position of the destroyer.

     It is disquieting for the American commander, but he has no fears. Twice, it is stated, he has swiftly guided his craft to the location described by his enemy, but he found nothing and has seen nothing. Still the mysterious wireless despatch comes every night, no matter where the destroyer may be. Others catch it, and thus the weird story is told wherever the hornets of the sea are seen.
Hans Rose, U-Boat commander

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘New war with Israel at any moment’, ‘still digging through rubble’

The news about Iran has taken an ominous tone in the last couple days. Here is some reporting and commentary.  Newsweek on August 18, 2025, reported that Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior military adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said ‘ We are not in a ceasefire; we are in a stage of war. No protocol, regulation, or agreement has been written between us and the U.S. or Israel. A new war with Israel could break out at any moment .’  Yonah Jeremy Bob commented in The Jerusalem Post on August 19, 2025, that ‘ Khamenei can either “drink from the poisoned chalice” of diplomatic concessions … or face more airstrikes, possibly next time some targeting him directly ’.   Bob also noted that ‘ right now Iran is still digging through rubbl e’. The U.S. attacked Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan on June 22. Two months of digging. No surprise that there has been no public news about that.
Post a Comment
Read more

U.S. Sanctions, Middle East views

Trump’s special envoy Witkoff has hit the capitals again; in Tel Aviv Netanyahu probably told him to tell Trump that he will take over all of Gaza; in Moscow Putin probably told him to tell Trump that Ukraine will be destroyed and forget the sanctions. Witkoff didn’t get to number 3 on his list, Iran. But Trump played another ‘ getting to a deal ’ with Iran card, adding sanctions he can later get credit for removing. And the Middle East commentators are worriedly reacting to the Iran situation. Here are some highlights.  From Newsweek:       The U.S. announced on July 30 the largest Iran-related sanctions since 2018 , targeting entities and vessels linked to the country's petroleum sector: 20 oil firms, 5 vessel management companies, 1 wholesaler, and over 115 individuals in 17 countries and regions, including the U.K., Italy, Switzerland, India, the UAE and Hong Kong.       U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said: "Today's Depar...
Post a Comment
Read more

“Quit the nuclear deal”

The E3 (Britan, France, Germany) upped their ante with a letter to the UN Security Council on August 12, 2025, that included: ‘ if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism ’. (AP, Aug 13, 2025)  So far, we have an Iranian response from Parliament member Manouchehr Mottaki — who was Iran’s top diplomat for five years in the 2000s — saying the Iranian parliament has a “ finger on the trigger ” for quitting the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. “ We only need 24 hours to approve quitting the nuclear deal, ” if the E3 raises the issue at the U.N. Security Council, Mottaki said. (AP, Aug 13, 2025)  On ‘extension’, following July’s meeting in Istanbul [between E3 and Iran], an E3 diplomat said Iran could delay [snapback] by doing two things [1] renewing cooperation with the Vienna-based IAEA and [2] addressing concerns about its highly enriche...
Post a Comment
Read more