All Eighteen Men In One Arrest

We believed to notice when we left the Commander that only with difficulty he kept from laughing. "You Torpedo-Master, is this the keg of beer the General was going to buy for us?" asked the Telegraph-Master. We all looked at each other and then burst into laughter. "We should hire the Torpedo-Master as our fortune teller and clairvoyant." Machine-Man Strasser joked. "You may all #*&#* me!' answered the Torpedo-Master as he left. "He is quite upset over it." noticed the Machine-Man.

Now they built a temporary jail on board the Panonia. A boardwall was set up in a square down in the cargo hold large enough for all eighteen men. No bench or cot for laying down. "It's dark, but for that every comfort is lacking." said Pernauer when we moved in. One man from the reserve crew was on day-charge on deck. Besides his ammunition pockets he carried a throw-line in his hand. Another man took care of inspection. He was down in the cargo hold and also served as our guard. When he locked us up he suggested that we should take it to heart before he went away.

But we would rather take it to the belly. He was scarcely out of sight when we started. "Hello, Guard! We are thirsty!" The sentry took the wine pitcher and brought water. "The water is not drinkable." we complained. So he brought us wine. That was much better. "You see, this one knows his way around." said one. "Hey guard, bring the mandolin." called another again. He brought the mandolin and because he did not want to keep running back and forth he also brought the zither and my mouth organ.

Our thirst grew bigger and we kept him going anyway. Actually, it was the day-charge that did the going so the guard did not have to climb up on deck every time. He used his throw line to lower all the things he had to bring us.

At nine o'clock in the evening when the Commander came to see us and to see if we were repentant, all he could see was a jumble of legs and instruments. The wine had done its job. Then he chased us out. For that we had the next three days trial runs.