Occasionally a merchant ship can do a great deal better
than escape, witness the plucky action of the Newcastle steamer • Thordis.' Captain Bell when off Beachy Head last Sunday morning saw the periscope of a submarine. A torpedo was fired at his steamer, but owing largely to the heavy sea run- ning, it missed its mark. "The vessels closed on one another, and then the Thordis,' lurching heavily and jumping in the seaway, smashed down on top of the submarine. There was a great crash and a noise of rending plates and a shock that was felt all over the Thordis: The periscope disappeared and oil floated on the sea." An examination of the ship's bottom by Admiralty experts in dry dock at Devonport on Thursday is stated to bear out Captain Bell's report. It seems highly probable that the ship will earn the reward of £500 offered by the Syron and Shipping to the first British merchant ship to sink a German submarine.
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