My surmise was right, for before I got very far some British cruisers
and destroyers were on the spot, and the destroyers took up the chase. I
kept under water most of the way, but managed to get off a wireless to
the German fleet that I was heading homeward and being pursued. I hoped
to entice the enemy, by allowing them now and then a glimpse of me, into
the zone in which they might be exposed to capture or destruction by
German warships, but, although their destroyers saw me plainly at dusk
on the 22d and made a final effort to stop me, they abandoned the
attempt, as it was taking them too far from safety and needlessly
exposing them to attack from our fleet and submarines.
How much they feared our submarines and how wide was the agitation
caused by good little U-9 is shown by the English reports that a whole
flotilla of German submarines had attacked the cruisers and that this
flotilla had approached under cover of the flag of Holland.
These reports were absolutely untrue. U-9 was the only submarine on
deck, and she flew the flag she still flies--the German naval
ensign--which I hope to keep forever as a glorious memento and as an
inspiration for devotion to the Fatherland.
I reached the home port on the afternoon of the 23d, and on the 24th
went to Wilhelmshaven, to find that news of my effort had become public.
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