re was a grim silence for a moment, then
First Officer Krapohl remarked dryly:

"Well, we seem to have arrived!"

This broke the ghastly tension.

We were all rather pale around the gills, but at once tried to
get our bearings.

What had happened?

What had caused this unnatural inclination of the boat? And why
were the engines above us raving at intervals in a way that made
the whole boat roar from stem to stern?

Before any of us had arrived at any solution of the mystery, our
Chief Engineer, little Klees, had jumped up from his crouching
position, and, swift as lightning, had swept the engine-signal
dial around to "Stop!"

And suddenly there was a deep silence.

We slowly assembled our proper legs and arms and thought hard
over what had happened.

The vessel had slanted down toward the bows at an angle of about
36 degrees. She was standing, so to speak, on her head. Our bow
was fast upon the bottom of the sea--our stern was still
oscillating up and down like a mighty pendulum. The manometer
showed a depth of about 15 meters.[2]

[Footnote 2: (C)]

[Illustration: Permission of _Scientific American_.

_Diagram of a German Submarine Mine-Layer Captured by British._]

However, the _Deutschland_ finally worked herself free and soon was
again on the surface. Luck must have been with her, for she had
suffered no damage and, in spite of the mountains of water which she
must have thrown up, the hostile destroyer had not discovered her.
Once more she was off on her way.

So the days went by and before long the merchant submarine had
passed, without having been detected, beyond the territory in which
British patrol boats were operating. Then came a succession of
uneventful days and fine weather. Practically every day diving tests
were made. One of these the captain describes as follows:

During these experimental diving tests we were treated to a
spectacle of fairy-like loveliness.

I had set the rudder in such a way that the turret was travelling
about three yards under water. Overhead the sun shone brilliantly
and filled the deeps with a clear radiance. The pure water was
luminous with colour--close at hand it was of a light azure blue,
of fabulous clearness and transparent as glass. I could see the
entire boat from the turret windows. The shimmering pea