One Less Raider

Ensign Willett heard the lookout sing:

"Two enemy raiders off the starboard bow." He raced to the deck of the U.S. merchantman just in time to stop a shower of splinters from the first shell. As he lay dazed, more shells screamed over the deep blue South Atlantic to bury themselves in the ship's unarmored sides.

Ensign Willett, commander of the Navy gun crew, staggered to his feet, went to the after gun and opened fire on the smaller of the two raiders. The forward gun, under the command of the second mate, blazed away at the large raider. Other hands busied themselves with the wounded.

For nearly half an hour the battle raged, two raiders against one freighter. Heavily outgunned, the merchantman made every shell count. Ensign Willett saw the stern of the smaller raider burst into flame. Then a shell blew up the merchantman's main boiler, reduced her speed to one knot. A few seconds later another shell hit the magazine.

The after gun crew was blown off the deck by the explosion, but somehow Ensign Willett stayed at his gun. He fired his five remaining shells, watched the long, yellow flames licking the raider from stem to stern. Then he dragged himself to his boat station. He was not seen again.

The merchantman was burning in several places, settling fast. The captain gave the order to abandon ship. Some of the ship's crew of 41 had been killed or wounded; all the ship's boats except one had been smashed by the shelling. As she went down, her colors flying, many of the crew were swept away by the high seas.

One boat pulled away with a score of survivors and set sail in the general direction of South America. Within a few days men with wounds got gangrene. Several died. Squalls nearly swamped the rest, but the rain was welcome. On the 26th day they saw a moth and two butterflies. Five days later 15 haggard men stumbled ashore, the only known survivors of the anonymous U.S. merchantman which had destroyed one of Grand Admiral Erich Raeder's deadly raiders.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.