When, ten minutes later, I looked I saw the buoy again, still at the
same distance behind us. I steered to the right and then to the left,
but the buoy kept on following us. I descended deeply into the water,
but still saw the buoy floating on the surface above us. At last I
discovered that we had caught the chain of the buoy and that we were
dragging it along with us.
"At the same time, also, I saw through the periscope that a strange
small steamer was steering a course directly behind us and the buoy. At
this time my sounding apparatus indicated that a screw steamer was in
the vicinity. Observation revealed that five enemy torpedo-boats were
approaching from the north. I increased the speed of the boat in the
expectation of being able to attack one of them. The five torpedo-boats
arranged themselves in a circle. I sank still deeper and got ready for
eventualities.
"At this juncture my boat began to roll in a most incomprehensible
manner. We began to rise and sink alternately. The steering-gear
apparently was out of order. Soon afterward I discovered that we had
encountered a wire netting and were hopelessly entangled in it. We had,
in fact, got into the net of one of the hunters surrounding us.
"For an hour and a half the netting carried us with it, and although I
made every effort to get clear of it, it seemed impossible. There was
nothing to do but increase the weight in the submarine as much as
possible so that I might try to break the netting.
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