CHAPTER XIV

BELGO-GERMAN OPERATIONS

For the most part the activity of the Belgian army in February, 1915,

consisted of a continuous succession of advanced-post encounters,

in which detachments of from thirty to forty soldiers fought with

the Germans on the narrow strips of land which remained inundated,

while the artillery of the contending forces bombarded the trenches

and the machine-gun forts. The intermittent artillery duel continued

through the forepart of February, 1915, and on February 14, 1915,

the Germans bombarded Nieuport, Bains and the Dune trenches, and

continued the bombardment on February 15, 1915, and again on February

20, 1915.

Near Dixmude on February 28, 1915, the Belgian artillery demolished

two of the German trenches, and their infantry occupied a farm on

the right bank of the Yser. One of their aviators dropped bombs

on the harbor station at Ostend.

By the beginning of March, 1915, strips of dry land began to be

seen in the flooded region; and, along these, the Belgians advanced

at Dixmude and the bend of the Yser. They won additional bridgeheads

on the northern bank of the river. By the middle of the month, March,

1915, the Belgians had obtained a strategical point by possessing

Oudstuyvenkerke on the Schoorbakke highway. From there they could

force the Germans back until they were in a position that would

prevent any German action against the Dixmude bridgehead.

On March 18, 1915, the Belgian army continued its progress on the

Yser, and on March 23, 1915, the artillery destroyed several German

observation points. A division of the Belgian army made some progress

on the right bank of the Yser on March 24, 1915; while another was

taking a German trench on the left bank. The almost continuous

artillery fighting was more active in the Nieuport region on March

26, 1915; and farther south a farm north of St. Georges in advance

of the allied lines was taken and held.

But the Belgian army was unable to take any decisive action against

the left wing of the German army during the spring and summer of

1915, both on account of the wetness of the land and the activity

of the German artillery. Yet it harassed the Germans by so much

activity that the Teutons continued to add to their heavy howitzers

and large caliber naval guns. Nevertheless the Belgian strategy

gained for its little army many advantages of tactical importance.

It seemed to be a part of the plan of the Belgian generals to give

their new troops, which were filling up the previously thinned

ranks, a training under heavy bombardments without risking the

lives or liberty of many of their men. They held the old cobbled

roads which remained about the waters, using an almost innumerable

number of trenches for that purpose.

The Germans sought to obviate this check to their activities by

approaching on rafts on which were machine guns, from which attempts

were made to pour an enfilading fire on the trenches. Thereupon the

Belgian sharpshooters became especially active and exterminated

the machine-gun crews before the Germans could take advantage of

the position they had gained by using the rafts.

Finally the waters subsided and the mud which remained dried. As

soon as the ground became firm enough to support troops the Belgians

became so active that the Germans desired more men, but their soldiers

were also needed in many other sections of the western front, and

for the time being none could be sent against the Belgians. Hence

King Albert's troops continued to make progress.

The Germans made an attack between Nieuport and the sea on May

9, 1915, but were repulsed. To the north of Dixmude the Belgians

were violently attacked during the night of May 10, 1915, by three

German battalions. They were repulsed and suffered large losses.

On the night of May 16, 1915, the Germans threatened with complete

envelopment by the successful attacks of preceding days, evacuated

the positions which they had occupied to the west of the Yser Canal,

and they gained nothing on the eastern bank. The Germans left about

two thousand dead and many rifles when they were forced from the

western bank. On the following night, May 17, 1915, the positions

on the eastern bank were consolidated, and a German counterattack,

which was preceded by a bombardment, was repulsed. The Germans

gained a footing in the trenches to the east of the Yser Canal in

an attack made on the night of May 20, 1915, but they were driven

out and lost some of the ground they had held before making the

attack.

The Germans made a violent attack on the edge of the Belgian front

at Nieuport in order to prevent the Belgians from aiding in the

defense of Ypres, but the Belgians defended Nieuport with one army

corps and made an advance on Dixmude with another corps, with the

result that they assisted the Zouaves in taking the German bridgeheads

on the western bank of the canal above Ypres. These bridgeheads

were protected by forts manned by machine guns, and the approaches

were commanded by heavy artillery fire, but defense was destroyed

in the middle of May, 1915.

The Germans concentrated their efforts against the Belgians at one

point between Ypres and Dixmude. They bombarded the trenches, using

bombs filled with poisonous gas. When they believed the Belgians had

been overcome by the gas the German infantry charged. The Belgians,

however, had kept their faces close to the ground, thus escaping

most of the fumes from the shells. When the Germans arrived within

easy range they were greeted with machine-gun fire to such an extent

that the companies leading the charge were slain.

A battalion of Belgian troops on June 14, 1915, gained the east bank

of the Yser south of the Dixmude railroad bridge, and established

themselves there. The Belgians also destroyed a German blockhouse

in the vicinity of the Château of Dixmude. The Belgian troops,

south of St. Georges, captured a German trench, all the defenders

of which were killed or made prisoners on June 22, 1915.

After the canal line was won, and the Belgians were in position

to hold it, they could make little headway eastward. Their advance

was checked by a series of batteries which were concealed in the

Forest of Houthulst. These batteries, containing many guns of large

caliber, continued to shell the Belgian trenches to such an extent

that it was necessary for their inhabitants to keep close to the

bomb-proof chambers with which the trenches were liberally supplied.

But the Belgians kept so many of the German troops occupied that,

in this way, they gave great aid to their allies, and enabled the

French and British to regain much of the territory which was lost

in the first attack which the Germans made with poisonous gas. The

remainder of the summer was occupied with intermittent artillery

duels and minor engagements between the opposing trench lines.

In the meantime the Belgian army was adding to the number of its

troops and gathering munitions for an aggressive movement.

PART II--NAVAL OPERATIONS

* * * * *

CHAPTER XV

THE WAR ZONE

The war on the seas, with the long-expected battle between the fleets

of the great nations, developed during the second six months of the

war into a strange series of adventures. The fleets of the British

and the Germans stood like huge phantoms--the first enshrouded in

mystery somewhere in the Irish and North Seas; the second held

in leash behind the Kiel Canal, awaiting the opportune moment to

make its escape.

These tense, waiting days were broken by sensational and spectacular

incidents--not so much through the sea fights of great modern warships

as through the adventures of the raiders on the seven seas, the

exploits of the submarines, and the daring attempt of the allied

fleets to batter down the mighty forts in the Dardanelles and bombard

their way toward Constantinople--the coveted stronghold of the

Ottoman Empire. The several phases of these naval operations are

described in special chapters in this volume, therefore we will

now confine ourselves to the general naval developments.

In the spring of 1915 the threat made by Admiral von Tirpitz that

Germany would carry on war against British and allied shipping by

sinking their vessels with submarines, was made effective. The

submersible craft began to appear on all the coasts of the British

Isles. It infested the Irish Sea to such an extent that shipping

between England and Ireland was seriously menaced.

A particularly daring raid took place on the night of February

1, 1915, when a number of submarines tried to scuttle ships lying

at Dover. The attack failed, but drew fire from the guns of the

fort here.[*]

[Footnote *: See chapter on "Exploits of the Submarines."]

On the 5th of February, 1915, the German Naval Staff announced

that beginning February 18, 1915, the waters around Great Britain

would be considered a "war zone." This was in retaliation for the

blockade maintained against Germany by the British navy. The

proclamation read as follows:

"The waters round Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole

of the English Channel, are herewith proclaimed a war region.

"On and after February 18, 1915, every enemy merchant vessel found

in this war region will be destroyed without its always being possible

to warn the crew or passengers of the dangers threatening.

"Neutral ships will also incur danger in the war region, where,

in view of the misuse of the neutral flags ordered by the British

Government and incidents inevitable in sea warfare, attacks intended

for hostile ships may affect neutral ships also.

"The sea passage to the north of the Shetland Islands and the eastern

region of the North Sea in a zone of at least thirty miles along

the Netherlands coast is not menaced by any danger.

"(Signed) Berlin, February 4, 1915, Chief of Naval Staff,

VON POHL."

The effect of this proclamation, which was in truth nothing more

than official sanction for the work that the submarines had been doing

for some weeks, and which they continued to do, was to bring Germany

into diplomatic controversy with neutral countries, particularly

the United States; such controversy is taken up in a different

chapter of this history. In connection with the naval history of

the Great War it suffices to say that such a proclamation constituted

a precedent in naval history. The submarine had heretofore been

an untried form of war craft. The rule had formerly been that a

merchantman stopped by an enemy's warship was subject to search

and seizure, and, if it offered no resistance, was taken to one

of the enemy's ports as a prize. If it offered resistance it might

be summarily sunk. But it was impossible for submarines to take

ships into port on account of the patrols of allied warships; and

the limited quarters of submarines made it impossible to take aboard

them the crews of ships which they sank.

[Illustration: THE GERMAN SUBMARINE WAR ZONE]

Reference made to the use of neutral flags quoted in the German

proclamation had been induced by the fact that certain of the British

merchant ships, after Germany had begun to send them to the bottom

whenever one of its submarines caught up with them had gone through

the waters where the submarines operated flying the flag of the

United States and other neutral powers in order to deceive the

commanders of the submarines. The latter had little time to do

more than take a brief observation of merchantmen which they sank,

and one of the first things they sought was the nationality of the

flag that the intended victims carried; unless they could be sure

of the identity of a ship through familiarity with the lines of

her hull, they ran the risk, in attacking a ship flying a neutral

flag, of sinking a vessel belonging to a neutral power.

Here was another matter that opened up diplomatic exchanges between

Germany and the United States, and between the United States and

England. It suffices here to give not only the controversy or the

points involved, but the record of events. The first use of the flag

of a neutral country by a ship belonging to one of the belligerents

in the Great War occurred on January 31, 1915, when the Cunard liner

_Orduna_ carried the American flag at her forepeak in journeying

from Liverpool to Queenstown. She again did so on February 1, 1915,

when she left the latter port for New York. And another notable

instance was on February 11, 1915, when the _Lusitania_, another

Cunard liner, arrived at Liverpool flying the American flag in

obedience to orders issued by the British admiralty. It was only

the prominence of these vessels which gave them notoriety in this

regard; the same practice was indulged in by many smaller ships.

"What will happen after the 18th?" was the one important question

asked during February, 1915, by the public of the neutral as well

as belligerent countries.

February 18, 1915, arrived and saw Von Pohl's proclamation go into

effect, and from that date onward the toll of ships sunk, both

of neutral and belligerent countries, grew longer daily.

But before the German submarines could begin the new campaign,

those of the British navy became active, and it was admitted in

Berlin on February 15, 1915, that British submarines had made their

way into the Baltic, through the sound between Sweden and Denmark,

where they attacked the German cruiser _Gazelle_ unsuccessfully.

Nor was the British navy inactive in other ways, though it had

been greatly discredited by the fact that the German submarines

were playing havoc with British shipping right at England's door. A

fleet of two battleships and several cruisers drew up off Westende

and bombarded the German trenches on the 4th of February, 1915.

Only one day after the war-zone proclamation went into effect the

Allies brought out their trump card for the spring of 1915.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVI

ATTACK ON THE DARDANELLES

By the middle of February, 1915, the Allies completed the arrangement

for the naval attack on the Dardanelles. The military part of the

campaign in these regions is treated in the chapter on the "Campaign

in the Dardanelles"; hence we must confine ourselves at present

to the general naval affairs. The naval operations began with the

concentration in the adjacent waters of a powerful fleet consisting

of both French and British ships.

The ships engaged were the _Queen Elizabeth_, with her main battery of

15-inch guns, the _Inflexible_, veteran of the fight off the Falkland

Islands, the _Agamemnon, Cornwallis, Triumph_, and _Vengeance_. In

addition to these British ships there were the French battleships

_Suffren, Gaulois_, and _Bouvet_, and a fleet of destroyers. The

senior British officer was Vice Admiral Sackville Carden, and the

French commander was Admiral Guepratte. A new "mother ship" for

a squadron of seaplanes was also part of the naval force; this

was the ship _Ark Royal_. At eight in the morning on February 19,

1915, this powerful fleet started "The Great Attempt."

After bombarding the Turkish forts till three in the afternoon

without receiving a single reply from the guns of the forts, the

warships ceased firing and went in closer to the shore, the allied

commanders believing that the forts had not replied because they

all had been put out of action. The fallacy of this belief was

discovered when, at the shortened range, shells began to fall about

the ships. None was hit; when dusk came on they retired.

Stormy weather prevented further action on the part of the warships

for almost a week, but on February 25, 1915, they resumed their

bombardment. The _Irresistible_ and _Albion_ had by then joined

the other British ships, and the _Charlemagne_ had augmented the

French force.

At ten o'clock in the morning of February 25, 1915, the _Queen

Elizabeth, Gaulois, Irresistible_, and _Agamemnon_ began to fire

on the forts Sedd-el-Bahr, Orkanieh, Kum Kale, and Cape Hellas--the

outer forts--at long range, and drew replies from the Turkish guns.

It was out of all compliance with naval tradition for warships

to stand and engage land fortifications, for lessons learned by

naval authorities from the Spanish-American and Russo-Japanese

wars had established precedents which prohibited it. But here the

larger warships were carrying heavier guns than those in the forts.

Whereas the _Queen Elizabeth_ carried 15-inch guns, the largest

of the Turkish guns measured only 10.2 inches.

At 11.30 o'clock in the morning of February 25, 1915, the _Agamemnon_

was hit with a shell which had traveled six miles, but it did not

damage her beyond repair. Meanwhile the _Queen Elizabeth_ had silenced

Cape Hellas, firing from a distance far beyond the range of the

forts' guns. And then, just before noon, and after the larger ship

had silenced the main battery at Cape Hellas, the ships _Vengeance_

and _Cornwallis_ dashed in at shorter range and destroyed the minor

batteries there. The _Suffren_ and _Charlemagne_ also took part

in this phase of the engagement, and later, in the afternoon, the

_Triumph_ and _Albion_ concentrated fire on Sedd-el-Bahr, silencing

its last guns by five o'clock in the evening.

The larger ships needed the respite during the night of February

25, 1915, while trawlers, which had been brought down from the

North Sea for the purpose, began to sweep the entrance to the forts

for mines, and cleared enough of them out by the morning of the 26th

to enable the _Majestic_--which had by then joined the fleet--and

the _Albion_ and _Vengeance_ to steam in between the flanking shores

and fire at the forts on the Asiatic side. It was known by the allied

commanders that they might expect return fire from Fort Dardanos,

but this they did not fear, for they knew that its heaviest gun

measured but 5.9 inches. But they had a surprise when concealed

batteries near by, the presence of which had not been suspected,

suddenly began to fire. Believing now that the Turks were abandoning

the forts at the entrance, the allied ships covered the landing

of parties of marines.

Long-range firing had by the end of February 26, 1915, enabled

the allied fleets to silence the outer forts and to clear their

way to the straits. They now had to take up the task of destroying

the real defenses of the Dardanelles--the forts at the Narrows,

and this was a harder task, for long-range firing was no longer

possible. The guns of the forts and those of the ships would be

meeting on a more equal basis.

But this was not to be essayed at once, for more rough weather

kept the fleets from using their guns effectively, their trawlers

continued to sweep the waters for mines near the Narrows. By March

3, 1915, however, the commanders were ready to resume operations.

The _Lord Nelson_ and the _Ocean_ had by then also arrived on the

scene, and in the subsequent operations were hit a number of times

by the Turkish guns; and the _Canopus, Swiftsure, Prince George_,

and _Sapphire_, though they did not report being hit, were also

known to have been present.

The new "eyes" of the fleets located new and concealed batteries

placed in position by the Turks, and at two o'clock in the afternoon

of February 3, 1915, they ascended to direct the fire of the ships'

guns by signal. The bombardment was kept up till darkness fell,

but it was resumed on the next day.

On March 4, 1915, the _Queen Elizabeth_, so great was the range

of her guns, was able to reach the forts Hamadieh I, Tabia, and

Hamadieh II, firing across the Gallipoli Peninsula. Three times

she was hit by shells from field pieces lying between her and her

target, but no great damage was done to her. While her guns roared

out, the _Suffren, Albion, Prince George, Vengeance_, and _Majestic_

went inside the straits and had attacked the forts at Soundere,

Mount Dardanos, and Rumili Medjidieh Tabia, and were fired upon

by Turkish guns from the forts and from concealed batteries which

struck these ships, but not a man was killed or a ship put out

of action.

March 7, 1915, the _Agamemnon_ and _Lord Nelson_ attacked the forts

at the Narrows, their bombardment being covered by the four French

battleships. All of the ships were struck, but again none of them

was put out of action. After heavy shelling forts Rumili Medjidieh

Tabia and Hamadieh I were silenced.

While these operations were going on, another British fleet, consisting

of battleships and cruisers, on March 5, 1915, began an attack

on Smyrna. For two hours, and in fine, clear weather, Fort Yeni

Kale was damaged after being subjected to heavy bombardment, but

it was not silenced when dusk interrupted the attack.

Little was accomplished for some days afterward. Some of the forts

which had been reported silenced were getting ready to resume firing;

their silence had been due to the fact that the defenders often had

to leave their guns while the gases generated by the firing cleared

off, and they had also thought it wiser to conserve ammunition

rather than fire-ineffective shots. Sedd-el-Bahr and Kum Kale were

able to resume firing in a few days, for though the shells of the

allied fleets had damaged the structural parts of these defenses,

they had not landed troops out to occupy them, with the result

that the Turks were enabled to intrench near the ruins and there

reset their guns.

On the morning of March 15, 1915, the small British cruiser _Amethyst_

made a dash into the Narrows, which when reported led the British

and French public to believe that the defense had been forced, but,

as a matter of fact, this exploit was a bit of stratagem, being

only designed to draw the fire of concealed batteries.

On March 18, 1915, "The Great Effort" was made to force the defenses

with naval operations, all previous work having been preliminary.

The battleships _Agamemnon, Prince George, Queen Elizabeth, Lord

Nelson, Triumph_, and _Inflexible_ steamed right up to the Narrows.

Four of them bombarded Chanak and a battery which lay opposite

it, and the forts at Saghandere, Kephez Point, and Dardanos were

kept busy by the _Triumph_ and the _Prince George_. After the fleet

had been at it for an hour and a half they received the support

of the four French ships which steamed in close and attacked the

forts at a shorter range. When the forts ceased firing the six

battleships _Ocean, Swiftsure, Majestic, Albion, Irresistible_,

and _Vengeance_ came in and tried to carry the attack further.

While the French squadron maneuvered to allow freedom of action

for this newer British squadron the Turkish guns resumed fire.

Then came the first of a series of disasters. Three shells struck

the _Bouvet_, and she soon began to keel over. When the underwater

part of her hull came into view it was seen that she had been hit

underneath, probably by one of the mines which the Turks had floated

toward the crowded ships. She sank almost immediately, carrying

the greater part of her crew down with her. Only two hours later

another mine did damage to the _Irresistible_, and she left the

line, listing heavily. While she floated and while she was under

heavy fire from Turkish guns a destroyer took off her crew. She

sank just before six o'clock. Not fifteen minutes later the _Ocean_

became the third victim of a floating mine, and she also went to

the bottom. Destroyers rescued many of her crew from the water.

The guns from the forts were also able to do damage; the _Gaulois_

had been hit again and again, with the result that she had a hole

in her hull and her upper works were damaged badly. Fire had broken

out on the _Inflexible_, and a number of her officers and crew

had been either killed or wounded. The day ended with the forts

still able to return a lively fire to all attacks, and "The Great

Attempt" on the part of the allied fleets had failed.

On the other end of the passage there had also been some naval

operations, when, on March 28, 1915, the Black Sea Fleet of the

Russian navy had bombarded the forts on the Bosphorous. Smyrna was

again attacked on April 6, 1915. The operations of allied submarines

were the next phases of the attack on the Dardanelles to be reported.

The _E-5_ grounded near Kephez Point on April 17, 1915, but before

she could be captured by the Turks picket boats from the allied

fleet rescued her crew and then destroyed her. It was just two

months now since the naval operations had begun at the Dardanelles;

it was seen then that all attempts to take them by naval operations

alone must fail as did the attack of March 18, 1915.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVII

GERMAN RAIDERS AND SUBMARINES

The next important event in the naval history of the war occurred

in far-distant waters. On March 10, 1915, there ended the wonderful

career of the German auxiliary cruiser _Prinz Eitel Friedrich_,

Captain Thierichens, which on that date put in at the American

port of Newport News, Va., for repairs, after making the harbor

in spite of the watch kept on it by British cruisers. She brought

with her more than 500 persons, 200 of them being her own crew,

and the remainder being passengers and crews of French, British,

Russian, and American ships that had been her victims in her roving

over 30,000 miles of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans since leaving

Tsing-tau seven months before.

She had sent eight merchant ships to the bottom, one of them being

the _William P. Frye_, an American vessel carrying wheat, three

British ships, three flying the French flag, and one Russian ship.

Their total tonnage came to 18,245. The fact that she had sunk an

American ship on the high seas opened up still another diplomatic

controversy between Germany and the United States, which cannot

be treated here.

When she left Tsing-tau she took as her crew the men from the German

gunboats _Tiger_ and _Luchs_, and had their four 4.1-inch and some of

their one-pounder guns as her armament. Soon afterward she stopped

the British ship _Schargost_ and expected to refill her coal bunkers

from those of the merchantman, but in this she was disappointed,

for those of the latter were almost empty. Her next victim was

a French sailing vessel, _Jean_, and on board this was found a

pleasant surprise for the German raider, for the vessel was laden

with coal. Captain Thierichens had her towed 1,500 miles, to Easter

Island, where the coal was transferred to the bunkers of the _Eitel

Friedrich_, and the crews of her first three victims were put ashore.

These marooned men were burdens to the white inhabitants of the

island, for there was not too much food for the extra forty-eight

mouths. Finally, on February 26, 1915, the Swedish ship _Nordic_

saw them signaling from the island and took them off, landing them

at Panama on the day after the _Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ entered

Newport News.

By the beginning of December, 1914, the German raider was in the

South Atlantic, and while there heard wireless messages exchanged

between the ships of the British fleet that took part in the battle

off the Falkland Islands. The bark _Isabella Browne_, flying the

Russian flag, was the next ship overtaken by the _Eitel Friedrich_,

on January 26, 1915. She was boarded and all of her provisions

and stores were removed to the German ship; after her crew and

their personal effects were taken aboard the German ship she was

dynamited and sank. On that same morning the French ship _Pierre

Loti_ was sighted, and while the _Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ put an

end to her, after first taking off her crew, the captive crew of

the _Isabella Browne_ was sent below, but was allowed to come on

deck to watch the sinking of the French ship. The American ship

_William P. Frye_ was sunk soon afterward, and her crew, also,

was made part of the party on board the raider. After sinking the

French bark _Jacobsen_ the _Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ stopped the

_Thalasia_ on February 8, 1915, and let her go on her way, but

on February 18 the British ships _Cindracoe_ and _Mary Ada Scott_

were sunk. On the 19th the French steamer _Floride_ was overtaken

off the coast of Brazil; all persons aboard her were transferred to

the German ship and most of her provisions were also taken aboard

the latter; the _Floride_, the largest steamer destroyed by the

German ship, was set afire and left to burn. On February 20, 1915,

the British ship _Willerby_ was overtaken and nearly sank the _Prinz

Eitel Friedrich_ before being boarded. As the German ship passed

across the stern of the other at a short distance the British captain,

knowing that the end of his own ship was near, decided to take his

captor down with him. He tried to ram the German ship with the

stern of his ship, but failed in the attempt.

On the evening of February 20, 1915, the wireless operator of the

_Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ heard British cruisers "talking" with each

other, one of them being the _Berwick_. The German captain now saw

that his long raiding cruise was up, for though he could replenish

his stores and bunkers from captured ships he could not make the

many repairs which his vessel needed. To put them off at a neutral

port or to let them go in one of the ships he captured would mean

that his position would be reported to British ships within a week.

He therefore decided to end his raiding and put in at Newport News.

His vessel was interned in the American port.

We may now return to the story of the blockade against Germany

and the retaliation she sought. The Allies were now stopping as

much shipping on its way to Germany as they dared without bringing

on trouble with neutral powers. The _Dacia_, formerly a German

merchantman, was taken over, after the outbreak of the war, by an

American citizen and sailed from New Orleans for Rotterdam with a

cargo of cotton on February 12, 1915. She was stopped by a French

warship and taken to a French port February 27, 1915, and there

held till the matter of the validity of her transfer of registry

could be settled.

On the other hand the German submarine exploits continued and found

among their victims a British warship, along with the many merchantmen.

On March 11, 1915, the British auxiliary cruiser _Bayano_, while on

patrol duty became the victim of a German torpedo off the Scotch

coast. She went down almost immediately, carrying with her the

greater part of her crew.

But not always were the submarines immune. Only the day before

the British destroyer _Ariel_ rammed the German submarine _U-12_

and sent her to the bottom, after rescuing her crew. She was of an

older type, built in 1911, of submarine, and had played an active

part in the raiding in British waters. On February 21, 1915, she

had sunk the Irish coasting steamer _Downshire_ in the Irish Sea,

and her destruction was particularly welcome in British shipping

circles.

Once more an incident in the naval warfare of the Great War was

to involve diplomatic exchanges between the belligerents and the

United States. The African liner _Falaba_, a British ship on her

way from Liverpool to Lisbon, was torpedoed in St. George's Channel

on the afternoon of March 28, 1915. She had as one of her passengers

an American, L. C. Thrasher, who lost his life when the ship sank.

The naval warfare was proceeding like a game of checkers. When on

March 14, 1915, there came the end of still another of the German

raiding cruisers, the _Dresden_. She was a cruiser built in 1907

and having a displacement of 3,544 tons. Her speed was good--24.5

knots--and her armament of ten 4.1-inch guns and eight 5-pounder

guns made her quite a match for enemy warships of her class and

superior as for merchantmen. She was a sister ship to that other

famous raider the _Emden_. In 1909 she had taken her place among

the other foreign warships in the line in the Hudson River,

participating in the Hudson-Fulton Celebration. In the spring of

1914 she was in the neighborhood of Central America and rescued

a number of foreign refugees who fled from Mexico, and also took

Senor Huerta from Puerto Mexico.

She was still in that neighborhood when the war broke out, and

was immediately sought after by British and French warships which

were near by. She managed to get away from these pursuers and sank

the British steamers _Hyades_ and _Holmwood_ off the Brazilian

coast during the latter part of August, 1914. She then went south,

rounded the Horn and joined the other ships under command of Admiral

Von Spee, taking part in the battle off Coronel, on November 1,

1914.

She remained with that squadron and took part in a second battle--that

off the Falkland Islands--on December 8, 1914. When Admiral von

Spee saw that he had little chance of winning the battle he gave

orders that the lighter ships should leave the line and seek safety

in flight. The _Dresden_ was one of the ships which escaped, to

the chagrin of the British Admiral. She then turned "raider."

Five days later, on December 13, 1914, she had appeared off Punta

Arenas, in the Straits of Magellan, stopped at that port long enough

to take on some provisions and put to sea again, with British and

Japanese warships on her trail. She was too closely hunted to be

able to sink many ships, but during the week of March 12, 1915,

she sank the British steamer _Conway Castle_, off the coast of

Chile, and took coal and provisions from the two German steamers

_Alda_ and _Sierra Cordoba_.

On March 14, 1915, she was sighted by the British cruisers _Glasgow,

Kent_ and _Orama_ near Juan Fernandez Island. What then ensued is

in doubt, owing to conflicting reports made by the senior British

officer and by the captain of the German cruiser. The latter insisted

that, seeing his ship was at the end of her career, he ordered his

men to leave her and then blew her up. The former declared that

shots were exchanged, that she was set afire and was otherwise

badly damaged by the British fire. At any rate, she was destroyed,

and all of her men were saved. It was estimated that the amount

of damage she inflicted on allied trade amounted to $1,250,000.

Thus at the end of March, 1915, only the _Karlsruhe_ and _Kronprinz

Wilhelm_, of the eleven German warships that were detached from the

main German fleet in the North Sea at the outbreak of the war, and

of the few ships which slipped out of various ports as converted

auxiliary cruisers, were still at large on the high seas.

Naval activity in the northern waters of Europe did not abate.

The British admiralty on March 25, 1915, had announced that the

German submarine _U-29_, one of the most improved craft of the

type in use, had been sunk. This loss was admitted by the German

admiralty on April 7, 1915. It was a serious loss to the German

navy, for its commander was Otto von Weddigen, he who in the _U-9_,

had sent the _Cressy, Aboukir_ and _Hogue_ to the bottom in September,

1914.

The naval warfare at the Dardanelles proceeded in the same desultory

fashion. A Turkish torpedo boat caught up with the British transport

_Manitou_, and opened fire on her, killing some twenty of the soldiers

on board.

In answer to calls for help from the _Manitou_ the British cruiser

_Minerva_ and some torpedo boats went to the scene and attacked the

Turkish craft on April 7, 1915, driving it ashore off Chios and

destroyed it as it lay beached. But during April, 1915, it seemed

as though there would be another pitched fight between British and

German warships in the North Sea. On April 23, 1915, the German

admiralty announced that "the German High Sea Fleet has recently

cruised repeatedly in the North Sea, advancing into English waters

without meeting the sea forces of Great Britain." The British admiralty

had undoubtedly been aware of this activity on the part of their

enemy, but for reasons of their own did not choose to send British

ships to meet the German fleet, and the expected battle did not

take place.

France, on April 26, 1915, was to sustain a severe loss to her

navy; she had up to this time not lost as many ships as her ally,

England, or her enemy, Germany, but her navy was so much smaller

than either of them that the sinking of the _Leon Gambetta_ on

that date was a matter of weight. The _Gambetta_ was an armored

cruiser, built in 1904, and carrying four 7.6-inch guns, sixteen

6.4-inch guns and a number of smaller caliber. She had a speed

of twenty-three knots. While doing patrol duty in the Strait of

Otranto she was made the victim of the Austrian submarine _U-5_,

and sank, carrying with her 552 men.

On April 28, 1915, there occurred another incident which gave rise

to diplomatic exchanges between Germany and the United States.

On that date a German seaplane attacked the American merchantman

in broad daylight in the North Sea, but fortunately for its crew

the ship was not sent to the bottom. The first American ship to

be struck by a torpedo in the war zone established by the German

admiralty's proclamation of February 5, 1915, was the _Gulflight_.

This tank steamer was hit by a torpedo fired by a German submarine

off the Scilly Islands, on the 1st of May, 1915.

But of more importance, because of the number of American lives lost,

the standing of the matter in international law and the prominence

of the vessel, was the sinking of the Cunard liner _Lusitania_, on

May 7, 1915. This is fully described in the chapter on submarines,

and in the diplomatic developments discussed in the chapter on

the United States and the War. The _Lusitania_ had left New York

for Liverpool on the 1st of May, 1915. She was one of the fastest

ships plying between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Larger

than any warship afloat at the time, she was able to make the trip

from Liverpool to New York in a little under five days. On her

last crossing she carried 2,160 persons, including passengers and

crew, many of the former being Americans, some of them of great

prominence. While off Old Head of Kinsale, on the southeastern

end of Ireland, at about half past two, on the afternoon of May

7, 1915, with a calm sea and no wind, she was hit by one or more

torpedoes from a German submarine without warning.

Those on board immediately went to the life boats, but it was only

twenty minutes after she had first been hit that she sank, and not

enough of the small craft could be gotten over her side in that

time to rescue all those on board. Out of the 2,160 souls aboard

at least 1,398 were lost. Of these 107 were American citizens. Small

boats in the neighborhood of the disaster hurried to the scene

and rescued those whom they could reach in the water and brought

them to Queenstown. The sacks of mail which the liner carried and

which went down with her were the first American mail sacks ever

lost at sea as a result of war. The controversies which this disaster

gave rise to between England, Germany and the United States are

given elsewhere.

Against British warships the submarine warfare was also effective

during the month of May, 1915. On the 1st day of that month the

old British destroyer _Recruit_ was sent to the bottom of the North

Sea by a German submarine, but the two German destroyers which had

accompanied the submarine that did this were pursued immediately

by British destroyers and were sunk. On the same day that the

_Lusitania_ went down a German mine ended the career of the British

destroyer _Maori_.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVIII

ITALIAN PARTICIPATION--OPERATIONS IN MANY WATERS

The month of May, 1915, saw new characters enter the theatres of

naval warfare. Italy had now entered the war and brought to the

naval strength of the Allies a minor naval unit.

At the time Italy entered the war she possessed six dreadnoughts,

the _Caio Duilio_ and the _Andrea Doria_, completed in 1915, the

_Conte di Cavour, Giulio Cesare_, and _Leonardo da Vinci_, completed

in 1914, and the _Dante Alighieri_, completed in 1912. Each of

these dreadnoughts had a speed of 23 knots. The _Dante Alighieri_

displaced 19,400 tons and had a main battery of twelve 12-inch guns,

and a complement of 987 men. Each of the other five had thirteen

12-inch guns and a complement of 1,000 men. The displacement of

vessels of the 1914 type was 22,340 tons; that of the 1915 type

23,025 tons. There were many lesser craft flying the Italian flag,

but these larger ships were the most important additions to the

naval forces of the Allies in southern waters.

The chief operations of the Italian navy were directed against

Austria. On May 28, 1915, the Italian admiralty announced the damage

inflicted on Austrian maritime strength up to that date. On May

24, 1915, the Austrian torpedo boat _S-20_ approached the canal

at Porto Corsini, but drew a very heavy fire from concealed and

unsuspected batteries which forced her to leave immediately. The

Austrian torpedo boat destroyer _Scharfschütze_, the scout ship

_Novara_ and the destroyer _Ozepel_, all of the Austrian navy, came

to the assistance of the _S-20_ and also received salvos from the

Italian land batteries. But on the same day the Italian destroyer

_Turbine_, while scouting gave chase to an Austrian destroyer and

the Austrian cruiser _Helgoland_. The strength of these Austrian

ships was too much for the _Turbine_ and she put on speed with

the intention of escaping from their fire, but she was severely

damaged by Austrian shells, and not having enough ammunition aboard

to give a good account of herself, she was scuttled by her own

crew.

It is now necessary to take up again the story of the German raiding

ships at large on the high seas. As has been told above, after the

_Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ ended her career by putting in at Newport

News the only German ships of the kind remaining at large were

the _Karlsruhe_ and _Kronprinz Wilhelm_. But on the 1st of April,

1915, the _Macedonia_, a converted liner which since November,

1914, had been interned at Las Palmas, Canary Islands, succeeded

in slipping out of the harbor laden with provisions and supplies

for use of warships and made her way to South American waters in

spite of the fact that she had run through lines patrolled by British

cruisers.

The _Kronprinz Wilhelm's_ career as a raider ended on April 11,

1915, when, like the _Prinz Eitel Friedrich_, she succeeded in

getting past the British cruisers and slipped into Newport News,

Virginia. How this former Hamburg-American liner had slipped out

of the harbor of New York on the night of August 3, 1914, with

her bunkers and even her cabins filled with coal and provisions,

with all lights out and with canvas covering her port holes has

already been told. From that date until she again put in at an

American port she captured numerous merchant ships, taking 960

prisoners and doing damage amounting to more than $7,000,000. She

kept herself provisioned from her captives, and it was only the

poor condition of her plates and boilers that made her captain

give up raiding when he did. Her movements had been mysterious

during all the time she was at large. She was known to have

reprovisioned the cruiser _Dresden_ and to have taken an almost

stationary position in the South Atlantic in order to act as a

"wireless station" for the squadron of Admiral von Spee. But when the

latter was defeated off the Falkland Islands, she resumed operations

as a raider of commerce. When she came into Newport News more than

60 per cent of her crew were suffering from what was thought to

be beri-beri; she had but twenty-one tons of coal in her bunkers

and almost no ammunition.

The total damage inflicted on the commerce of the Allies by the

_Emden, Karlsruhe, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Prinz Eitel Friedrich, Königsberg,

Dresden_ and _Leipzig_ amounted, by the end of May, 1915, to

$35,000,000. Sixty-seven vessels had been captured and sunk by them.

In the Dardanelles the naval operations were resumed, to some extent,

during the month of May, 1915. For a number of weeks after the

allied fleet had made the great attempt to force the Dardanelles

on March 19, 1915, their commanders attempted no maneuvers with

the larger ships, but the submarines were given work to do. On

April 27, 1915, the British submarine _E-14_, under command of

Lieutenant Commander Boyle, dived and went under the Turkish mine

fields, reaching the waters of the Sea of Marmora. In spite of

the fact that Turkish destroyers knew of its presence and hourly

watched for it in the hope of sinking it, this submarine was able

to operate brilliantly for some days, sinking two Turkish gunboats

and a laden transport. Similar exploits were performed by Lieutenant

Commander Nasmith with the British submarine _E-11_, which even

damaged wharves at the Turkish capital.

But when the military operations were getting under way during

May, 1915, the larger ships of the fleets were again used. The

Germans realizing that these great ships, moving as they did slowly

and deliberately while they fired on the land forts, would be good

targets for torpedoes, sent some of their newest submarines from

the bases in the North Sea, down along the coasts of France and

Spain, through the passage at Gibraltar and to the Dardanelles.

Destroyers accompanying the allied fleets kept diligent watch for

attacks from them. The _Goeben_, one of the German battle cruisers

that had escaped British and French fleets in the Mediterranean

during the first weeks of the war, and which was now a part of

the Turkish navy, was brought to the scene and aided the Turkish

forts in their bombardment of the hostile warships.

On May 12, 1915, the British battleship _Goliath_, of old design

and displacing some 12,000 tons, was sunk by a torpedo. This ship had

been protecting a part of the French fleet from flank attack inside

the straits, and under the cover of darkness had been approached by

a Turkish destroyer which fired the fatal torpedo. It sank almost

immediately.

The submarines of the German navy which had made the long journey

to participate in the action near the Dardanelles got in their

first work on May 26, 1915, when a torpedo fired by one of them

struck the British battleship _Triumph_ and sent her to the bottom.

Of interest to naval authorities all over the world was the fact

that this ship at the time she was struck had out torpedo nets

which were supposed to be torpedo-proof; but the German missile

tore through them and reached the hull. A hunt was made for the

hostile submarine by the British destroyers, but she was found

by the British battleship _Majestic_; but before the British ship

could fire a shot at the German submarine, the latter fired a torpedo

that caught the battleship near her stern and sank her immediately.

Apprehension was now felt for the more formidable ships such as

the _Queen Elizabeth_ and others of her class which were in those

waters; inasmuch as the operations at the Dardanelles assumed more

and more a military rather than a naval character, the British

admiralty thought it wiser to keep the _Queen Elizabeth_ in safer

waters; she was consequently called back to England. Only old

battleships and cruisers were left to cooperate with the troops

operating on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Naval warfare in southern waters was continued against British

warships by the Austrian navy. On June 9, 1915, the Austrian admiralty

announced that a cruiser of the type of the _Liverpool_ had been

struck by a torpedo fired by an Austrian submarine while the former

was off San Giovanni di Medua, near the Albanian coast. Reports of

the incident issued by the Austrian and British naval authorities

differed, the former claiming that the cruiser had sunk, and the

latter that it had remained afloat and had been towed to an Adriatic

port.

Most unique was an engagement between the Italian submarine _Medusa_

and a similar craft flying the Austrian flag on June 17, 1915.

This was the first time that two submarines had ever fought with

each other. On that day the two submarines, the presence of each

unknown to the other, lay submerged, not a great distance apart.

The _Medusa_, after some hours, came up, allowing only her periscope

to show; seeing no enemy about, her commander brought the rest of

her out of the water. She had not emerged many moments before the

Austrian vessel also came up for a look around and the commander

of the latter espied the Italian submarine through his periscope.

He immediately ordered a torpedo fired; it found a mark in the

hull of the _Medusa_ and she was sent to the bottom. One of her

officers and four of her men were rescued by the Austrian submarine

and made prisoners.

Italy's navy was not to continue to act as a separate naval unit

in the southern naval theatre of war, for on June 18, 1915, the

Minister of Marine of France announced that the "Anglo-French forces

in the Mediterranean were cooperating with the Italian fleet, whose

participation made possible a more effective patrol of the Adriatic.

Warships of the Allies were engaged in finding and destroying oil

depots from which the enemy's submarines had been replenishing

their supplies." This effective patrol did not, however, prevent

an Austrian submarine from sinking an Italian torpedo boat on June

27, 1915.

In the Baltic Sea the naval activity had at no time during the

first year of the war been great, but during the month of June,

1915, there was a minor naval engagement at the mouth of the Gulf

of Riga, during which the Germans lost a transport and the Russians

an auxiliary cruiser. In the other northern waters the Germans

lost the submarine _U-14_, which was sunk on June 9, 1915. The

crew were brought to England as prisoners. Three days later the

British admiralty admitted that two torpedo boats, the _No. 10_

and the _No. 12_ had been lost. The loss of two such small boats

did not worry Britain as much as did the loss of many merchant

ships in the war zone right through the spring and summer of 1915,

and to show that British warships were not immune from submarine

attack, in spite of the fact that many of the underwater craft of

Germany were meeting with disaster, the British cruiser _Roxburgh_

was struck by a torpedo on June 20, 1915, but was able to get away

under her own steam. The rest of the month saw small losses to

nearly all of the fleets engaged in the war, but none of these were

of importance.

The twelfth month of the first year of war was not particularly

eventful in so far as naval history was concerned. On July 1, 1915,

the Germans maneuvered in the Baltic Sea with a small fleet which

accompanied transports bearing men who were to try to land on the

northern shores of Russia. The port of Windau was the point at

which the German bombardment was directed, but Russian torpedo

boats and destroyers fought off the invading German fleet--which

must have been small--and succeeded in chasing the German mine-layer

_Albatross_, making it necessary for her captain to beach her on

the Swedish island of Gothland, where the crew was interned on

July 2, 1915. On the same, day a German predreadnought battleship,

believed to have been the _Pommern_, was sunk at the mouth of Danzig

Bay by a torpedo from a British submarine.

In the Adriatic Austria lost a submarine, the _U-11_, through a

unique action. The submersible was sighted on July 1, 1915, by a

French aeroplane. The aviator dropped two bombs which found their

mark on the deck of the submarine and sank her. Austria had, during

that month, made an attempt to capture the Austrian island of Pelagosa,

which had been occupied by the Italians on July 26, 1915. But July

29, 1915, the fleet of Austrian cruisers and destroyers, which

made the attack, was driven off by unnamed units of the Italian

navy. But a loss by the latter had been incurred on July 7, 1915,

when the armored cruiser _Amalfi_, while scouting in the upper

waters of the Adriatic Sea, was sighted and torpedoed by an Austrian

submarine. She sank, but most of her men were saved. Another Austrian

submarine had the same success on July 17, 1915, when it fired a

torpedo at the Italian cruiser _Giuseppe Garibaldi_, and saw her

go down fifteen minutes later. Italy endeavored to imitate the

actions of Germany when, on July 6, 1915, she proclaimed that the

entire Adriatic Sea was a war zone and that the Strait of Otranto

was in a state of blockade. All the ports of Dalmatia were closed

to every kind of commerce.

Near the coasts of Turkey, toward the end of the first year of

war, there was fought the second duel between submarines. This time

the vanquished vessel was the French submarine _Mariotte_, which,

on July 26, 1915, was sunk by a torpedo from a German submarine in

the waters right near the entrance to the Dardanelles. Britain

ended the first year of naval warfare by destroying the German

cruiser _Königsberg_, which, since the fall of the year before,

had been lying up the Rufiji River in German East Africa, after

having been chased thence by a British cruiser. It was decided to

destroy her in order that she might not get by the sunken hulls

that the British had placed at the mouth of the river in order to

"bottle her up." Consequently, on the morning of July 4, 1915,

after her position had been noted by an aviator, two British river

monitors, _Severn_ and _Mersey_, aided by a cruiser and minor vessels,

began to fire upon the stationary vessel. Their fire was directed

by the aviator who had discovered her, but it was at first almost

ineffective because she lay so well concealed by the vegetation

of the surrounding jungle. She answered their fire and succeeded

in damaging the _Mersey_, but after being bombarded for six hours

she was set on fire. When the British monitors had finished with

her she was a total wreck.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIX

STORY OF THE "EMDEN"

We now return to the exploits of the _Emden_, its mysterious

disappearance and the narrative of its heroes--a great epic of the

sea.

When in Volume III the story of the sinking of the German cruiser

_Emden_ was related, mention was made of the escape of the landing

party belonging to that ship from Cocos Island. This party consisted

of fifty men, headed by Captain Mücke, and from the time their ship

went down on November 9, 1914, until they reported for duty again

at Damascus, Syria, in May, 1915, they had a series of adventures

as thrilling as those encountered by the heroes in any of the

Renaissance epics.

Before the _Emden_ met the Australian cruiser _Sydney_, and had

been sunk by the latter, she had picked up three officers from

German steamers which she had met. This proved to be a piece of

good fortune, for extra officers were needed to board and command

the prize crews of captured vessels. The story of the raiding of the

_Emden_ has already been given; but here the story of the landing

party is given as told by Captain Mücke himself on May 10, 1915,

at Damascus:

"On November 9, 1914," he said, "I left the _Emden_ in order to

destroy the wireless plant on Cocos Island. I had fifty men, four

machine guns, about thirty rifles. Just as we were about to destroy

the apparatus it reported, 'Careful; _Emden_ near.' The work of

destruction went smoothly. The wireless operators said: 'Thank God.

It's been like being under arrest day and night lately.' Presently

the _Emden_ signaled us, 'Hurry up.' I packed up, but simultaneously

the _Emden's_ siren wailed. I hurried to the bridge and saw the

flag 'Anna' go up. That meant 'Weigh anchor.' We ran like mad to

our boat, but already the _Emden's_ pennant was up, the battle

flag was raised, and they began to fire from the starboard."

"The enemy," explained Captain Mücke, "was concealed by the island

and therefore not to be seen, but I saw the shells strike the water.

To follow and catch the _Emden_ was out of the question, as she

was going at twenty knots, and I only four with my steam pinnace.

Therefore I turned back to land, raised the flag, declared German

laws of war in force, seized all arms, set up my machine guns on shore

in order to guard against a hostile landing. Then I ran out again in

order to observe the fight. From the splash of the shells it looked

as though the enemy had 15-centimeter guns, bigger, therefore, than

the _Emden's_. He fired rapidly but poorly. It was the Australian

cruiser _Sydney_."

According to the account of the Englishmen who saw the first part

of the engagement from the shore, the _Emden_ was cut up rapidly.

Her forward smokestack lay across the deck, and was already burning

fiercely aft. Behind the mainmast several shells struck home.

"We saw the high flame," continued Captain Mücke, "whether circular

fighting or a running fight now followed, I don't know, because

I again had to look to my land defenses. Later, I looked on from

the roof of a house. Now the _Emden_ again stood out to sea about

4,000 to 5,000 yards, still burning. As she again turned toward

the enemy, the forward mast was shot away. On the enemy no outward

damage was apparent, but columns of smoke showed where shots had

struck home. Then the _Emden_ took a northerly course, likewise

the enemy, and I had to stand there helpless, gritting my teeth and

thinking; 'Damn it; the _Emden_ is burning and you aren't aboard!'"

[Illustration: THE CRUISE OF THE "EMDEN" LANDING PARTY]

Captain Mücke, in relating his thrilling adventure, then explained:

"The ships, still fighting, disappeared behind the horizon. I thought

that an unlucky outcome for the _Emden_ was possible, also a landing

by the enemy on the Keeling Island, at least for the purpose of

landing the wounded and taking on provisions. As there were other

ships in the neighborhood, according to the statements of the

Englishmen, I saw myself faced with the certainty of having soon

to surrender because of a lack of ammunition. But for no price

did I and my men want to get into English imprisonment. As I was

thinking about all this, the masts again appeared on the horizon,

the _Emden_ steaming easterly, but very much slower. All at once

the enemy, at high speed, shot by, apparently quite close to the

_Emden_. A high white waterspout showed amidst the black smoke of

the enemy. That was a torpedo. I saw how the two opponents withdrew,

the distance growing greater and greater between them; how they

separated, till they disappeared in the darkness. The fight had

lasted ten hours.

"I had made up my mind to leave the island as quickly as possible.

The _Emden_ was gone; the danger for us growing. In the harbor I

had noticed a three-master, the schooner _Ayesha_. Mr. Ross, the

owner of the ship and of the island, had warned me that the boat

was leaky, but I found it quite a seaworthy tub. Now provisions

for eight weeks, and water for four, were quickly taken on board.

The Englishmen very kindly showed us the best water and gave us

clothing and utensils. They declared this was their thanks for our

'moderation' and 'generosity.' Then they collected the autographs

of our men, photographed them and gave three cheers as our last

boat put off. It was evening, nearly dark, when we sailed away.

"The _Ayesha_ proved to be a really splendid boat. We had only one

sextant and two chronometers on board, but a chronometer journal

was lacking. Luckily I found an 'Old Indian Ocean Directory' of

1882 on board; its information went back to the year 1780.

"I had said: 'We are going to East Africa.' Therefore I sailed

at first westward, then northward. There followed the monsoons,

but then also, long periods of dead calm. Only two neutral ports

came seriously under consideration; Batavia and Padang. At Keeling

I had cautiously asked about Tsing-tau, of which I had naturally

thought first, and so quite by chance I learned that it had fallen.

Now I decided for Padang, because I knew I would be more apt to

meet the _Emden_ there, also because there was a German consul

there, because my schooner was unknown there and because I hoped to

find German ships there, and learn some news. 'It'll take you six

to eight days to reach Batavia' a captain had told me at Keeling.

Now we needed eighteen days to reach Padang, the weather was so

rottenly still."

The suffering of the crew of the _Emden_ on their perilous voyage

is here told in the captain's words: "We had an excellent cook

aboard; he had deserted from the French Foreign Legion. We had to

go sparingly with our water; each man received but three glasses

daily. When it rained, all possible receptacles were placed on

deck and the main sail was spread over the cabin roof to catch the

rain.

"At length as we came in the neighborhood of Padang, on the 26th

of November, 1915, a ship appeared for the first time and looked

for our name. But the name had been painted over, because it was

the former English name. As I thought, 'You're rid of the fellow'

the ship came up again in the evening, and steamed within a hundred

yards of us. I sent all my men below deck, and I promenaded the

deck as the solitary skipper. Through Morse signals the stranger

gave her identity. She proved to be the Hollandish torpedo boat

_Lynx_. I asked by signals, 'Why do you follow me?' No answer.

The next morning I found myself in Hollandish waters, so I raised

pennant and war flag. Now the _Lynx_ came at top speed past us.

As it passed I had my men line up on deck, and gave a greeting.

The greeting was answered. Then, before the harbor at Padang, I

went aboard the _Lynx_ in my well and carefully preserved uniform

and declared my intentions. The commandant opined that I could run

into the harbor, but whether I might come out again was doubtful.

"Three German ships were in the harbor at Padang," continues Captain

Mücke. "The harbor authorities demanded the certification for pennant

and war flag, also papers to prove that I was the commander of

this warship. For that, I answered, I was only responsible to my

superior officer. Now they advised me most insistently to allow

ourselves to be interned peacefully. They said it wasn't at all

pleasant in the neighborhood. We'd fall into the hands of the Japanese

or the English. As a matter of fact, we again had great luck. On

the day before a Japanese warship had been cruising around here.

Naturally, I rejected all the well-meant and kindly advice, and

did this in the presence of my lieutenants. I demanded provisions,

water, sails, tackle, and clothing. They replied we could take on

board everything which we had formerly had on board, but nothing

which would mean an increase in our naval strength.

"First thing, I wanted to improve our wardrobe, for I had only

one sock, a pair of shoes, and one clean shirt, which had become

rather threadbare. My comrades had even less. But the master of the

port declined to let us have, not only charts, but also clothing

and toothbrushes, on the ground that these would be an increase in

armament. Nobody could come aboard, nobody could leave the ship

without permission. I requested that the consul be allowed to come

aboard. The consul, Herr Schild, as also did the brothers Bäumer,

gave us assistance in the friendliest fashion. From the German

steamers boats could come alongside and talk with us. Finally, we

were allowed to have German papers. They were, to be sure, from

August only. From then until March, 1915, we saw no papers.

"Hardly had we been towed out of the harbor again after twenty-four

hours, on the evening of the 28th of November, 1914, when a searchlight

flashed before us. I thought, 'Better interned than prisoner.' I

put out all lights and withdrew to the shelter of the island. But

they were Hollanders and didn't do anything to us. Then for two

weeks more we drifted around, lying still for days. The weather was

alternately still, rainy, and blowy. At length a ship, a freighter,

came in sight. It saw us and made a big curve around us. I made

everything hastily 'clear for battle.' Then one of our officers

recognized her for the _Choising_. She showed the German flag. I

sent up light rockets, although it was broad day, and went with

all sails set, that were still setable, toward her. The _Choising_

was a coaster from Hongkong to Siam. She was at Singapore when

the war broke out, then went to Batavia, was chartered, loaded

with coal for the enemy, and had put into Padang in need, because

the coal in the hold had caught fire. There we had met her.

"Great was our joy now. I had an my men come on deck and line up

for review. The fellows hadn't a rag on. Thus, in nature's garb,

we gave three cheers for the German flag on the _Choising_. The

men of the _Choising_ told us afterward 'We couldn't make out what

that meant, those stark-naked fellows all cheering.' The sea was

too high, and we had to wait two days before we could board the

_Choising_ on December 16, 1914. We took very little with us; the

schooner was taken in tow. In the afternoon we sank the _Ayesha_ and

were all very sad. The good old _Ayesha_ had served us faithfully

for six weeks. The log showed that we had made 1,709 sea miles

under sail since leaving Keeling. She wasn't at all rotten and

unseaworthy, as they had told me, but nice and white and dry inside.

I had grown fond of the boat, on which I could practice my old

sailing maneuvers. The only trouble was that the sails would go

to pieces every now and then, because they were so old.

"But anyway, she went down quite properly. We had bored a hole

in her; she filled slowly and then all of a sudden disappeared.

That was the saddest day of the whole month. We gave her three

cheers, and my next yacht at Kiel will be named _Ayesha_, that is

sure.

"To the captain of the _Choising_ I had said, when I hailed him,

'I do not know what will happen to the ship. The war situation

may make it necessary for me to strand it.' He did not want to

undertake the responsibility. I proposed that we work together,

and I would take the responsibility. Then we traveled together

for three weeks, from Padang to Hodeida. The _Choising_ was some

ninety meters long, and had a speed of nine miles, though sometimes

only four. If she had not accidentally arrived I had intended to

cruise along the west coast of Sumatra to the region of the northern

monsoon. I came about six degrees north, then over toward Aden

to the Arabian coast. In the Red Sea the northeastern monsoon,

which here blows southeast, could bring us to Djidda. I had heard

in Padang that Turkey was still allied with Germany, so we would

be able to get safely through Arabia to Germany.

"I next waited for information through ships, but the _Choising_

did not know anything definite, either. By way of the _Luchs_, the

_Königsberg_ and _Kormoran_ the reports were uncertain. Besides,

according to newspapers at Aden, the Arabs were said to have fought

with the English; therein there seemed to be offered an opportunity

near at hand to damage the enemy. I therefore sailed with the _Choising_

in the direction of Aden. Lieutenant Cordts of the _Choising_ had

heard that the Arabian railway already went almost to Hodeida,

near the Perin Strait. The ship's surgeon there, Docounlang, found

confirmation of this in Meyer's Traveling Handbook. This railway

could not have been taken over by the Englishmen, who always dreamt

of it. By doing this they would have further and completely wrought

up the Mohammedans by making more difficult the journey to Mecca.

Best of all, we thought, 'We'll simply step into the express train

and whizz nicely away to the North Sea.' Certainly there would be

safe journeying homeward through Arabia. To be sure, we had maps

of the Red Sea; but it was the shortest way to the foe whether in

Aden or in Germany.

"On the 7th of January, 1915, between nine and ten o'clock in the

evening, we sneaked through the Strait of Perin. It lay swarming

full of Englishmen. We steered along the African coast, close past an

English cable layer. That was my greatest delight--how the Englishmen

will be vexed when they learn that we passed safely by Perin. On

the next evening we saw on the coast a few lights near the water.

We thought that must be the pier of Hodeida. But when we measured

the distance by night, three thousand meters, I began to think

that must be something else. At dawn I made out two masts and four

smokestacks; that was an enemy ship and, what is more, an armored

French cruiser. I therefore ordered the _Choising_ to put to sea,

and to return at night.

[Illustration: WAR ZONE

AROUND

THE BRITISH ISLES

AND

THE RED CROSS SERVICE · A BRITISH MONITOR · THE DEATH OF A TRAITOR

The conning tower and periscope of a submarine whose officers are

taking observations on the surface. In the War Zone submarines

sank merchantmen and passenger ships]

[Illustration: Prayer in a French church which the exigencies of

war have converted into a Red Cross hospital]

[Illustration: French soldiers bringing up wounded Germans found

in captured trenches and putting them in ambulances to be carried

to the nearest military hospitals]

[Illustration: A Red Cross dog has been hurt while performing invaluable

service in seeking out the wounded. Now the dog's own injuries are

being carefully dressed]

[Illustration: The death of a traitor to France. It was believed

that he used the wings of a windmill for signalling information

to the Germans]

[Illustration: One of the new British monitors bombarding the German

base at Ostend, Belgium. The monitor is armed with one powerful

15-inch gun]

[Illustration: Lifeboats and drowning passengers from the "Falaba,"

a passenger ship torpedoed by a German submarine March 28, 1915.

More than 140 people were drowned]

[Illustration: The Great liner, "Lusitania," which was torpedoed

by a German submarine, not far from Old Kinsald Head, Ireland,

May 7, 1915]

"The next day and night the same; then we put out four boats--these

we pulled to shore at sunrise under the eyes of the unsuspecting

Frenchmen. The sea reeds were thick. A few Arabs came close to us;

then there ensued a difficult negotiation with the Arabian coast

guards. For we did not even know whether Hodeida was in English

or French hands. We waved to them, laid aside our arms, and made

signs to them. The Arabs, gathering together, began to rub two

fingers together; that means 'We are friends.' We thought it meant

'We are going to rub against you and are hostile.' I therefore

said: 'Boom-boom' and pointed to the warship. At all events, I

set up my machine guns and made preparations for a skirmish. But,

thank God, one of the Arabs understood the word 'Germans'; that

was good.

"Soon a hundred Arabs came and helped us and as we marched into

Hodeida the Turkish soldiers who had been called out against us

saluted us as Allies and friends. To be sure, there was not a trace

of a railway, but we were received very well and they assured us

we could get through by land. Therefore, I gave red-star signals

at night, telling the _Choising_ to sail away, since the enemy

was near by. Inquiries and deliberations concerning a safe journey

by land proceeded. I also heard that in the interior about six

days' journey away, there was healthy highland where our fever

invalids could recuperate. I therefore determined to journey next

to Sana. On the kaiser's birthday we held a great parade in common

with the Turkish troops--all this under the noses of the Frenchmen.

On the same day we marched away from Hodeida to the highland.

"Two months later we again put to sea. The time spent in the highland

of Sana passed in lengthy inquiries and discussions that finally

resulted in our foregoing the journey by land through Arabia, for

religious reasons. But the time was not altogether lost. The men

who were sick with malaria had, for most part, recuperated in the

highland air.

"The Turkish Government placed at our disposal two sambuks (sailing

ships), of about twenty-five tons, fifteen meters long and four

wide. But, in fear of English spies, we sailed from Jebaua, ten

miles north of Hodeida. That was on March 14, 1915. At first we

sailed at a considerable distance apart, so that we would not both

be captured if an English gunboat caught us. Therefore, we always

had to sail in coastal water. That is full of coral reefs, however."

Captain Mücke had charge of the first sambuk. Everything went well

for three days. On the third day the order was given for the sambuks

to keep near together because the pilot of the first one was sailing

less skillfully than the other. Suddenly, in the twilight the men

in the second sambuk felt a shock, then another, and a third. The

water poured into it rapidly. It had run upon the reef of a small

island, where the smaller sambuk had been able to pass on account

of its lighter draft. Soon the stranded boat began to list over,

and the twenty-eight men aboard had to sit on the gunwale.

"We could scarcely move," narrated Lieutenant Gerdts, who commanded

the stranded boat. "The other boat was nowhere in sight. Now it

grew dark. At this stage I began to build a raft of spars and old

pieces of wood that might keep us afloat. But soon the first boat

came into sight again. The commander turned about and sent over

his little canoe; in this and in our own canoe, in which two men

could sit at each trip, we first transferred the sick. Now the

Arabs began to help us. But just then the tropical helmet of our

doctor suddenly appeared above the water in which he was standing

up to his ears. Thereupon the Arabs withdrew: We were Christians,

and they did not know that we were friends. Now the other sambuk

was so near that we could have swum to it in half an hour, but

the seas were too high. At each trip a good swimmer trailed along,

hanging to the painter of the canoe. When it became altogether

dark we could not see the boat any more, for over there they were

prevented by the wind from keeping any light burning. My men asked:

'In what direction shall we swim?' I answered: 'Swim in the direction

of this or that star; that must be about the direction of the boat.'

Finally a torch flared up over there--one of the torches that was

still left from the _Emden_. But we had suffered considerably through

submersion. One sailor cried out: 'Oh, psha! It's all up with us

now, that's a searchlight.' About ten o'clock we were all safe

aboard, but one of our typhus patients wore himself out completely

by exertion and died a week later. On the next morning we went over

again to the wreck in order to seek the weapons that had fallen

into the water. You see, the Arabs dive so well; they fetched up

a considerable lot--both machine guns, all but ten of the rifles,

though these were, to be sure, all full of water. Later they frequently

failed to go off when they were used in firing.

"Now we numbered, together with the Arabs, seventy men on the little

boat. Then we anchored before Konfida and met Sami Bey. He had

shown himself useful, even before, in the service of the Turkish

Government, and had done good service as a guide in the last months

of the adventure. He procured for us a larger boat of fifty-four tons.

We sailed from the 20th of March, 1915, to the 24th, unmolested to

Lith. There Sami Bey announced that three English ships were cruising

about in order to intercept us. I therefore advised traveling a bit

overland. I disliked leaving the sea a second time, but it had to

be done."

Captain Mücke explained that Lith is nothing but desert, and therefore

it was very difficult to get up a caravan at once. They marched away

on March 28, 1915, with only a vague suspicion that the English

might have agents here also. They could travel only at night, and

when they slept or camped around a spring, there was only a tent for

the sick men. Two days' march from Jeddah, the Turkish Government

having received word about the crew, sent sixteen good camels.

"Suddenly, on the night of April 1, 1915, things became uneasy,"

said Captain Mücke. "I was riding at the head of the column. All

our shooting implements were cleared for action, because there was

danger of an attack from Bedouins, whom the English had bribed.

When it began to grow a bit light I thought: 'We're through for

to-day'; for we were tired--had been riding eighteen hours. Suddenly

I saw a line flash up before me, and shots whizzed over our heads.

Down from the camels! We formed a fighting line. You know how quickly

it becomes daylight there. The whole space around the desert hillock

was occupied. Now we had to take up our guns. We rushed at the enemy.

They fled, but returned again, this time from all sides. Several of

the gendarmes that had been given to us as an escort were wounded;

the machine-gun operator fell, killed by a shot through the heart;

another was wounded. Lieutenant Schmidt was mortally wounded. He

received a bullet in the chest and another in the abdomen.

"Suddenly, they waved white cloths. The sheik, to whom a part of

our camels belonged, went over to them to negotiate, then Sami

Bey and his wife. In the interim we quickly built a sort of wagon

barricade, a circular camp of camel saddles, of rice and coffee

sacks, all of which we filled with sand. We had no shovels, and had

to dig with our bayonets, plates, and hands. The whole barricade

had a diameter of fifty meters. Behind it were dug trenches, which

we deepened even during the skirmish. The camels inside had to

lie down, and thus served very well as cover for the rear of the

trenches. Then an inner wall was constructed, behind which we carried

the sick men. In the very center we buried two jars of water, to

guard us against thirst. In addition we had ten petroleum cans full

of water; all told, a supply for four days. Late in the evening

Sami's wife came back from the futile negotiations, alone. She had

unveiled for the first and only time on this day of the skirmish,

had distributed cartridges and had acted faultlessly.

"Soon we were able to ascertain the number of the enemy. There

were about 300 men; we numbered fifty, with twenty-nine machine

guns. In the night Lieutenant Schmidt died. We had to dig his grave

with our hands and with our bayonets, and to eliminate every trace

above it, in order to protect the body. Rademacher had been buried

immediately after the skirmish with all honors.

"The wounded had a hard time of it. We had lost our medicine chest

in the wreck; we had only little packages of bandages for skirmishes;

but no probing instrument, no scissors, were at hand. On the next day

our men came up with thick tongues, feverish, and crying: 'Water,

water!' But each one received only a little cupful three times

each day. If our water supply became exhausted we would have to

sally forth from our camp and fight our way through. At night we

always dragged out the dead camels that had served as cover and

had been shot.

"This continued about three days. On the third day there were new

negotiations. Now the Bedouins demanded arms no longer, but only

money. This time the negotiations took place across the camp wall.

When I declined the Bedouin said, 'Lots of fight.' I said, 'Please

go to it.'

"We had only a little ammunition left, and very little water. Now

it really looked as if we would soon be dispatched. The mood of

the men was pretty dismal. Suddenly, at about ten o'clock in the

morning, there bobbed up in the north two riders on camels, waving

white cloths. Soon afterward there appeared, coming from the same

direction, far back, a long row of camel troops, about a hundred;

they drew rapidly nearer, rode singing toward us, in a picturesque

train. They were the messengers and the troops of the Emir of Mecca.

"Sami Bey's wife, it developed, had in the course of the first

negotiations, dispatched an Arab boy to Jeddah. From that place

the governor had telegraphed to the emir. The latter at once sent

camel troops with his two sons and his personal surgeon; the elder,

Abdullah, conducted the negotiations, and the surgeon acted as

interpreter in French. Now things proceeded in one-two-three order,

and the whole Bedouin band speedily disappeared. From what I learned

later I know definitely that they had been corrupted with bribes by

the English. They knew when and where we would pass, and they had

made all preparations. Now our first act was a rush for water; then

we cleared up our camp, but had to harness our camels ourselves, for

the camel drivers had fled at the very beginning of the skirmish.

"Then, under the safe protection of Turkish troops, we got to Jeddah.

There the authorities and the populace received us very well. From

there we proceeded in nineteen days by sail boat to Elwesh, and

under abundant guard with the Suleiman Pasha, in a five-day caravan

journeyed to El Ula."

"Have I received the Iron Cross?" was the first question Captain

Mücke asked when he got to that place, and old newspapers which

he found there told him that he had. A few days later the party

was on train, riding toward Germany.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XX

SUMMARY OF THE FIRST YEAR OF NAVAL WARFARE

The first year of the war came to an end in August, 1915, with

the naval situation much the same as it stood at the end of the

first six months. The navy of practically every belligerent was

intact; the Allies enjoyed the freedom of the seas, but the fact

that a German fleet lay intact in the North Sea, and an Austrian

fleet lay intact in the Adriatic Sea, indicated only the naval

supremacy of the Allies, but not that they had won decisive naval

victories.

As there had been no victory there had been no defeat, yet there

had been losses to all concerned. The mine and the submarine had

changed somewhat the methods of naval warfare--the enemies "nibbled"

at their opponents' fleets. Battleships were lost, though the first

year of the Great War had seen no pitched battle between ships of

that class.

During the second six months of the war England lost the five old

battleships _Irresistible, Ocean, Goliath, Triumph_, and _Majestic_;

the destroyers _Recruit_ and _Maori_; and the submarine _E-15_ and

another unidentified; and the auxiliary cruisers _Clan McNaughton,

Bayano_, and _Princess Irene_. Her ally France had lost, during the

same period, the old battleship _Bouvet_, the cruiser _Leon Gambetta_,

the destroyer _Dague_, and the submarines _Joule, Mariotte_, and

one unidentified.

The losses on the other side were confined to the German navy,

with the exception of the Turkish cruiser _Medjidieh_. Germany lost

the battleship _Pommern_; the cruisers _Dresden_ and _Königsberg_;

the submarines _U-12, U-29, U-8_, one of the type of the _U-2_,

and another unidentified; two unidentified torpedo boats; and the

auxiliary cruisers _Prinz Eitel Friedrich_ (interned), _Holger,

Kronprinz Wilhelm_ (interned), and _Macedonia_. Also the destroyer

_G-196_, the mine layer _Albatross_, and the auxiliary cruise _Meteor_.

In retaliation for having her flag swept from the seas, Germany's

submarines, during the second six months of the war, had sunk a

total of 153 merchant ships, including those belonging to neutral

countries as well as to her enemies. The total tonnage of these

was about 500,000 tons; 1,643 persons died in going down with these

ships.

Not of the least importance were the precedents that were established,

or attempted to be established, by Germany in conducting naval

warfare with her submarine craft. In a note delivered to the United

States Government, the German Government declared that British

merchant vessels were not only armed and instructed to resist or

even attack submarines, but often disguised as to nationality.

Under such circumstances it was assumed to be impossible for a

submarine commander to conform to the established custom of visit

and search. Accordingly, vessels of neutral nations were urgently

warned not to enter the submarine war zone. The war zone which she

proclaimed about Great Britain had no precedent in history, and

it immediately brought to her door a number of controversies with

neutrals, particularly the United States. The sinking of liners

carrying passengers claiming citizenship in neutral countries was

another precedent, which had the same effect with regard to diplomatic

exchanges.

Predictions that had been made long before the war came were found

to be worthless; there were those who had predicted that Germany

in the event of war with England would give immediate battle with

her largest ships; but twelve months went by without an actual

battle between superdreadnoughts. "Der Tag" had not come. There

were those who had predicted that the British navy would force

the German ships out of their protected harbors. "We shall dig

the rats out of their holes," said Mr. Winston Churchill, British

Secretary of State for the Navy in the early months of the war.

Mr. Churchill was removed from his position, and twelve months

passed by with the German ships still in their "holes."

Certain lessons had been taught naval authorities of all nations

through the actual use of the modern battleship in war. The first

year showed that the largest ships must have very high speed and

long gun range. To some extent the fact that the fighting ships of

nearly all of the belligerent countries were thus equipped changed

battle tactics.

When the allied fleets had started their bombardment of the Turkish

forts at the Dardanelles they were breaking certain well-defined

rules which had been axiomatic with naval authorities. The greatest

of modern battleships were designed to fight with craft of their

like, but not to take issue with land fortifications. For weeks,

while the fleets succeeded in silencing for a time some of the

Turkish forts, it was thought that this rule no longer held good.

But when, after March 19, 1915, the fleets ceased attempting to

take the passage without military cooperation, the worth of the

rule was reestablished. The ease with which the bombarding ships

were made victims of hostile submarines was greatly instrumental

in making the rule again an axiom.

The naval supremacy of the allied powers brought them certain

advantages--advantages which they had without winning a decisive

victory. Germany and Austria were cut off from the Western Hemisphere,

and were troubled, in consequence, by shortage in food for their

civilian populations to a greater or lesser degree. This was perhaps

a negative benefit derived by the Allies from their naval supremacy;

the affirmative benefit was that their own communications with

the Western Hemisphere were maintained, enabling them not only to

get food for their civilian populations, but arms and munitions

for their armies; and even financial arrangements, which, if their

emissaries could not pass back and forth freely could not have

been made, depended on their control of the high seas.

They were able to keep the Channel clear of submarines long enough

to permit the passage of the troops, which England from time to

time during the first year of the war sent to the Continent, and

permitted the participation of the troops of the British overseas

dominions, the troops from Canada joining those in France, and

the troops from New Zealand and Australia taking their places in

the trenches along the Suez Canal and on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Thus, to a certain extent, the advantage of continuous railroad

communication which was enjoyed by the Teutonic allies "inside" the

arena of military operations was offset by the naval communication

maintained by the Entente Powers "outside" the arena of military

operations.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXI

FIGHTS OF THE SUBMARINES

When, on the 5th of February, 1915, the German admiralty proclaimed

a "war zone" around the British Isles and announced that it would

fight the sea power of the Allies with submarines, a new era in

naval warfare had opened. In all previous wars, and in the earlier

months of the Great War, submarines were employed as auxiliaries

to the larger naval units. The Germans were the first to use them

as separate units. The idea of sending a fleet of submarines out on

to the high seas was a new one, and had been impossible in the last

war in which they had been used--that between Russia and Japan. But

the improvements which had been made in their design and equipment

since then had made an actual cruising submarine possible, and

made possible the new phase of naval warfare inaugurated by the

German admiralty.

While Germany was the last great sea power to adopt the submarine

as a weapon, both England and Germany, in the years immediately

preceding the war, had spent the same amounts of money on this

sort of craft--about $18,000,000--but while the Germans had later

given as much attention to them as to any other sort of naval craft,

the British authorities did not figure on employing the submarine

as a separate offensive tactical unit being sufficiently equipped

in large ships carrying large guns. And being weaker in capital

ships Germany was compelled to rely upon underwater warfare in

her campaign of attrition. Not only were the naval authorities

of the rest of the world uninformed about the improvements that

German submarines carried, but they were fooled even as to the

actual number which Germany had built.

The most modern of the German submarines at the time had a length

of 213 feet and a beam of twenty feet, these dimensions giving

them sufficient deck space to mount thereon two rapid-fire guns,

one of 3.5 inches and another of 1.4 inches. Their displacement was

900 tons, and they could make a speed of 18 knots when traveling

"light" (above water), and 12 knots when traveling submerged. These

speeds made it possible for them to overtake all but the fastest

merchantmen, though not fast enough to run away from destroyers,

gunboats, and fast cruisers. Their range of operation was 2,000

miles, and in the early months of 1915, it was possible for Germany

to send two or three of them from their base in the North Sea to

the Mediterranean. Germany was at the same time experimenting with

a larger type, with a displacement of 1,200 tons and an operating

distance of 5,000 miles.

The ordinary submarine in service at the beginning of the war could

remain below the surface for twenty-four hours at least. Reserve

amounts of air for breathing were carried in tanks under pressure,

and in the German type there were also chemical improvements for

regenerating air. Contrary to the opinion of laymen, submerging

was accomplished both by letting water into ballast tanks, and

also by properly deflecting a set of rudders; every submarine had

two sets of rudders, one of which worked in vertical planes and

pointed the prow of the ship either to the left or the right; the

other pair worked in horizontal planes and turned the prow either

upward or downward. A pair of fins on the sides of the hull assisted

action in both rising and diving. The action of water against the

fins and rudders when the ship was in motion was exactly the same

as that of the air against the planes of a kite; to submerge one

of the craft it was necessary to have it in motion and to have

its horizontal rudders so placed that the resistance of the water

would drive the ship downward; the reverse operation drove it upward.

And here lay a danger, for if the engines of a diving submarine

stopped she was bound to come to the surface. Her presence, while

moving entirely submerged could be detected by a peculiar swell

which traveled on the water above; if submerged only so much as

to leave the tip of her periscope still showing, the latter left

an easily discernible wake.

The periscope was merely a tube in which there were arranged mirrors

so that anything reflected in the first mirror, the one above the

surface of the water, was again reflected till it showed in a mirror

at the bottom of the tube, within the hull of the vessel, where

its commander could observe it safely. A crew of about twenty-five

men was necessary to operate one of these crafts, and theirs was

an unpleasant duty, first because of the danger that accompanied

each submergence of their vessel; second because of the discomforts

abroad. The explosive engines which drove the craft, whether burning

oil or the lighter refinements such as gasoline, gave off gases

that caused headaches and throbbing across the forehead; and it

was almost impossible to heat the interior of the craft.

Though merchantmen had gone to the bottom as victims of German

submarines before, the proclamation of a "war zone" was issued

they were individual cases; the first instance of a merchant ship

being sunk as a result of the new policy of the German admiralty

was the sinking of the British steamer _Cambark_ on the 20th of

February, 1915. This ship was bound for Liverpool, from Huelva,

Spain. While off the north coast of Wales, on the morning of the

20th, the periscope of a hostile submarine was sighted only 200

yards ahead. The engines of the steamship were immediately reversed,

but she had no time to make off, for a torpedo caught her amidships

and she started to sink immediately. Her crew managed to get off

in small boats, but all of their personal belongings were lost.

The small Irish coasting steamer _Downshire_ was made a victim

on the 21st of February, 1915, but instead of sending a torpedo

into her hull, the commander of the _U-12_, the submarine which

overhauled her, resorted to boarding. After trying to elude the

submarine by steering a zigzag course, the _Downshire_ was finally

overtaken. The crew was ordered to take to the small boats, while

nineteen men of the submarine, which had come above water, watched

the operations from the deck. A crew from the submarine took one of

the small boats of the steamship and rowed toward her. They placed

a bomb in a vital spot and set it off, sinking the merchantman.

In this way the submarine's commander had saved a torpedo. A

conversation which took place between the captains of the two craft

revealed the methods by which the submarine commanders were able,

not only to steal up on their intended victims, but to elude being

sighted by the patrolling British warships. Some fishing smacks

had been in the vicinity while the _Downshire_ was sunk, and the

British captain asked the German captain why they had not been

attacked. The latter hinted that his plans worked best if the fishing

boats were unmolested. When asked whether he had hidden behind

one these little boats he changed the subject, but it was learned

later that the commanders of the submarines made a practice of

coming to the surface right near fishing boats and bade them act

as screens while they lay in wait for victims. By keeping the small

boats covered with a deck gun or by putting a boarding crew aboard,

it was possible for the commanders of the submarines to keep their

periscopes or the hulls of their vessels behind the sails of the

fishing boats, unobservable to lookouts on larger ships.

By the 23d of February, 1915, the success of German submarines

had been so marked that the insurance rates on merchantmen went

up. Lloyd's underwriters announced that the rate on transatlantic

passage had gone up nearly one per cent. And on the same day it

was announced that the British Government would thereafter regulate

steamship traffic in the Irish Sea. Certain areas of the Irish

Sea were closed to all kinds of traffic; lines of passage were

defined and had to be followed by all merchantmen, and vessels

of all descriptions were ordered to keep away from certain parts

of the coast from sunset to sunrise.

The comparatively small size of the submarines made it possible

for the German admiralty to load them on to trains in sections

and transport them where needed, and in this manner some were sent

from the German ports on the North Sea to Zeebrugge, there assembled

and launched. Others were sent to the Adriatic, arriving at Pola

on the 25th of February, 1915. These were intended for use in the

Mediterranean as well as in the Adriatic Sea.

Neutral ships, in order to escape attack by German submarines had

to resort to unusual methods of self-identification. The use of flags

belonging to neutral countries by the merchantmen of belligerent

powers made the usual identification by colors almost impossible,

the German admiralty claiming that the commanders of submarines were

unable to wait long enough, after stopping a vessel, to ascertain

whether she had a right to fly one flag or another. Consequently

the ships belonging to Dutch and American lines had their names

painted with large lettering along their sides. At night, streamers

of electric lights were hung over the sides to illuminate these

letterings; and on the decks of many of the neutral ships their

names and nationalities were painted in large letters so that they

might be identified by aircraft. Owing to such precautions the

Dutch steamship _Prinzes Juliana_ escaped being sunk by a torpedo

on the 3d of March, 1915. A submarine ran a parallel course to

that followed by the Dutch ship, but after examining the lettering

on her sides the commander of the German craft saw that she was

not legitimate game and turned off.

Not always did the German submarines themselves succeed in escaping

unharmed in their raiding of allied merchantmen. Rewards were offered

in Great Britain for the sinking of German submersibles by the

commanders of British merchantmen. Instructions were issued in

the British shipping periodicals, showing how a submarine might

be sunk by being rammed. It was officially announced on the 5th

of March, 1915, by the British admiralty, that the _U-8_ had been

rammed and sunk by a British warship. The crew of twenty-nine was

rescued and brought to Dover. For the British this was a stroke

of good fortune, for while the _U-8_ was of an earlier type it

was a dangerous craft, having a total displacement of 300 tons,

a radius of operation of 1,200 miles, a speed of 13 knots when

traveling "light" and a speed of 8 knots when submerged. On the

same day the French minister of marine announced that a French

warship had come upon a German submarine of the type of the _U-2_

in the North Sea and that after firing at the hull of the vessel

and hitting it three times it was seen to sink and did not reappear.

During the last week of February and the first week of March, 1915,

bad weather on the waters surrounding the British Isles hampered

the operations of German submarines to an extent which led the

British public to believe that the submarine warfare on merchantmen

had been abandoned, but they were disillusioned when on the 9th

of March, 1915, three British ships were sunk by the underwater

craft. The steamship _Tangistan_ was torpedoed off Scarborough, the

_Blackwood_ off Hastings and the _Princess Victoria_ near Liverpool.

Part of this was believed to be the work of the _U-16_.

In the three days beginning March 10, 1915, eight ships were made

victims of German submarines in the waters about the British Isles.

Most novel was the experience of a crowd gathered on the shore of

one of the Scilly Islands on March 12, 1915, when two of these

eight ships, the _Indian City_ and the _Headlands_, were torpedoed.

At about eight in the morning the islanders on St. Mary's Island

saw a German submarine overtake the former and sink her. The German

vessel then remained in the adjacent waters to watch for the approach

of another victim, while two patrol boats near by put out and opened

fire on her. The crowd saw the enemies exchange shots at a distance

of ten miles off shore. But neither side put in any effective shots,

and the combat ended when the submarine dived and retired.

The steamship _Headlands_ was then sighted by the commander of the

submarine and he immediately started to pursue her. The steamship

steered a zigzag course, but the submarine got in a position to

launch a torpedo, and at about half past ten in the morning the

crowd on the shore saw steam escaping from her in large quantities.

Some time after they saw a large volume of black smoke and débris

fly upward and they knew that another torpedo had found its mark. She

then settled, her crew and the men from the _Indian City_ reaching

St. Mary's in small boats.

To keep British harbors free from the German submarines the British

admiralty had to set their engineers to work to devise some method

of trapping the underwater craft automatically, for there seemed

to be no sort of patrol which they could not elude. Steel traps,

not unlike the gill nets used by fishermen, were finally hit upon

as the best thing to use against the submarines, and by March 13,

1915, a number of these were installed at entrances to some of

the British harbors. They were made of malleable iron frames, ten

feet square, used in sets of threes, so arranged that they might

hold a submarine by the sides and have the third of the set buckle

against its bottom. They were suspended by buoys about thirty feet

below the surface of the water. When a submarine entered one of

these it was held fast, for the frame which came up from the bottom

caught the propeller and made it impossible for the submarine to

work itself loose. The disadvantage to the submarine was that,

while traveling under water, it traveled "blind"; the periscopes

in use were good only for observation when the top of them were

above water; when submerged the commander of a submarine had to

steer by chart. By the end of March, 1915, a dozen submarines had

been caught in nets of this kind.

By the 18th of March, 1915, three more British ships had been made

the victims of German torpedoes. The _Atlanta_ was sunk off the

west coast of Ireland only a day before the _Fingal_ was sunk off

Northumberland. And the _Leeuwarden_ was sunk by being hit from

the deck guns of a German submarine off the coast of Holland. There

was no loss of life except during the sinking of the _Fingal_,

some of whose men were drowned when she dragged a lifeboat full

of men down with her.

By way of variety the Germans attempted to sink a British ship

in the "war zone" with bombs dropped from an airship, the news

of which was brought to England by the crew and captain of the

_Blonde_ when they reached shore on March 18, 1915. This ship had

been German originally, but being in a British port when the war

started was taken over and run by a British crew. Two or three

mornings before the men landed they had noticed a Taube aeroplane

circling over their ship at about 500 feet altitude. It then swept

downward and took a close look at the vessel. Two bombs, which fell

into the water near the ship, were droppd by the German aviator.

The captain of the _Blonde_ ordered that the rudder of his ship be

fastened so that she might drive in a circle and her engines were

set at full speed, with the intention of making a more difficult

target for the airship's bombs. The whistle of the ship was set

going and continued to blow in the hope of attracting help from

other ships. More bombs were near the vessel, but none of them

found its mark. After one more attempt, when only 300 feet above

the ship's deck, the aviator let go with his last supply, but again

being unsuccessful he veered off to the north and allowed the _Blonde_

to escape.

The naval attack on the Dardanelles is told in another chapter,

but the work of the Allies' submarines there included the use of

French submarines, which is not narrated elsewhere. On the 19th

of March, 1915, Rear Admiral Guepratte of the French navy reported

that one of his submarines had attempted, without success, to run

through the Dardanelles. The object of the attempt was to sink

the Turkish battle cruiser _Sultan Selim_, formerly the _Goeben_.

The submarine submerged and got as far as Nagara. But she had to

travel "blind" and her captain, being unfamiliar with those waters,

struck some rocks near the shore and immediately brought her to

the surface. She became a target for the land guns of the Turks at

once and was sunk, only a few of her men, who were taken prisoners,

escaping death.

On the 19th of March, 1915, the British admiralty reported that

the three British ships, _Hyndford, Bluejacket_, and _Glenartney_

had been torpedoed in the "war zone" without warning, with the

loss of only one man. Beachy Head in the British Channel had been

the scene of most of the operations of German submarines against

British ships, and consequently, when on the 21st of March, 1915,

the collier _Cairntorr_ was torpedoed in that region, no unusual

comment was made by the admiralty. Heretofore the scene of the

latest attack had been thought worthy of mention on account of the

unusual and unexpected places that submarines chose for action.

A new phase of the submarines' activities was opened on March 21,

1915, when two Dutch ships _Batavier V_ and _Zaanstroom_ were held

up and captured. The _U-28_ had for some days been hiding near the

Maas Lightship, and had been taking shots with torpedoes at every

ship which came within range. The _Batavier V_ had left the Hook of

Holland on March 18, 1915. At about five o'clock that morning she

came near the Maas Lightship on her way to England, whence she

was carrying provisions and a register of fifty-seven persons,

including passengers and crew; among the former there were a number

of women and children. Suddenly a submarine appeared off her port

bow, and her captain was ordered to stop his ship. This he did

readily, for he had been thus stopped before, only to be allowed to

proceed. But this time the commander of the submarine, the _U-28_,

shouted to him through a megaphone: "I am going to confiscate your

ship and take it to Zeebrugge."

While the two commanders were arguing over the illegality of this,

the _Zaanstroom_ was sighted, and was immediately overtaken by the

submarine. An officer and a sailor from the submarine had been

placed on the _Batavier V_, and this prevented her escaping while

the pursuit of the _Zaanstroom_ was on. A similar detail was now

placed on the latter, and her captain was ordered to follow the

_U-28_ which returned to the _Batavier V_. "Follow me to Zeebrugge"

was the order which the commander of the submarine gave the two

ships, and their captains obeyed. They arrived at Zeebrugge at

noon, and were immediately unloaded. Those of the passengers and

crews who were citizens of neutral countries were sent to Ghent

and there released, while all those aboard, such as Belgians and

Frenchmen, were detained.

When possible, the commanders of the German submarines saved their

costly torpedoes and used shell fire instead to sink their victims.

This was done in the case of the steamship _Vosges_, which was

sunk on March 28, 1915. For two hours, while the engines of the

steamship were run at full speed in an attempt to get away from

the submarine, she was under fire from two deck guns on board the

submersible. Though the latter made off at the approach of another

vessel, her shells did enough damage to cause the _Vosges_ to sink

a few hours later.

Up to the middle of March, 1915, all the ships which had become

victims of German submarines had been of the slower coasting variety.

There had been numerous unconfirmed reports that the faster

transatlantic ships had been chased, but no credence had been given

to them. On the 27th of March, 1915, however, when the _Arabic_

arrived at Liverpool it was reported by those on board that she

had given a submarine a lively chase and had gotten away safely.

At about nine o'clock the evening before the submarine was sighted

off Holyhead. She was only 200 yards ahead, and while her commander

jockeyed for a position from which he could successfully launch a

torpedo, the commander of the _Arabic_ gave the order "Full speed

ahead." His passengers lined the rail of the ship to watch the

maneuvers. Soon the steamship had up a speed of 18 knots, which

was a bit too fast for the submarine, and she fell to the rearward.

Her chance for launching a torpedo was gone, but she brought her deck

guns into action, firing two shots which went wild. The _Arabic_

proceeded to port unmolested.

At times even the cost of shell fire was figured by the commanders

of German submarines, and pistol and rifles were used instead.

This was done in the case of the _Delmira_ on the 26th of March,

1915. This steamship was sunk off Boulogne. Ten minutes were given

by the crew of the submarine to the crew of the steamship for them

to get off. The submarine had come up off the bow of the _Delmira_,

and men standing on the deck of the former had fired shots toward

the bridge of the latter to make her captain bring her to a stop.

The latter ordered his engines started again at full speed, with the

intention of ramming the enemy, but his Chinese stokers refused to

obey the order, and his ship did not move. The crew of the steamship

got into their small boats, and for an hour and a half these were

towed by the submarine so that their row to shore would not be

so long. Though torpedoed, the _Delmira_ did not sink, and was

last seen in a burning condition off the French coast near Cape

de la Hogue.

The sinking of the steamship _Falaba_, which is mentioned, though

not narrated in full, in another chapter, was the last act of German

submarines during the month of March, 1915. This ship on the 29th

of March, 1915, was overtaken by a German submarine in St. George's

Channel. She was engaged in the African trade, voyaging between

the African ports and Liverpool. On her last journey she carried

a crew of 90 men and some 160 passengers, many of the latter being

women and children. The commander of the submarine brought his

craft to the surface off the bow of the _Falaba_, and gave the

captain of the steamship five minutes in which to put his crew and

passengers into lifeboats. A torpedo was sent against her hull and

found the engine room, causing a tremendous explosion. One hundred

and eleven persons lost their lives because they had not been able

to get off in time, or because they were too near the liner when

she went down. This was the most important merchantman which had

been sent to the bottom by a submarine since the proclamation of

February 15, 1915.

The next two victims of this sort of warfare were the steamships

_Flaminian_ and the _Crown of Castile_, one of which was sunk by

the _U-28_, and the other by an unidentified submarine on April

1, 1915. They went down off the west coast of England with no loss

of life, though the _Crown of Castile_ was torpedoed before her

crew could get off. The _Flaminian_ had tried to get away, but

had to stop under fire from deck guns on the submarine. The shells

did not hit her in vital spots, however, and it was necessary to

send a torpedo into her hull to sink her.

The ease with which submarines had been able to bob up in unexpected

places and to sink British merchantmen, in spite of the patrols

maintained by British warships, caused the captains of merchant

vessels to petition the British Government to be allowed to arm

their vessels on April 1, 1915. This was not granted, because their

being armed would have made the steamship legitimate prey for the

submarines, nor was any attention paid to the demand made by the

British press that the crews and officers of captured German submarines

be treated, not as prisoners of war, but as pirates. Reprisals on

the part of the Germans was feared.

Beachy Head on the 1st of April, 1915, was again the scene of two

successful attacks on merchantmen by submarines. On that day the

French steamship _Emma_, after being torpedoed, went to the bottom

with all of the nineteen men in her crew. The same submarine sank

the British steamer _Seven Seas_, causing the deaths of eleven

of her men.

In order to indicate the amount of harm which the submarine warfare

caused British shipping, the admiralty on April 1, 1915, announced

that though five merchantmen had been sent to the bottom and one

had been only partially damaged by submarines during the week ending

March 31, 1915, some 1,559 vessels entered and sailed from British

ports during the same period.

Efforts were made to damage the base, from which many of the German

submarines had been putting out at Zeebrugge, with aircraft. On the

1st of April, 1915, the British Government's press bureau announced

that bombs had been dropped, with unknown success, on two German

submarines lying there, and that on the same day a British airman

had flown over Hoboken and had seen submarines in building there.

The steamship _Lockwood_, while off Start Point in Devonshire,

was hit abaft the engine room by a German torpedo on the morning

of April 2, 1915, and though she went down almost immediately,

her crew was able to get off in small boats and were picked up by

fishing trawlers.

The _U-28_, which had done such effective work for the Germans

during the month of March, 1915, was relieved of duty near the

British Isles during the first week of April by the _U-31_, which

sank the Russian bark _Hermes_ and the British steamship _Olivine_

off the coast of Wales on April 5, 1915.

The British admiralty decided in April, 1915, to use some other

means besides the employment of torpedo boats and destroyers to

keep watch for German submarines, and innocent-looking fishing

trawlers were used for the purpose. While these could give no fight

against a submarine, it was intended that they would carefully make

for land to report after sighting one of the hostile craft. The

Germans, discovering this strategy, then began to sink trawlers

when they found them. On the morning of April 5, 1915, one of these

small craft was sighted and chased by the _U-20_. After a pursuit

of an hour or more the German ship was near enough for members of

her crew to fire on the trawler with rifles. Her crew got into

the small boat and were picked up later by a steamer. The trawler

was sent to the bottom.