Council of Workmen and Soldiers' Deputies and formulated the programme
which has come to be the Russian Declaration of Independence. They
consented to support the Duma if it adopted their democratic programme.
There was nothing else for the Duma to do, and the main issues of the
new Government were worked out before Tuesday morning, within
twenty-four hours of the beginning of the revolution. Since then I have
been repeatedly impressed with the organizing ability of the men in
control, and their ability to take matters rapidly in hand.
[Sidenote: The crowd feels its power.]
[Sidenote: Not much terrorism.]
Monday night the city was in the hands of the mob. Anybody could have a
gun. Public safety lay in the released spirits of the Russian workmen
who saw the vision of liberty before them. Tuesday was the most
dangerous day, as the crowd was beginning to feel its power, and the
amount of shooting going on everywhere must have been out of all
proportion to the sniping on the part of cornered police. But the
searching of apartments for arms was carried on with some semblance of
order, and usually there was a student in command. The individual
stories of officers who refused to surrender and fought to the end in
their apartments are endless, but these individual fights were lost in
the victorious sweep of the day. Tuesday evening the real business of
burning police stations and prisons and destroying records went on
throughout the city, but the actual burnings, while picturesque, lacked
the terrorism one might expect. Still I felt that the large number of
irresponsible civilians carrying arms might do what they pleased.
The same idea evidently occurred to the Committee of Safety, as it began
at once disarming the irresponsible, and its work was so quick and
effective that there were very few civilians not registered as
responsible police who still had fire-arms on Wednesday morning.
[Sidenote: Regiments sent to Petrograd join revolutionists.]
As late as Wednesday there was a possibility of troops being sent
against Petrograd, but all the regiments for miles around joined the
revolution before they entered the city. There was obviously no one who
wanted to uphold the old monarchy, and it fell without even dramatic
incident to mark its end. To us in Petrograd the abdication of the
Emperor had just one significance. It brought the army over at a stroke.
The country, long saturated with democratic principles, accepted the new
Government as naturally as if it had been chosen by a national vote.
* * * * *
The credit of the first shot fired on the American side in the Great War
fell to the crew of the American ship, _Mongolia_. A narrative of this
dramatic event is given in the chapter following.
AMERICA'S FIRST SHOT
J. R. KEEN
Copyright, New York Times, April 27, 1919.
[Sidenote: Gunners of the _Mongolia_ hit a submarine.]
April 19 has long been celebrated in Massachusetts because of the battle
of Lexington, but henceforth the Bay State can keep with added pride a
day which has acquired national interest in this war, for on that date
the S. S. _Mongolia_, bound from New York to London, under command of
Captain Emery Rice, while proceeding up the English Channel, fired on an
attacking submarine at 5.24 in the morning, smashing its periscope and
causing the U-boat to disappear.
[Sidenote: Officers from Massachusetts.]
The gun crew who made this clean hit at 1,000 yards were under command
of Lieutenant Bruce R. Ware, United States Navy, and the fact of special
interest in Massachusetts is that both Rice and Ware were born in that
State, the Captain receiving his training for the sea in the
Massachusetts Nautical School and the Lieutenant being a graduate of
Annapolis.
[Sidenote: Dangerous voyages and cargoes.]
The _Mongolia_, a merchantman of 13,638 tons, had been carrying
munitions to Great Britain since January, 1916, when she reached New
York Harbor from San Francisco, coming by way of Cape Horn, and she had
already made nine voyages to England. In those voyages her officers and
men had faced many of the greatest perils of the war. Her cargoes had
consisted of TNT, of ammunition, of powder, of fuses, and of shells. At
one time while carrying this dangerous freight Captain Rice saw, as he
stood on the bridge during a storm, a lightning bolt strike the ship
forward just where a great quantity of powder was stored, and held his
breath as he waited to see "whether he was going up or going down."
[Sidenote: Warnings of U-boats.]
Captain Rice has since died, and among his papers now in my possession
are many of the warnings of the presence of U-boats sent to his ship by
the British Admiralty during 1916, when every vessel approaching the
British coast was in danger from those assassins of the sea.
[Sidenote: _Mongolia_ sails in spite of German edict.]
After February 1, 1917, when the Huns made their "war zone" declaration,
the question with us at home whether the _Mongolia_ would continue to
sail in defiance of that edict of ruthless warfare became a matter of
acute anxiety. The ship completed her eighth voyage on February 7, when
she reached New York and found the whole country discussing the burning
question, "Would the United States allow the Imperial German Government
to dictate how and where our ships should go?" There was never but one
answer in the mind of Captain Rice. At home he simply said, "I shall
sail on schedule, armed or unarmed. Does any one suppose I would let
those damned Prussians drive me off the ocean?"
In the office of the International Mercantile Marine he expressed
himself more politely, but with equal determination, to the President of
the company, P. A. S. Franklin, to whom he said, "I am prepared, so are
my officers, to sail with or without arms, but of course I would rather
have arms."
[Sidenote: Arms slow to get.]
But the arms were slow to get, and the _Mongolia_, loaded with her
super-dangerous cargo, cleared from New York on February 20, the first
one of our boats to reach England after the "war zone" declaration, I
believe. Captain Rice arrived in London about the time when Captain
Tucker of the S. S. _Orleans_ reached Bordeaux, the latter being the
first American to reach France in safety after the same declaration.
[Sidenote: Spies try to learn sailing dates.]
Early in February of 1917 we became aware that German spies were making
a persistent attempt to get into our home to find out when the
_Mongolia_ was sailing, and if the ship was to be armed. The first spy
came up the back stairs in the guise of an employe engaged in delivering
household supplies. He accomplished nothing, and the incident was
dismissed from our minds, but the second spy came up the front stairs
and effected an entrance, and this event roused us to the dangers around
Captain Rice even in his own country and showed the intense
determination of the Germans to prevent, if they could, any more big
cargoes of munitions reaching England on the _Mongolia_. Our second
visitor was a man who had been an officer in the German Army years
before. After leaving Germany he came to the United States and became a
citizen.
[Sidenote: A German-American turns German spy.]
In August, 1914, when the Huns invaded Belgium, he became all German
again and returned to Europe to serve with the German Army on the French
front, from which region he was ordered by the German Government back to
the United States, where his command of English and knowledge of the
country made him valuable to the propaganda and spy groups here. All
this and much more I found out shortly after his visit, but the
afternoon he called I (I was alone at the time) received him without
suspicion, since he said he came to pay his respects to Captain Rice,
whom he had known in China.
[Sidenote: Deceiving the spy.]
It was not until his apparently casual questions about the time of the
_Mongolia's_ sailing and whether she was to be armed became annoying
that "I woke up," and looking attentively at this over-curious visitor,
I encountered a look of such cold hostility that with a shock I
realized I was dealing with a spy, one who was probably armed, and who
appeared determined to get the information he sought. In a few seconds
of swift thinking I decided the best thing to do was to make him believe
that Captain Rice himself did not know whether his ship was going out
again, and that no one could tell what course of action the ship owners
would take. After forty minutes of probing for information he departed,
convinced there was no information to be had from me.
[Sidenote: How signals could be sent by German agents.]
It was ascertained that his New York home was in an apartment house on
the highest point of land in Manhattan. In this same house there lived
another German, who received many young men, all Teutons, as visitors,
some of whom spent much time with him on the roof. The possibility of
their signaling out to sea from this elevation is too obvious to be
dwelt on, and it is beyond doubt that some of the submarines' most
effective work at this time and later was due to the activities of these
German agents allowed at large by our too-trustful laws of citizenship.
So exact and timely was much of the information these spies secured that
the _Mongolia_ on one of her voyages to England picked up a wireless
message sent in the _Mongolia's_ own secret code, saying that the
_Montana_ was sinking, giving her position, and asking the _Mongolia_ to
come to her rescue, but it had happened that when the _Mongolia_ left
New York Harbor at the beginning of this very voyage one of her officers
had noticed the _Montana_ lying in the harbor.
[Sidenote: _Mongolia_ is armed with three 6-inch guns.]
When the _Mongolia_ returned on March 30, 1917, from this unarmed voyage
she was given three six-inch guns, two forward and one aft, and a gun
crew from the U. S. S. _Texas_, under Lieutenant Bruce R. Ware, who had
already made his mark in gunnery.
The _Mongolia_ left New York on her tenth voyage April 7 with the
following officers:
[Sidenote: The officers on the voyage.]
Commander, Emery Rice; in command of armed guard, Lieutenant Bruce R.
Ware; Chief officer, Thomas Blau; First Officer, W. E. Wollaston; Second
Officer, Charles W. Krieg; Third Officer, Joseph C. Lutz; Fourth
Officer, Carroll D. Riley; Cadets, Fred Earl Wilcox and Theodore
Forsell; Doctor, Charles Rendell; Assistant Purser, J. T. Wylie; Chief
Steward, W. T. Heath; Chief Engineer, James W. Condon; First Assistant
Engineer, Clarence Irwin; Second Assistant Engineer, William Hodgkiss;
Third Assistant Engineer, L. R. Tinto. Six junior engineers--William
Hasenfus, E. Larkin, Perry McComb, Sidney Murray, J. R. Fletcher,
Lawrence Paterson, Refrigerator Engineer, H. Johnson, Electrician, E.
Powers; Dock Engineer, V. Hansen.
[Sidenote: Entries from the ship's log.]
The log of the ship for that voyage contains these entries:
Sailed from New York April 7, 1917.
Arrived Falmouth, England, April 18, 1917.
Left Falmouth, England, April 18, 1917, p. m.
On April 19, 5.24 a. m., fired on submarine.
Arrived Tilbury, London, April 21.
Left Tilbury, London, May 2.
Arrived New York, May 13.
The Captain's report to the London office of the International
Mercantile Marine is dated April 21, 1917, and says:
"I beg to report that the S. S. _Mongolia_ under my command, while
proceeding up Channel on April 19 at 5.24 a. m. encountered a submarine,
presumably German, in Latitude 50.30 degrees North, Longitude 32 degrees
West; 9 miles South 37 degrees East true from the Overs Light vessel.
"The weather at the time: calm to light airs, sea smooth, hazy with
visibility about 3 miles; speed of the ship fifteen knots, course North
74 degrees East true, to pass close to the Royal Sovereign Light vessel.
[Sidenote: A periscope sighted.]
"The periscope was first sighted broad on the port bow, distant about
one-half mile, by Chief Officer Blau in charge of the bridge watch at
the time. His shout of 'submarine on the port bow' brought Lieutenant
Ware and myself quickly out of the chart room on to the bridge, where we
immediately saw the swirling wake left by the submarine as it submerged.
[Sidenote: Lieutenant Ware gives the range.]
"The armed guard under Lieutenant Ware, United States Navy, were
standing by all guns at the time, which were fully loaded, and while
Lieutenant Ware gave the range to the guns I ordered the helm put
hard-a-starboard with the object of lessening the broadside angle of the
ship to an approaching torpedo.
[Sidenote: The shot goes home.]
[Sidenote: Efficiency of the gunners.]
"Lieutenant Ware's order of 'train on the starboard quarter and report
when you bear on a submarine's periscope' was answered almost
immediately by the after gun's crew, who were then ordered to commence
firing. One shot was fired from the after gun which struck in the centre
of the swirl created by the submarine, causing a quantity of light blue
smoke to hang over the spot where the submarine disappeared for some
time. This was the only shot fired, and the submarine was not seen
again, and after zigzagging until the weather became very thick the ship
was again put on her course. Passed through the Gateway off Folkestone
at 10.45 a. m. and anchored at 11.01 a. m., as I considered the weather
too thick to proceed. I feel that the _Mongolia's_ safe arrival at
London is due to a large extent to the zeal and ability in the execution
of his duties displayed by Lieutenant B. R. Ware, United States Navy,
who has been untiring in his efforts to bring the men under his command
to a high state of efficiency, and who has kept a continuous watch for
the past five days. His co-operation with the ship's officers has been
of the closest, and his men and guns were always ready. Also to Mr.
Blau, the chief officer, a large measure of credit is due, for had he
not seen the periscope at the exact moment of its appearance it is
possible that all our precautions would have been useless.
Signed. EMERY RICE,
"Commander S. S. _Mongolia_."
[Sidenote: _Mongolia's_ officers marked men.]
The fame of the first engagement made the _Mongolia's_ officers marked
men. When Captain Rice returned home he reported that Consul General
Skinner in London had told him that the Germans had set a price of
50,000 marks on his head, and letters expressing hatred and revenge
reached us in New York from points as far away as Kansas City. On the
other hand, the pride felt in the great ship's exploit brought scores of
letters from officers and men who applied for service on her.
* * * * *
German agents were industrious throughout the United States, long before
the American Government broke with Germany. Her activities were carried
on in the form of propaganda and by more violent deeds. A complete
account of these activities as revealed in a congressional investigation
follows.
GERMAN ACTIVITIES IN THE UNITED STATES
FROM REPORT OF HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
[Sidenote: Momentous results must follow.]
It is with the deepest sense of responsibility of the momentous results
which will follow the passage of this resolution that your committee
reports it to the House, with the recommendation that it be passed.
The conduct of the Imperial German Government toward this Government,
its citizens, and its interests has been so discourteous, unjust, cruel,
barbarous, and so lacking in honesty and fair dealing that it has
constituted a violation of the course of conduct which should obtain
between friendly nations.
In addition to this, the German Government is actually making war upon
the people and the commerce of this country, and leaves no course open
to this Government but to accept its gage of battle, declare that a
state of war exists, and wage that war vigorously.
[Sidenote: The announcement of the submarine war zone.]
On the 31st day of January, 1917, notice was given by the Imperial
German Government to this Government that after the following
day--"Germany will meet the illegal measures of her enemies by forcibly
preventing, in a zone around Great Britain, France, Italy, and in the
Eastern Mediterranean, all navigation, that of neutrals included, from
and to England and from and to France, &c. All ships met within that
zone will be sunk."
[Sidenote: American ships sunk.]
Since that day seven American ships flying the American flag have been
sunk and between twenty-five and thirty American lives have been lost
as a result of the prosecution of the submarine warfare in accordance
with the above declaration. This is war. War waged by the Imperial
German Government upon this country and its people.
[Sidenote: Review of Germany's hostile acts.]
A brief review of some of the hostile and illegal acts of the German
Government toward this Government and its officers and its people is
herewith given.
[Sidenote: German note of February, 1915.]
In the memorial of the Imperial German Government accompanying its
proclamation of February 4, 1915, in regard to submarine warfare, that
Government declared: "The German Navy has received instructions to
abstain from all violence against neutral vessels recognizable as such."
In the note of the German Government dated February 16, 1915, in reply
to the American note of February 10, it was declared that "It is very
far indeed from the intention of the German Government * * * ever to
destroy neutral lives and neutral property. * * * The commanders of
German submarines have been instructed, as was already stated in the
note of the 4th instant, to abstain from violence to American merchant
ships when they are recognizable as such."
[Sidenote: American lives lost on many torpedoed ships.]
Nevertheless, the German Government proceeded to carry out its plans of
submarine warfare and torpedoed the British passenger steamer _Falaba_
on March 27, 1915, when one American life was lost, attacked the
American steamer _Cushing_ April 28 by airship, and made submarine
attacks upon the American tank steamer _Gulflight_ May 1, the British
passenger steamer _Lusitania_ May 7, when 114 American lives were lost,
and the American steamer _Nebraskan_ on May 25, in all of which over 125
citizens of the United States lost their lives, not to mention hundreds
of noncombatants who were lost and hundreds of Americans and
noncombatants whose lives were put in jeopardy.
The British mule boat _Armenian_ was torpedoed on June 28, as a result
of which twenty Americans are reported missing.
On July 8, 1915, in a note to Ambassador Gerard, arguing in defense of
its method of warfare and particularly of its submarine commander in the
_Lusitania_ case, it is stated:
[Sidenote: German defense of German submarine warfare.]
"The Imperial Government therefore repeats the assurances that American
ships will not be hindered in the prosecution of legitimate shipping and
the lives of American citizens on neutral vessels shall not be placed in
jeopardy.
"In order to exclude any unforeseen dangers to American passenger
steamers * * * the German submarines will be instructed to permit the
free and safe passage of such passenger steamers when made recognizable
by special markings and notified a reasonable time in advance."
[Sidenote: American ships attacked later.]
Subsequently the following vessels carrying American citizens were
attacked by submarines: British liner _Orduna_, July 9; Russian steamer
_Leo_, July 9; American steamer _Leelanaw_, July 25; British passenger
liner _Arabic_, August 19; British mule ship _Nicosian_, August 19;
British steamer _Hesperian_, September 4. In these attacks twenty-three
Americans lost their lives, not to mention the large number whose lives
were placed in jeopardy.
Following these events, conspicuous by their wantonness and violation of
every rule of humanity and maritime warfare, the German Ambassador, by
instructions from his Government, on September 1 gave the following
assurances to the Government of the United States:
"Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and without
safety of the lives of noncombatants, provided that the liners do not
try to escape or offer resistance."
[Sidenote: Germany gives assurance of regard for lives of
noncombatants.]
On September 9, in a reply as to the submarine attack on the _Orduna_,
the German Government renewed these assurances in the following
language:
[Sidenote: The _Orduna_ case.]
"The first attack on the _Orduna_ by a torpedo was not in accordance
with the existing instructions, which provide that large passenger
steamers are to be torpedoed only after previous warning and after the
rescuing of passengers and crew. The failure to observe the instructions
was based on an error which is at any rate comprehensible and the
repetition of which appears to be out of the question, in view of the
more explicit instructions issued in the meantime. Moreover, the
commanders of the submarines have been reminded that it is their duty to
exercise greater care and to observe carefully the orders issued."
The German Government could not more clearly have stated that liners or
large passenger steamers would not be torpedoed except upon previous
warning and after the passengers and crew had been put in places of
safety.
[Sidenote: Statement about the _William P. Frye_.]
On November 29 the German Government states, in connection with the case
of the American vessel _William P. Frye_:
[Sidenote: Germany promises to protect passengers.]
"The German naval forces will sink only such American vessels as are
loaded with absolute contraband, when the preconditions provided by the
Declaration of London are present. In this the German Government quite
shares the view of the American Government that all possible care must
be taken for the security of the crew and passengers of a vessel to be
sunk. Consequently the persons found on board of a vessel may not be
ordered into her lifeboats except when the general conditions--that is
to say, the weather, the condition of the sea, and the neighborhood of
the coasts--afford absolute certainty that the boats will reach the
nearest port."
[Sidenote: An American Consul drowned.]
Following this accumulative series of assurances, however, there seems
to have been no abatement in the rigor of submarine warfare, for attacks
were made in the Mediterranean upon the American steamer _Communipaw_ on
December 3, the American steamer _Petrolite_ December 5, the Japanese
liner _Yasaka Maru_ December 21, and the passenger liner _Persia_
December 30. In the sinking of the _Persia_ out of a total of some 500
passengers and crew only 165 were saved. Among those lost was an
American Consul traveling to his post.
On January 7, eight days after the sinking of the _Persia_, the German
Government notified the Government of the United States through its
Ambassador in Washington as follows:
[Sidenote: Submarines in Mediterranean ordered to respect international
law.]
"1. German submarines in the Mediterranean had, from the beginning,
orders to conduct cruiser warfare against enemy merchant vessels only in
accordance with the general principles of international law, and in
particular measures of reprisal, as applied in the war zone around the
British Isles, were to be excluded.
"2. German submarines are therefore permitted to destroy enemy merchant
vessels in the Mediterranean, _i. e._, passenger as well as freight
ships as far as they do not try to escape or offer resistance--only
after passengers and crews have been accorded safety."
Clearly the assurances of the German Government that neutral and enemy
merchant vessels, passenger as well as freight ships, should not be
destroyed except upon the passengers and crew being accorded safety
stood as the official position of the Imperial German Government.
[Sidenote: Germany offers indemnity for Americans lost on _Lusitania_.]
On February 16, 1916, the German Ambassador communicated to the
Department of State an expression of regret for the loss of American
lives on the _Lusitania_, and proposed to pay a suitable indemnity. In
the course of this note he said: