THE SUBMARINE AND NEUTRALS
Both Admiral von Tirpitz and the Austrian Admiralty seem to have begun
their submarine campaigns after the method of Captain John Sirius: to
starve the enemy any way they could and let the lawyers argue about it
afterwards. From the beginning of the blockade, Scandinavian, Dutch,
and Spanish vessels, even when bound from one neutral port to another,
were torpedoed and sunk without warning by the German submarines. Their
governments protested vigorously but without effect. Then came the turn
of the United States.
The _Falaba_, a small British passenger steamer outward bound from
Liverpool to the west coast of Africa was pursued and overtaken off
the coast of Wales on March 28, 1915, by the fast German submarine
_U-28_. Realizing that their vessel would be sunk but expecting that
their lives would be spared, the crew and passengers began filling
and lowering away the boats as rapidly as possible but without panic.
The wireless operator had been sending calls for help but ceased when
ordered to by the captain of the _U-28_. No patrol boats were in sight
and the submarine was standing by on the surface, with both gun and
torpedo-tubes trained on the motionless steamer and in absolute command
of the situation. Without the slightest excuse or warning, a torpedo
was then discharged and exploded against the _Falaba’s_ side, directly
beneath a half-lowered and crowded lifeboat. The lifeboat was blown to
pieces and the steamer sunk, with the loss of one hundred and twelve
lives, including that of an American citizen, Mr. Leon C. Thrasher, of
Hardwick, Massachusetts.
[Illustration:
_Photo by Brown Bros._
British Submarine, showing one type of disappearing deck-gun now in
use.]
This cold-blooded slaughter of the helpless horrified the rest of the
world and did Germany’s cause an incalculable amount of harm. The
German people were in no state of mind to realize this, for they had
gone literally submarine-mad. They rejoiced in the cartoons depicting
John Bull marooned on his island or dragged under and drowned by the
swarming “U-boats.” They sincerely believed that within a few months
the power of the British navy would be broken forever and that in
the meanwhile the German submarines could do no wrong. This feeling
was presently intensified by the loss of their hero, the gallant von
Weddigen. Decorated, together with every man of his crew, with the Iron
Cross and promoted to the command of a fine new submarine, the _U-29_,
he did effective work as a blockader and captured and sank several
prizes, but only after carefully removing those on board. Then the
_U-29_ was sunk with all hands, by an armed patrol boat, the British
declare: treacherously, the German people believe, by a merchant ship
whose crew von Weddigen was trying to spare.[28]
No attempt was made to warn the American tank steamer _Gulflight_,
bound for Rouen, France, with a contraband cargo of oil, when she was
torpedoed by a German submarine on May 1. The vessel stayed afloat but
the wireless operator and one of the sailors, terrified by the shock,
jumped overboard and were both drowned, while the captain died of heart
failure a few hours later on board the British patrol boat that took
off the crew and brought the _Gulflight_ into port.
On the same day that the _Gulflight_ was torpedoed, these two
advertisements appeared together in the New York newspapers:
[Illustration:
OCEAN STEAMSHIPS.
CUNARD
EUROPE VIA LIVERPOOL
LUSITANIA
Fastest and Largest Steamer
now in Atlantic Service Sails
SATURDAY, MAY 1, 10 A. M.
Transylvania, Fri., May 7, 5 P. M.
Orduna, Tues., May 18, 10 A. M.
Tuscania, Fri., May 21, 5 P. M.
LUSITANIA, Sat., May 29, 10 A. M.
Transylvania, Fri., June 4, 5 P. M.
Gibraltar--Genoa--Naples--Piraeus
S.S. Carpathia, Thur., May 13, Noon.
ROUND THE WORLD TOURS
Through bookings to all principal Ports of the World.
Company’s Office, 21-24 State St., N. Y.
NOTICE!
TRAVELERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are
reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and
her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the
zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British
isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by
the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag
of Great Britain, or of any of her allies, are liable to
destruction in those waters and that travelers sailing in
the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do
so at their own risk.
IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY,
WASHINGTON, D. C., APRIL 22, 1915
]
This warning was not taken seriously. It was pointed out that the
German submarines had sunk only comparatively small and slow steamers,
and generally believed that it would be impossible for them to hit a
fast-moving vessel. Not a single passenger canceled his passage on the
_Lusitania_, though all admitted that the Germans would have a perfect
right to sink her if they could, as she was laden with rifle-cartridges
and shell-cases for the Allies. But every passenger knew that he had a
perfect right to be taken off first, and trusted to the Government that
had given him his passports to maintain it.
The _Lusitania_ left New York on the first of May. At two o’clock
on the afternoon of Friday, May 7, she was about ten miles from the
Irish coast, off the Old Head of Kinsale, and running slowly to avoid
reaching Queenstown at an unfavorable turn of the tide, when Captain
Turner and many others saw a periscope rise out of the water about half
a mile away.
“I saw a torpedo speeding toward us,” declared the captain afterwards,
“and immediately I tried to change our course, but was unable to
manœuver out of the way. There was a terrible impact as the torpedo
struck the starboard side of the vessel, and a second torpedo followed
almost immediately. This one struck squarely over the boilers.
“I tried to turn the _Lusitania_ shoreward, hoping to beach her, but
her engines were crippled and it was impossible.
“There has been some criticism because I did not order the lifeboats
out sooner, but no matter what may be done there are always some to
criticize. Until the _Lusitania_ came to a standstill it was absolutely
impossible to launch the boats--they would have been swamped.”
The great ship heeled over to port so rapidly that by the time she
could be brought to a stop it was no longer possible to lower the boats
on the starboard side. There was no panic-stricken rush for the boats
that could be lowered; all was order and seemliness and quiet heroism.
Alfred Vanderbilt stripped off the lifebelt that might have saved him
and buckled it about a woman; Lindon Bates, Jr., was last seen trying
to save three children. Elbert Hubbard, Charles Klein, Justus Miles
Forman, and more than a hundred other Americans died, and died bravely.
As the _Lusitania_ went down beneath them, Charles Frohman smiled at
his companion and said:
“Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure of life.”
“I turned around to watch the great ship heel over,” said a passenger
who had dived overboard and swum to a safe distance.
“The monster took a sudden plunge, and I saw a crowd still on her
decks, and boats filled with helpless women and children glued to her
side. I sickened with horror at the sight.
“There was a thunderous roar, as of the collapse of a great building
on fire; then she disappeared, dragging with her hundreds of
fellow-creatures into the vortex. Many never rose to the surface, but
the sea rapidly grew thick with the figures of struggling men and women
and children.”
The total number of deaths was more than a thousand.
The most fitting comment on the sinking of the _Lusitania_ were the
words of Tinkling Cloud, a full-blooded Sioux Indian:
“Now you white men can never call us red men savages again.”
Resting its case on “Many sacred principles of justice and humanity,”
refusing to accept the warning published in the advertising columns
of the newspapers by the German embassy either “as an excuse or
palliation,” and assuming that the commanders of submarines guilty of
torpedoing without warning vessels carrying non-combatants had acted
“under a misapprehension of orders,” the United States concluded its
note to Germany, six days after the sinking of the _Lusitania_, with
these words of warning:
“The Imperial German government will not expect the government of the
United States to omit any word or act necessary to the performance of
its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its
citizens and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment.”
Before any reply had been made to this, a German submarine torpedoed
without warning the American freight steamer _Nebraskan_, on May 25,
a few hours after she had left Liverpool in ballast for the United
States. Fortunately no lives were lost, and although the _Nebraskan’s_
bows had been blown wide open by the explosion, she remained afloat
and was brought back to Liverpool under her own steam. The attack was
tardily admitted by Germany and explained by the fact that it had been
made at dusk, when the commander of the submarine had been unable to
recognize the steamer’s nationality.
On the last day of May, Germany’s answer was received. The Imperial
government declared that the _Lusitania_ had not been an unarmed
merchantman but an auxiliary cruiser of the British navy. That she
had had masked guns mounted on her lower deck, that she had Canadian
troops among her passengers, and that in violation of American law she
had been laden with high explosives which were the real cause of her
destruction because they were set off by the detonation of the single
torpedo that had been discharged by the submarine.
To these allegations, unaccompanied by the slightest proof and
contradicted by the testimony both of British and American
eye-witnesses, the United States replied calmly and categorically. It
was pointed out that if the German ambassador at Washington or the
German consul at New York had complained to the Federal authorities
before the _Lusitania_ sailed and either guns or troops had been found
concealed on her, she would have been interned. The statement of Mr.
Dudley Field Malone, collector of the Port of New York, that the
_Lusitania_ was not armed, may be accepted as final. Gustav Stahl, the
German reservist who signed an affidavit that he had seen guns on board
her, later pleaded guilty to a charge of perjury and was sentenced to
eighteen months in a Federal penitentiary. As for her cargo, every
passenger train and steamer in this country is allowed to transport
boxes of revolver and rifle cartridges--the only explosives carried
on the _Lusitania_--because it is extremely difficult to set off any
number of them together, either by heat or concussion.
Dropping these points, Germany then pledged the safety of American
ships in the war zone, if distinctly marked, and to facilitate American
travel offered to permit the United States to hoist its flag on four
belligerent passenger steamers. This, if accepted, would by implication
have made Americans fair game anywhere else on the high seas, and was
accordingly rejected in the strong American note of July 21.
“The rights of neutrals in time of war,” declared President Wilson
through the medium of Secretary Lansing, “are based upon principle, not
upon expediency, and the principles are immutable. It is the duty and
obligation of belligerents to find a way to adapt the new circumstances
to them.
“The events of the past two months have clearly indicated that it is
possible and practicable to conduct such submarine operations as have
characterized the activity of the Imperial German naval commanders
within the so-called war-zone in substantial accord with the accepted
practices of regulated warfare. The whole world has looked with
interest and increasing satisfaction at the demonstration of that
possibility by German naval commanders. It is manifestly possible,
therefore, to lift the whole practice of submarine attack above the
criticism which it has aroused and remove the chief causes of offense.”
Repetition by the commanders of German naval vessels of acts
contravening neutral rights “must be regarded by the Government of the
United States, where they effect American citizens, as deliberately
unfriendly.”
On July 9, a German submarine discharged a torpedo at the west-bound
Cunard liner _Orduna_, narrowly missed her, rose to the surface
and fired some twenty shells before the steamer got out of range.
Fortunately, none of these took effect. There were American passengers
on board and nothing but bad marksmanship averted another _Lusitania_
horror.
Three days later, another German submarine stopped an American freight
steamer, the _Leelanlaw_, and had her visited and searched by a
boarding party, who reported that she was carrying contraband to Great
Britain. Because the vessel could not be taken into a German port and
there was no time to throw her cargo overboard, the crew were taken off
and she was sunk.
Here was a perfectly proper procedure, where no neutral lives had been
endangered and the question of the damage to property could be settled
amicably in a court of law. It was to the practice in the _Leelanlaw_
case that President Wilson referred to so hopefully in his note of
July 21. Though the weeks went by without any answer from Germany, it
was hoped that the Imperial government had quietly amended the orders
to its submarine commanders and that no more passenger ships would be
attacked without warning.
But on the 19th of August, the White Star liner _Arabic_ sighted and
went to the rescue of a sinking ship. This proved to be the British
steamer _Dunsley_, which had been torpedoed by a German submarine.
As the _Arabic_ came up and prepared to lower her boats, another
torpedo from the same submarine exploded against the liner’s side,
killing several of her crew and sending her to the bottom in eleven
minutes. She went down within fifty miles of the resting place of the
_Lusitania_. She was sunk without warning and without cause, for she
had been bound to New York, with neither arms nor ammunition on board,
nor had she made the slightest attempt either to escape or attack
the submarine. She carried one hundred and eighty-one passengers,
twenty-five of whom were Americans. Two Americans were drowned.
The German government at once asked for time in which to explain, and
the Imperial chancellor hinted that the commander of the submarine that
sank the _Arabic_ might have “gone beyond his instructions, in which
case the Imperial government would not hesitate to give such complete
satisfaction to the United States as would conform to the friendly
relations existing between both governments.”
Great was the rejoicing on the first of September, when Ambassador von
Bernstorff declared himself authorized to say to the State Department
that:
“Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and without
safety of the lives of non-combatants, provided that the liners do not
try to escape or offer resistance.”
But only three days afterwards, the west-bound Canadian liner
_Hesperian_ was sunk by the explosion of what seemed to have been a
torpedo launched without warning from a hostile submarine. And on top
of this disturbing incident came the German note on the sinking of the
_Arabic_, the perusal of which sent a chill through every peace-lover
in America. Affirming that the captain of the _Arabic_ had tried to
ram the submarine, the note declared that orders had been issued to
commanders of German submarines not to sink liners without provocation,
but added that if by mistake or otherwise liners were sunk without
provocation, Germany would not be responsible.
“The German government,” it ran, “is unable to acknowledge any
obligation to grant indemnity in the matter, even if the commander
should have been mistaken as to the aggressive intention of the
_Arabic_.
“If it should prove to be the case that it is impossible for the German
and American governments to reach a harmonious opinion on this point,
the German government would be prepared to submit the difference
of opinion, as being a question of international law, to The Hague
Tribunal for arbitration....
“In so doing, it assumes that, as matter of course, the arbitral
decision shall not be admitted to have the importance of a general
decision on the permissibility ... under international law of German
submarine warfare.”
Assuming that this extraordinary stand was based on a misapprehension
of the facts, the United States submitted to Germany the testimony of
American passengers on the _Arabic_, and the sworn affidavits of her
officers, that the submarine had not been sighted from the steamer and
that no attempt had been made to ram the undersea boat or do anything
but rescue the crew of the _Dunsley_.
By this time a change had come over the spirit of the Imperial German
government. It realized that the submarine blockade of the British
Isles had broken down, and that further examples of “Frightfulness” on
the high seas would do Germany no good and would probably force the
United States into the ranks of Germany’s enemies. The sensible and
obvious thing to do was to take the easy and honorable way out the
American government was holding open. On October 6, Ambassador von
Bernstorff gave out the following statement:
“Prompted by the desire to reach a satisfactory agreement with regard
to the _Arabic_ incident, my government has given me the following
instructions:
“The order issued by His Majesty the Emperor to the commanders of the
German submarines, of which I notified you on a previous occasion, has
been made so stringent that the recurrence of incidents similar to the
_Arabic_ case is considered out of the question.
“According to the report of Commander Schneider of the submarine which
sank the _Arabic_, and his affidavit, as well as those of his men,
Commander Schneider was convinced that the _Arabic_ intended to ram the
submarine.
“On the other hand, the Imperial government does not doubt the good
faith of the affidavit of the British officers of the _Arabic_,
according to which the _Arabic_ did not intend to ram the submarine.
The attack of the submarine was undertaken against the instructions
issued to the commander. The Imperial government regrets and disavows
this act, and has notified Commander Schneider accordingly.
“Under these circumstances, my government is prepared to pay an
indemnity for American lives which, to its deep regret, have been lost
on the _Arabic_. I am authorized to negotiate with you about the amount
of this indemnity.”
In the meantime, fragments of the metal box of high explosives that had
blown in the side of the _Hesperian_ had been picked up on her deck,
and forwarded by the British government to America. United States naval
experts examined the twisted bits of metal and declared them to have
been pieces, not of a mine, as the German government insists, but of an
automobile torpedo. However, in view of the fact that the _Hesperian_
was armed with a 4.7 gun, and because of the happy outcome of the
_Arabic_ affair, it seems unlikely that anything will be done about it.
But only a month later there was begun another “Campaign of
Frightfulness,” this time by Austrian submarines in the Mediterranean.
As the passengers on the Italian liner _Ancona_, one day out from
Naples to New York, were sitting at luncheon on November 7th,
they “felt a tremor through the ship as her engines stopped and
reversed.”[29] Then, while we were stopping, there was an explosion
forward. A shell had struck us.
“When I reached the deck,” continues Dr. Greil, “shell was fairly
pouring into us from the submarine, which we could see through the fog,
about 100 yards away. I hurried below to pack a few things in my trunk.
As I was standing over it, a shell came through the porthole and struck
my maid, who was standing at my side. It tore away her scalp and part
of her skull and went on through the wall, bursting somewhere inside
the ship.
“When I went on deck again I found the wildest excitement. It was like
the old-time stories one used to read of shipwrecks at sea. I will not
say anything about the crew because I could not say anything good.
They launched fifteen boats but only eight got away. I was in one of
these.... I do not believe the submarine fired deliberately on the
lifeboats. They were trying to sink the _Ancona_ with shells, but they
finally used a torpedo to send her to the bottom. I looked at my watch
when she took her last plunge. It was 12.45. We were picked up by the
French cruiser _Pluton_ about midnight.”
The commander of the submarine declared, in his official report, that
he had fired only because the _Ancona_ had tried to escape, that he had
ceased firing as soon as she came to a stop, that the loss of life was
due to the incompetence of the panic-stricken crew of the liner, whom
the Austrian officer allowed forty-five minutes in which to launch the
lifeboats. He admitted, however, that at the expiration of this time he
had torpedoed and sunk the _Ancona_, while there were still a number of
people on her decks.
About two hundred of the passengers and crew were drowned or killed by
shellfire. Among them were several American citizens.
“The conduct of the commander,” declared the strongly-worded American
note of December 6th, “can only be characterized as wanton slaughter
of defenseless non-combatants.”... The government of the United States
is unwilling ... to credit the Austro-Hungarian government with an
intention to permit its submarines to destroy the lives of helpless
men, women, and children. It prefers to believe that the commander of
the submarine committed this outrage without authority and contrary to
the general or special instructions which he had received.
“As the good relations of the two countries must rest upon a common
regard for law and humanity, the government of the United States
cannot be expected to do otherwise than to denounce the sinking of
the _Ancona_ as an illegal and indefensible act, and to demand that
the officer who perpetrated the deed be punished, and that reparation
by the payment of an indemnity be made for the citizens of the United
States who were killed or injured by the attack on the vessel.”
This undiplomatic language caused no little resentment in Vienna. But
after a restatement of the Austrian case, and a much milder rejoinder
from Washington, the American demands were apparently acceded to. In
the second Austro-Hungarian note, which was published in America on
January 1st, 1915, the government of the Dual-Monarchy disavowed the
act of its submarine commander, declared that he had acted in violation
of his orders and would be punished therefore, and agreed to pay an
indemnity for the American citizens who had been killed or injured.
“The Imperial and Royal Government,” the note continued, “agrees
thoroughly with the American Cabinet that the sacred commandments
of humanity must be observed also in war.... The Imperial and Royal
Government can also substantially concur in the principle expressed
... that private ships, in so far as they do not attempt to escape or
offer resistance, may not be destroyed without the persons aboard being
brought into safety.”
Like the settlement of the _Arabic_ case, this was hailed as a great
diplomatic victory for the United States. Unlike it, there was no
question of sharing the credit with the anti-submarine activities
of the Allies, whose merchant ships in the Mediterranean were being
torpedoed with startling frequency. On December 21st, the new 12,000
ton Japanese liner _Yasaka Maru_ was sunk without warning, near Port
Said. Thanks to the splendid discipline of her crew, no lives were
lost. There was an alleged American on board, but there was some
irregularity about his citizenship papers. Nor were there any Americans
aboard the French passenger ship _Ville de la Ciotat_, torpedoed on
Christmas Eve, with the loss of seventy lives. There was nothing to mar
the smug satisfaction of the American people on New Year’s Day.
Then came the news of the sinking of the Peninsular and Oriental liner
_Persia_, on December 30th, off the Island of Crete.
“I was in the dining room of the _Persia_ at 1.05 P.M.,” declares Mr.
Charles Grant of Boston, who was one of the two Americans on board. “I
had just finished my soup, and the steward was asking me what I would
take for my second course, when a terrific explosion occurred.
“The saloon became filled with smoke, broken glass and steam from the
boiler, which appeared to have burst. There was no panic on board. We
went on deck as though we were at drill, and reported at the lifeboats
on the starboard side, as the vessel had listed to port....
“The last I saw of the _Persia_, she had her bow in the air, five
minutes after the explosion....
“Robert McNeely, American Consul at Aden, sat at the same table with me
on the voyage. He was not seen, probably because his cabin was on the
port side.
“It was a horrible scene. The water was black as ink. Some passengers
were screaming, others were calling out good-by. Those in one boat sang
hymns.”
The _Persia_ was apparently torpedoed, without warning. Like the
_Hesperian_, she was armed with a 4.7 gun. One of the ship’s officers
saw the white wake of the torpedo. But no one saw the submarine.
The commander of that submarine evidently believed, like Captain
Sirius, in striking first and letting the lawyers talk about it
afterwards.
INDEX
_A-1_, 124.
_A-3_, 124, 135.
_A-5_, 125.
_A-7_, 124.
_A-8_, 124, 126.
_Aboukir_, 160, 169.
Accidents, 124.
Aeroplanes, 17, 71, 172.
Air-chamber, 47.
_Alabama_, 70.
_Albemarle_, 43, 166.
_Alert_, 136.
Alkmaar, 4.
Alstitt’s submarine, 75.
_Ancona_, 202.
_Anglo-Californian_, 187.
Apostoloff’s submarine, 66.
_Arabic_, 198, 205.
_Argo_, 92.
_Argonaut_, 85, 92, 98.
_Argonaut Jr._, 85.
_Argus_, 34.
_Asia_, 12.
Aube, Admiral, 59.
_Audacious_, 161, 169.
Awash condition, 127.
_B-2_, 124.
_B-11_, 165.
_Badger_, 168.
Baker’s submarine, 82.
Balance-chamber, 44, 48.
Ballast-tanks, 16, 38, 57, 82, 111, 138.
_Baralong_ case, 164, note.
Barber, Lieutenant F. M., 16.
Barlow, Joel, 26, 34.
Bates, Jr., Lindon, 194.
“Battle of the Kegs,” 23.
Bauer, Wilhelm, 56, 65, 120, note.
Beatty, Admiral, 175.
Beauregard, General, 39.
_Belridge_, 148.
_Berwick Castle_, 124.
Bigskorth, Squadron Commander, 172.
_Birmingham_, 159.
Blake, Mr., 10.
Blockade, 177 _et seq._
“Blowing the tanks,” 63, 112, 122, 128.
Booms, 92, 171.
Borelli, 10.
Boucher’s submarine, 66.
Bourgois, Captain, 57.
Bourne, William, 4.
Boush, Rear-Admiral, 137.
_Bouvet_, 154.
Boyle, Robert, 7.
British Hollands, 80.
British Navy, 30, 70, 72, 175, 178.
Brun, Monsieur, 57.
_Bulwark_, 161.
Buoyancy chamber, 49.
Bushnell, David, 6, 13 to 25, 28, 95, 128, 154.
_C-11_, 124.
_C-14_, 124.
Cable-cutting, 89, 95.
_Cairo_, 144.
Caldwell, Lieutenant H. C., 78, 79.
_Caprivi_, 148.
Carlson, Captain, 40.
_Cerberus_, 22.
Chandler, Mr. Edward F., 53.
Chlorin gas, 126, 129, 137.
_Clairmont_, 34, 81.
_Commodore Jones_, 144.
Compass, 18, 113.
Compensation-tank, 79, 118.
Compressed-air tank, 30, 57, 131.
Conning-tower, 12, 15, 28, 78, 103, 113.
Constantin’s submarine, 66.
Cooking, 108.
Copper sheathing, 18, 35.
_Cressy_, 160, 169.
Crilley, Frank, 137.
Cushing, Lieutenant, 43, 166.
_D-5_, 155.
Daniels, Secretary, 81, 138.
Dardanelles, the, 64, 147, 154, 165.
_David_, 36, 43, 61.
Davis, Commander, 52.
Day, J., 10, 128.
Delaying-valve, 47.
_Demologos_, 35.
Depth-control, 113.
Destroyers, 35, 104, 168, 170.
_Delfin_, 124.
Dewey, Admiral, 79, 145.
_Diable Marin_, 65, 120, note.
Diesel, Dr., 108.
Diesel engines, 104, 135, 184.
Divers, 14, 40, 56, 136.
Diving-bells, 4.
Diving compartment, 83, 88, 94, 130, 132.
Diving-planes, 28, 38, 48, 71, 72, 78, 111.
Dixon, Lieutenant, 40.
_Dorothea_, 32.
Doughty, Thomas, 115.
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, 178, 186.
Drzewiecki, 64, 71.
_Dunsely_, 198.
Dubilier, Mr. W., 171.
_E-4_, 160.
_E-5_, 124.
_E-9_, 156.
_E-11_, 165.
_E-13_, 164.
_E-15_, 165.
_Eagle_, 12, 18.
Edison battery, 126.
Eel-boats, 4, 14.
Electric Boat Company, 81, 96.
Electric motors, 108, 184.
Electric submarines, 59, 60, 66, 83, note.
_Emerald Isle_, 72.
Emergency drop-keel, 10, 15, 83, 128.
Enver Pasha, 166.
Ericsson, John, 82, 104.
Escape from sunken submarine, 130.
Even-keel submergence, 61, 96.
_F-4_, 124, 136.
_Falaba_, 189.
Faotomu, Lieutenant Takuma, 128.
_Farfadet_, 124.
Farragut, Admiral, 142.
Fenian Brotherhood, 71.
_Fenian Ram_, 73.
Fessenden oscillator, 119, 125.
Fishing for submarines, 170, 183.
_Foca_, 124.
Folger, Commander, 82.
Forman, Justus Miles, 194.
_Formidable_, 162, 169.
Frohman, Charles, 194.
_Fulton_, 135.
Fulton, Robert, 26 to 35, 69, 139, 186.
Gages, 20, 112, 129.
Garett, Rev. Mr., 61.
Gasoline engines, 86, 105.
Gasoline fumes, 90, 107, 125.
German contributions, 107, 115.
Gimlets, 16, 18, 64.
Goubet submarines, 60.
Grant, Charles, 205.
Greased leather, 6, 9.
Greil, Dr. Cecile L., 202.
_Giuseppe Garibaldi_, 169.
_Gulflight_, 191.
Guns, 83, 102, 174, 187, 202.
Guncotton, 46.
_Gustave Zédé_, 59.
_Gymnote_, 59.
Gyroscope, 50, 53, 114.
Gyroscopic compass, 113.
Hague Tribunal, 148, 200.
Halstead, 56.
Hammond, Jr., Mr. John Hays, 55.
Hanson, Captain, 183.
Harsdoffer, 5, 6.
_Hatsuse_, 147.
Hautefeullie, Abbé de, 7.
_Hela_, 155.
_Hermes_, 161, 168.
_Hesperian_, 199, 202, 206.
_Hogue_, 160, 169.
Holbrook, Commander, 165.
Holland, John P., 68 to 81, 95, 104, 115, 175.
_Holland_, 76 to 81, 86, 103, 104, 125.
_Holland No. 1_, 70.
_Holland No. 2_, 71.
_Holland No. 8_, 76.
Holland Torpedo-boat Company, 75, 79, 81.
“Horn of the Nautilus,” 29.
_Housatonic_, 40.
Howard, Ensign, 36.
Hovgaard, Commander, 75.
_Huascar_, 50.
Hubbard, Elbert, 194.
_Hundley_, 38 to 41.
Hydroplanes, 84, 95.
Hydrostatic valve, 48, 128, 154.
_Intelligent Whale_, 56, 81, 86.
International law, 178, 179, 200.
_Irresistible_, 154, 161.
James I, 5.
“Jammer,” the, 46.
Jefferson, Thomas, 14, 16, 22, 25.
Jonson, Ben, 3, 64.
_K_-class, 138.
_Kambala_, 124.
_Kearsarge_, 78.
_Kheyr-el-din_, 165.
Klein, Charles, 194.
Krupps, the, 99.
Labeuf, Monsieur, 91.
Lacavalerier, Señor, 66.
Lacomme, Dr., 64.
Lake, Mr. Simon, 82 to 99, 175.
Laurenti, Major Cesare, 134.
Laurenti dock, 134.
Le Son, 9.
Lee, Ezra, 15 to 22.
_Leelanlaw_, 198.
_Leon Gambetta_, 169.
Leveling-vanes, 96.
Lifeboats, 131.
List, Carl Frank, 187, 191.
Lord St. Vincent, Admiral, 32.
Lupuis, Captain, 44.
_Lusitania_, 181, 192 to 198.
_Lutin_, 124.
McNeely, Robert, 206.
_Maine_, 76.
_Majestic_, 166.
Makaroff, Admiral, 147.
Malone, Mr. Dudley Field, 196.
_Marblehead_, 146.
_Maryland_, 137.
_Merrimac_, 69.
Mersenne, 6, 91.
_Messudieh_, 165.
Microphones, 171.
Mines, Confederate, 143, 154, note.
contact, 139, 144, 148 to 155, 179.
drifting, 23, 139, 154.
electric, 89, 144, 151.
observation, 144.
Mine-field, 151, 165.
Mine-planter, 146, 149.
Mine-sweeping, 139, 152.
_Moltke_, 164.
_Monitor_, 42, 69, 81.
Mother-ship, 100, 111, 135.
_Mute_, 35.
Napier, John, 4.
Napoleon, 27, 32, 33.
_Narval_, 91.
_Nautilus_, Fulton’s, 27 to 31, 56, 72.
_Nautilus_, Jules Verne’s, 59.
Navigating bridge, 103, 111.
_Nebraskan_, 195.
Nemo, Captain, 59.
_New Ironsides_, 36, 144.
_New York_, 78.
Nordenfeldt, 28, 61, 74, 95.
_Nordenfeldt II_, 62, 78, 83.
Notes, American, 180, 195 to 197, 200, 203.
Austrian, 204.
British, 181.
German, 191, 199.
_No. 6_, 124, 128.
Oars, 6, 9, 16, 17, 66.
_Ocean_, 154.
Oil-engine, 60, 78, 104.
_Olympic_, 162, 178.
_Orduna_, 198.
_Osage_, 115.
Oxygen, 7, 131.
_Ozark_, 100.
Panlow, Captain Archibald, 187.
Panoramas, 26.
Payne, Lieutenant, 39.
Pendulum, 49, 53.
_Peral_, 64, 66.
“Peripatetic Coffin,” 39.
_Persia_, 205.
Persius, Captain, 183.
Periscope, 78, 83, 114, 125, 186.
_Petropavlosk_, 147.
Philip, Captain, 146.
Phosphorescence, 6, 19.
Pipe-masts, 86, 95.
Pitt, 32.
_Plongeur_, 57, 132.
_Plunger_, 75.
_Pluton_, 203.
_Pluviôse_, 124, 125, 134.
Pneumatic gun, 79.
_Pommern_, 163.
“Porpoise dive,” 78, 160.
Porter, Admiral David, 40.
“Primer,” the, 46.
Propellers, adjustable, 82.
primitive, 16, 28.
transverse, 83.
vertical-acting, 16, 28, 61, 83, 95 154.
_Protector_, 95.
Pumps, 16, 28, 111.
_Ramillies_, 35.
Ramming, 124, 168, 200.
Reducing-valve, 48.
Rescuing, 125, 156.
_Resurgam_, 61.
Riou, Olivier, 59.
Rogers, Commodore, 34.
_Rotterdam Boat_, 9, 14, 69.
_Royal Edward_, 166.
Rudders, bow, 96, 111.
horizontal (see diving-planes).
_S-126_, 169.
_San Francisco_, 149.
Safety-buoy, 132.
catch, 47.
helmets, 130.
jackets, 130.
Sails, 29, 31.
Salvage docks, 134.
Sampson, Admiral, 89, 146.
Schneider, Commander, 201.
Scope, Lieutenant Perry, 100.
Searchlight, 86, 186.
Selfridge, Rear-admiral, 115.
Servo-motor, 49, 53.
Sirius, Captain John, 177, 187, 189, 206.
Skerrett, Mr. R. G., 135.
_Spuyten Duyvil_, 42.
Stahl, Gustav, 196.
“Staple of News, the,” 3.
Steam submarine, 61.
Steamboat, 32, 34.
Storage-batteries, 59, 126, 184.
“Striker,” the, 46.
_Stromboli_, 42.
Submarine fighting submarine, 174.
Submarine railroad, 64.
Submersible, 91.
Superstructure, 90, 102.
Symons’s submarine, 9.
Taylor, D. W., Chief Constructor, U. S. N., 96.
Telephoning from submarines, 88, 132.
_Tecumseh_, 142.
Templo, Alvary, 71.
_Texas_, 146.
Thrasher, Leon C., 190.
Tinkling Cloud, 195.
Tissot, Professor, 171.
Torpedo, automobile, 44 to 55.
boats, 45, 103.
Brennan, 59.
Chandler, 53.
controllable, 43, 54, 55.
cost of, 47, 103.
Davis gun-, 52.
Fulton’s anchored, 139.
Hammond wireless, 55.
Torpedo-nets, 34, 170.
origin of name, 29.
practice, 116.
recovering, 47, 123.
Schwartzkopf, 52, 160.
Sims-Edison, 54.
spar, 37, 43.
tubes, 45, 46, 63, 117, 118, 133, 138.
wake of, 49, 206.
“Torpedo War and Submarine Explosions,” 35, 139.
Torpedo, Whitehead, 44 to 52, 117.
Transports, 166, 171, 178.
Trim, 96.
Trimming-tanks, 117.
Trinitrotuluol, 52.
_Triumph_, 166.
Trumbull, Governor, 14.
Turner, Captain, 193.
_Turtle_, 12, 14 to 22.
_U-1_, 108.
_U-3_, 124, 132.
_U-9_, 160.
_U-12_, 169.
_U-15_, 159.
_U-16_, 183.
_U-28_, 189.
_U-29_, 191.
_U-39_, 187, note.
_U-51_, 166.
Vanderbilt, Alfred, 194.
Vand der Wonde, Cornelius, 6.
Van Drebel, Cornelius, 4 to 9, 41.
_Vendémiaire_, 124.
Vereshchagin, 147.
Vickers Sons & Maxim, 80.
_Ville de la Ciotat_, 205.
Von Weddigen, Lieutenant-commander, 18, 160, 191.
Von Bernstorff, Ambassador, 199.
Von Tirpitz, Admiral, 69, 177, 187, 189.
_Vulcan_, 132.
Waddington, Mr. J. F., 83, note.
War-head, 47, 52.
War Zone, 30, 179.
Washington, George, 13, 17, 25.
Wheeled submarines, 84.
White mice, 13, 110.
Whitehead, Mr., 44.
Whitney, Secretary, 74.
Wilson, President, 180, 197, 198.
Wright brothers, 71.
_X-4_, 102 to 123.
_Yasaka Maru_, 205.
_Yenisei_, 146.
Zeppelins, 172.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Also spelled Van Drebbel, Drebell, Dreble, and Trebel. He is the
man Ben Jonson calls “Cornelius’ son.”
[2] Harsdoffer.
[3] “New Experiments touching the Spring of the Air and its Effects,”
by Robert Boyle, Oxford, 1662, p. 188.
[4] The only submarine built before this for military purposes,
the _Rotterdam Boat_, remained private property, and King James’s
“eel-boats” were merely pleasure craft.
[5] Sergeant Ezra Lee’s letter to Gen. David Humphreys, written in
1815. Published in the “Magazine of American History,” Vol. 29, p. 261.
[6] “General Washington and his associates in the secret took their
stations upon a house in Broadway, anxiously awaiting the result.” From
Ezra Lee’s obituary, New York “Commercial Advertiser,” November 15,
1821.
[7] According to Bushnell, the screw struck an iron bar securing the
rudder.
[8] This survivor was examined by the captain of the _Cerberus_, who
reported that the schooner’s crew had drawn the machine on board and by
rashly tampering with its mechanism caused it to explode.
[9] See the “Scientific American,” August 7, 1915.
[10] Herbert C. Fyfe, “Submarine Warfare,” p. 269.
[11] But Fulton’s _Nautilus_ could not possibly have made the dives
with which she is credited except by the use of the horizontal rudders
which she possessed in conjunction with the push of her man-power
propellor. Holland had carefully studied the plans and letters of
Bushnell and Fulton.
[12] Mr. J. F. Waddington used vertical propellers in tubes through the
vessel for keeping her on an even keel or submerging when stationary,
on a small electric submarine he invented, built and demonstrated at
Liverpool in 1886.
[13] Quotations in this chapter are from Mr. Lake’s articles published
in “International Marine Engineering,” and are here reprinted by his
kind permission.
[14] Electric current.
[15] From an article by Admiral Selfridge in the “Outlook.”
[16] The velocity of sound in dry air at a temperature of 32 degrees
Fahrenheit is about 1087 feet a second, in water at 44 degrees, about
4708 feet a second.
[17] The sound of the first gun of the salute fired by the Russian
fleet in Cronstadt harbor to celebrate the coronation of Alexander II
in 1855 was the signal for the crew of the submerged submarine _Le
Diable Marin_ to begin singing the National Anthem. Their voices,
accompanied by a band of four pieces, were distinctly heard above
the surface. This novel concert had been planned by Wilhelm Bauer,
the designer of the submarine and one of the earliest students of
under-water acoustics. He succeeded in signaling from one side of the
harbor to another by striking a submerged piece of sheet-iron with a
hammer.
[18] “Scientific American,” January 28, 1911, page 87.
[19] “Scientific American,” November 23, 1912.
[20] Titherington’s History of the Spanish-American War, p. 139.
[21] _Ibid._, page 202.
[22] He had done notable work with mines himself, during the
Russo-Turkish War of 1878.
[23] This was a very popular type with the Confederate Torpedo Service
in the Civil War.
[24] London, Jan. 4.--A British official statement issued to-day says:
“Sir Edward Grey, secretary for foreign affairs, has answered the
complaint by the Germans through the American embassies regarding the
destruction off the coast of Ireland of a German submarine and crew,
by the British auxiliary _Baralong_, by referring to various German
outrages.
“Sir Edward Grey offers to submit such incidents, including the
_Baralong_ case, to an impartial tribunal composed, say, of officers of
the United States navy.
“The Foreign Office has presented to the House of Commons the full
correspondence between Ambassador Page and Sir Edward Grey concerning
the case. A memorandum from Germany concerning the sinking of the
submarine includes affidavits from six Americans who were muleteers
aboard the steamer _Nicosian_ and witnessed the _Baralong’s_
destruction of the submarine. A further affidavit from Larimore
Holland, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, who was a member of the crew of the
_Baralong_, was submitted. All the affidavits speak of the _Baralong_
as disguised and flying the American flag.”
[25] “Scientific American,” October 16, 1915.
[26] In “Collier’s Weekly,” August 22, and 29, 1914.
[27] This submarine was the _U-39_. On board her was an American boy,
Carl Frank List, who was taken off a Norwegian ship and spent eleven
days on the _U-39_, during which time she sank eleven ships. In each
case the crew were given ample time to take to the boats. List’s
intensely interesting narrative appeared in the “New York American” for
September 3, 5, and 7, 1915.
[28] “Von Weddigen, I was told, met his death chasing an armed British
steamer. Commanding the _U-29_, he went after a whale of a British
freighter in the Irish Sea, signaled her to stop. She stopped but
hoisted the Spanish flag. As he came alongside, the steamer let
drive with her two four-point-sevens at the submarine, sinking it
immediately.” Statement of Carl Frank List.
[29] Statement of Dr. Cecile L. Greil, the only native-born American on
board.
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not
changed.
Words spelled differently in quoted passages than in the author’s own
text have not been changed.
Simple typographical errors were silently corrected; occasional
unbalanced quotation marks retained.
Chapter II’s footnotes originally skipped number “3”. The omission is
not apparent in this eBook, in which all footnotes are in a single
ascending sequence.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
For consistency, all occurrences of “bow-foremost” and “stern-foremost”
are hyphenated in this eBook.
Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of the Submarine, by Farnham Bishop