Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1912-01-20
The Battle of the North Atlantic

TINE Prince Karl Albert had
made profound impression
upon Bert He was quite the
4 most terrifying person Bert had
ever encountered. He filled the Small
ways soul with passionate dread and
antipathy. For n long time Bert sat
alone in Hurts cabin, doing nothing
and not venturing even to open the
door lest he should be by that much
nearer that appalling presence.
So it came about that he was proba-
bly, the last person on board to hear
the news that wireless teleEraphy was
bringing to the airship in throbs and
fragments of n great naval battle in
progress in mid-Atlantic.
He learned it at last from Kurt.
Kurt came in with a general air of
ignoring Bert. but muttering to him.
self in English nevertheless. Stu
pendous-' Bert heard him say.
Here" he said, "get off this locker"
And he proceeded TO rout out two
books and n case of maps. He spread
them on the folding table and stood re-
garding them. For a time his Ger
manic discipline struggled with his
English informally and his natural
kindness and talkativeness and at
last lost.
They're at 1t, Smallways," he said.
cat what, STRIP said Bert, broken and
respectful.
Fighting. The American north At
1antic squadron and pretty nearly the
whole of our feet. Our Eiserne I<reuz
has had a grueling and is sinking,
and their Miles Standish-she's one
of their biggest-has sunk with all
hands. Torpedoes, 1 suppose. She
was a bigger ship than the Karl der
Crosse, but five or six years older.
GodsI 1 wish, we could see it, Small
ways; a square fight in blue water.
guns or nothing. and all of 'em steam
ing aheadr'
He spread his maps, he had to talk,
and so he delivered a lecture on the
naval situation to Bert.
Here it is he said, latitude sc
degrees 80 minutes north; longitude
80 degrees 80 minutes west It's a
good day off us anyhow, and they're
all going southwest by south at full
pelt as hard as they can go. We
shan't see bit of 1t, worse luck
Not a sniff we shan't getr'
The naval situation in the north At
lantfc at that time was a peculiar one
The United States was by far the
stronger of the two powers upon the
sea, but the bulk of the American
fleet was still in the Pacific. 1t was
in the direction of Asia that war ha6
been most feared, for the situation be
tween Asiatic and white had become
unusually violent and dangerous, anC
the japanese government had shown
itself quite unprecedentedly difficult
The German attack, therefore, founG
half the American strength at Manils
and what was called the second fee
strung across the Pacific in wireless
contact between the Asiatic station
and San Francisco. The north Al
lantic squadron was the sole Ameri
can force ON her eastern shore. /
was returning from a friendly visit I
France and Spain and was pumpin
oil fuel from tenders in mid-Atlantic-
for most CT its ships We're steamship
when the international situation be
came acute. 1t was made up of fou
battleships and five armored cruiser
ranking almost with battleships. nc
one OF which was of a later date tina
1918. The Americans had indee
grown so accustomed TO the idea this
Great Britain could be trusted to kee
the peace of the Atlantic that a navs
attack on--the eastern seaboard foun
them unprepared even in their imag
nations. But long before the declar'
ton of war-indeed. on Whitmonda
the whole German feet OF eigh
cen battleships. with a fotilla of fu
tenders and converted liners contain
Ing stores to be used in support OF II
air 6eet. had passed through tt
strait o. Dover and headed bold