The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-08-12
SNEAkS From PORT
CCNARD LINER LUSlTANIA TO-
RISK GERMAN CAPTURE
Ships WATCHING FOR Her

; English Liner Leaves New York Har
Dor While Warships of Three Ma
tions Hover On Her Trail.-Tht
Chances Are For First Naval Bat
tie in Century Near Our Coast.
Three British, one German and one
French man-of-war Wednesday night
were lowering off the New Jersey
coast, almost within striking dis.
tance of New York These war YES.
sells all have been watching the
steamship lanes presumably to cap.
ture liners of hostile nations.
Steamships conditions off the
American north Atlantic coast have
taken on some of the aspects of a
blockade. Foreign vessels which ven
ture to leave New York go forth un-
der risk Of capture. Others incoming
travelled for the most part at full
speed ahead, regardless of danger in
darkness and fogs. Their wireless
oreprators caught fragments of con-
versation between cruiser and cruiser
but were unable to interpret what
they overheard as the messages were
in code.
Each day the number Of ships
daring to sail from New York to Eu-
ropean ports has been growing small
er. Wednesday only three went out
the French steamship La Lorraine,
carrying 700 French reservists and
about 800 other passengers; the
Cunard liner Lusitania, with 245
passengers for England and the
Greek liner Atheniao, with 500
Greek, 200 Italian and a few Servian
reservists, for the Mediterranean.
Usually the Lusitania takes five
and one-half days to make her Eng
| lish port. This trip she will make
lit in less than five days, it was de-
clared on board before she sailed.
The cargo of the Lusitania was
kept secret 1t was said, however,
that she carried only about S25O,000
III money. 1t was declared that Capt.
low, her commander, expected to re-
ceiye orders at sea as to where he
should put in. Also it was said that
the Lusitania had an extra supply OF
ccal and the first officer added:
I'VE are prepared to cut anything
down we meet at sea-"
The Lusitania was fitted up for
machine guns on deck, but it was not
admitted that such guns were On
board, although it is believed they
were.
The first of the German fighters to
arrive off the American coast, was
the German cruiser Dresden The
Dresden, oy wireless measures inter-
cepted at shore stations, revealed the
presence of a second German, the
Karlsruhe, and later the cracking
wireless flung out across the sea mile;
the intimation that not only the Brit
ish Berwick, but the French Conde
were within speaking range.
Then to these were added the Lam
caster and the Essex, which coaled at
Bermuda and left that port on mys-
terious mission only few days ago.
And from some Of the headless ru-
mors along the water front in New
York the German Stuttgart should be
added to the list.
The Germans chances of capturing
the Lusitania are not believed to be
overnight, even were she not con-
veyed. Such chances as they have are
based solely on the Karlruhe. Neitn-
er the Dresden not the Stut.gard is
rated at more than % kncis, and 1t is
doubtful if the Dresden, after a long
sojourn in tropic waters, could aD-
proach that speed.
The Karlsruhe, on the other hand,
lis new ship, nearly fresh from the
builders hands, and while the secret
of her speed is unknown, it is known
she was built for q knots, and tha:
most German ships have either
equalled or exceeded their designed
speed. On form, therefore, the
Karlsruhe must be conceded chance
to capture the British liner.
The chances are heavily in favor
of the British and French in sea
fight. So much so, indeed, that it
| is most likely that the Germans
would prudently trust to their speed
to show the enemy a clean pair or
heels. It would not be sea fight,
probably, unless a running one, for
the three British ships and the
Frenchman are armored cruisers,
while the three Germans are only
light protected ships.
The Dresden and the Stuttgart car
ry only ten Al inch guns apiece, and
the karlsruhe twelve Of the same
calibre, while the three British ships
carry each fourteen 6-inch and the
Conde has battery of 7.6 inch guns
in turrets and eight ga inch in
broadside.
If theis we're not enough odds
against the Germans, Atlantic City
reported wireless dispatches lndicat-
ing that not only the Conde, but the
Descartes and Friant, French pro-
tected cruisers were somewhere in
the vicinity There was rush OF
Atlantic City residents to the tops OF
buildings, in the hope Of seeing a
naval battle, when the news spread
abroad, but they we're disappointed.
The Descartes and Friant are pro-
tected cruisers, each mounting four
! GA inch guns on deck, and having a
speed of about twenty knots apiece.
| But while the Germans are all
rated as at least twenty-three knot
ships or better, the Conde, the fast
est of the French. has never shown