The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-01

by a torpedo and she quickly sank.
Within a few hours the worlH knew that
an undersea boat, a thing which to
most people had previously been little
more than a fiction. had moved unseen
to the very sides Of great warships and
had sunk them with the ease with which
one swats a ny.
This exploit had been performed ny
Capt. Lieut.. weddieen in the U-s. a
! man whose name will occupy a Leading
/ place IN the history Of the war. As fate
would have II. Lieut.. Weddigen later
lost his life in the C-2s.
The sinking Of the Aboukir. the
Cressy and the Hoeue started the sub
marine scare In Great Britain. For
two months afterward there was little
activity on the part of German sub
marines. but the rumors regarding what
GERMANY could and would accomplish
with these craft few thick and fast.
There were stories that she had built
End launched submarines OF a strength
four times greater than anything then
afloat.
Rumors Persist.
Stree that time exaggerated umo
have been not a bit abated 1t even
has been reported on apparently good
authority that -four submarines of gi-
santic size were being launched every
week. Probably. however. the subma-
rines now being built by Germany are
81 the 1914 type, which are vessels Of
very nearly n thousand o n under
water with a surface speed Of about
eighteen knots, The best British naval
critics point out that a nation 80 me-
thod!cal as Germany would scarcely un-
&c rtake experiments In the construction
of submarines during a period OF such
urgency.
Between August II and the end Of
the year German submarines sank half
n dozen ships. Great alarm,
was felt in England or November 2S
when 1t was learned that two merchant
men, the Primo and the M~alachite, had
been torpsdocd in the English Channel
Of Havre. Earlier in the same mcntn
the British gunboat Niger had been
torpedoed and sunk by an unseen
enemy in the downs Off Deal.
On November "a a German sub
marine had been sighted by a British
patrol boat on the north coast OF Scot
land. 500 miles from the base at Will
helmshaven. 1t was rammed by the
British boa and sunk, but the fact that
n submarine had succeeded in cruising
SO far from Its base Of supplies caused
the world to open its eyes and to In
quire what next might he expected
from G%ermany's undersea craft,
on January |. 1915, the British battle
ship Formidable was blown to pieces.
the victim OF a torpedo which had been
shot from a submarine beneath the
waves. and on February l, a month later
four merchantmen succuinbed TO sub
marines. I'VE OF them in the Irish Sea.
and all OF them without a signal OF
warning.
At this latest aspect OF fermany's
submarine warfare the British and the
French press launched into a bitter cam
paign OF denunciatlon against the viola
tion Of international law, But Germany
did not deign 10 reply. In January Ad-
mlral Won Tirpitz had forecast.d In an
interview the future scope OF Germany's
IN war and in recent events the
British public began 10 see the fulfil.
ment Of the threats then made and to
feel an alarm which was really serious.
Made Britain anxious.
Submarines had appeared and sunk
ships in the Irish Sea they had cruised
through the English Channel with a Sc
Curity which batled the great British
fleet ship owners began to hesitate
about permitting their vessels to leave a
haven of safety. travel on the seas
about England became a thing attended
ny great ndIaTN Noulu IL ne neces-
sary to interrupt communication with
Ireland and Holland? Would the Wal
ONCE be able TO transport the great
armies Of mon being recruited to the
European shore without entailing enor-
nous risk
While these and many other ~specula-
tons were in the mind Of the British
public the mercantile insurance com
panies caught the general fever Of APP
trA - Law AHI A.
soar, The Atlantic rates, ordinaril,
5 shillinss per cent, advanced 10 10
shillings. and coastwise ratet shot to 20
shillings per cent. This wah q serious