Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-19
Mines Become Harmless
From Marine GroWths

S.\ 7ANl mines which would Sink
Mll ship are floating in the seas
SVo about northern Europe. Ships
have struck these mines and have gone
down or have been SO badly damaged
that they reached port with danger
and difficulty. Most of these mines
were once anchored mines that have
been torn or worn from their anchor
age by wave action, and some, ii was
charged in the earlier stages of the
war, were set adr;ft on the chance that
they would. inflict damage on enemy
shipping. The currents and the tides
will keep them from drifting very far
to the west, and the chance IL remote
that any of them or one Of them will
be cast upon the coast OF the United
States or prove peril TO any shlpb
near American shores.
Though the number of these mines
deliberately set adrift or which have
broken loose from their moortngs must
at one time have been large. many or
them have already been accounted for
by mine -sweepers and by being carried
ashore by wind and wave. Pictures OF
these monster mines of various shapes
and construction, which have been
found on the beaches of Holland and
However. many of the floating contact
mines will drift around the sea for
years, carried hither and thither by the
ocean currents. 1t Is an encouraging
thought that in time they become Inn
potent, but not through any design OF
their makers. 1t is the accumulation
of barnacles and other sea growths
which will render them harmless. The
guncotton charge in them may remain
alive" for long time. but the per-
cussion plungers with which they are
studded will become SO incrusted and
overgrown that they will not function.
The time wheE these mines will be-
come insensitive will vary with each
one of them. but it will eventually be
come the common fate of all The
process will require a longer time in
northern waters than 1t would In
southern seas. where the rate of ma
rfne growth is very much more rapid.
A naval officer, in writing of his ex-
perience with barnacled mines. has said
that a short time after the Maine was
blown up, or even before, the Spaniards
mined all OF the harbOrs in Cuba with
both floating contact and electric mines
This was particularly true of Guam
tanamo harbor. The American ships
steamed in there at the early part OF
the war, and, ignoring the mines, opened
fire on the Spanish position. In doing
and Texas both fouled floating contact
mines with their prooellers and liter
ally dragged them from their moorfngs.
and no explosion followed. or we would
have lost two fine ships. The launches
of the Marblehaad and other ships then
swept the harbor. and secured. in all.
nineteen contact mines"
To illustrate the effect of marine
growth on these contact mines he
wrote:
"One day. in going on board the
United States ship Panther. / saw a,
gunners mate dismantling one of these
mines. He had already removed the
charge of guncotton, and, being inter
ested in the matter. l asked him why
the mines had not exploded when fouled
by the Marblehead and Texas He
picked up a machinists hammer and
struck one of the contact plungers
powerful blow, and il was not even
started. The percussion contact piuns-
ers were all absolutely sealed by bar
nacles and marine growths so securely
that the pIungers would break of be-
fore they could be driven home"
This happened in a tropical sea after
the mines had been in the water about
three months, but the same thing VIII
happen in temperate waters, or north
ern waters. the process requiring more
time. Many of the mines in Europe
have now been in sea water for q year
The work Of mine sweeping in the
waters around Great Britain and in and
gerous and picturesque activities OF the
war. In British waters this work Is
being mainly done by fishermen, and an
English authority on this subject has said
that when the full history of the war Is
written the place Of the gallant fishermen
who sweep the seas clear of mines will
truly be a bright one on the scroll Of
honor" These men have taken and are
every day taking close chances of death.
In mine sweeping there is a blend Of pure
patriotism and self-interest. They must
fish to live, and the mine is an enemythat
threatens their livelihood. The interests
of their own vocation demand that they
must hazard ship and lives to provide for
the dependents ashore. These sea folk
are of hardy kind and their virtues, es-
pecially their courage and endurance.
have been praised in song and story by
many literary persons. 1t is questionable.
says one writer. whether any branch of
life offers such a sternly strenuous. ardu-
Gus and hazardous calling. They stick at
sea in all weathers. Even the hurricane
fails to force them homeward unless down
in the hold there is sufficient fish to make
a remunerative voyage. Theirs is essen
TALLY life of mo fish. no pay"
These mine swepeers Or mine hunters
who search their home waters for mon
sters that may blow them and their boats
to atoms must be men OF nerve.
Mine sweeping in the Dardanelles and
before Smyrna has called forth many acts
of daring. Several small ships, or
''sweepers." engaged in the doubly dan
gerous work of sweeping mines In Turk
sh waters and drawing the fire Of con-
cealed Turkish batteries have been men,
toned in dispatches from that grim thea
Ter of war. among them being the Bes-
trice. OkfnO and the Koorah