The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-10-02
BRAvEST OF BRAVE
Mine SWeeper Risks Life Every
Time He Puts to Sea.
Work is Never Mentioned Because In
formation Would Be Valuable to
Enemy-AIways Engaged in
ForIorn Hope.

Liverpool.-In comparison with it's
population, Liverpool has given more
soldiers, sailors and wal workers to
the nation than any other part of the
empire.
The bravest of them all are the
mine-sweepers. The mine-sweeper
earns, but he does not get, a Victoria
cross every voyage. He is always
engaged in a forlorn hope, a work so
dangerous that it is a wonder he re-
turns safely to his home SO often. 1t
is not alone in the Irish seas that he
is risking his life so that ships may
pass to and fro in safety; in the North
sea, no longer the German ocean; in
the Dardanelles, in the English chan
mel and the Arabian rivers and Per-
sian gulf, you will find Liverpool sail
ors engaged in the perilous task of
mi~ne-sweeping, and SO rendering cas-
Ter, one cannot say easy, the work OF
our submarines, destroyers, cruisers
and battleships.
At present the British grand feet
is resting in a spot unknown even to
the censor, for strange as it may ap-
pear, there are scores Of kilograms
which pass between the feet and the
admiralty, and messages from our
armies, which reach Whitehall with
put the censor passing a line of it, or,
for the matter of that, even seeing a
word of it.
These messages record in SO many
curt words the days doings of an
arm of the fleet. Sometimes the ad-
miralty and the military authorities
consider that it is worth while send
ing these messages to the press; more
often than not they don't.
One of the messages seldom pub
lished is the work of the m~ine-sweep-
er. To announce that so many mines
had been cleared on such a day in
such an area would be valuable infor-
nation to the enemy.
Competent authorities estimate that
Germany has scattered about ten
thousand mines in various waters con-
trolled by the british feet. Although
q large number OF them have I'm
doubtedly been laid by trawlers flying
neutral flags, many of them have been
just thrown into the water at Helgo-
of the Baltic, and allowed to drift out
with the tide, in the hope that they
would sink one of the British ships of
war or ships of ommerce.
In the Baltic alone Denmark, Nor
way and Sweden have picked up hun
dreds of these mines which have been
washed on their shores unexploded.
And yet for her vast expenditure OF
over five million dollars in sea-mines,
Germany has little or nothing to show
beyond the destruction of a few trawl-
ers and a few neutral ships, as in
rare cases where British trading ships
have been sunk by drifting or sta
tionary mines, the damage done has
been of a more or less harmless char
acter. The m~ine-sweeper, as one OF
the most valuable sections of the
navy, can claim full credit for this.
Most of the work in clearing the
seas of mines is done by trawlers
which usually act in pairs. We have
quite a large fleet of trawlers and
drifters engaged in this work, which
is one of the reasons why fish is SO
scarce and dear. Thev set out al
night, so as to be in their working
area by daylight. then they fish for
mines by a long rope street, he'd be
tween the W. trawlers. Proceeding
at a very gentle pace, they lift the
mine. which is usually about a foot
and a half or two feet below the sur
face.
1t is no uncommon thing to find
half a dozen stationary mines brought
to the surface by n rope. Once in
sight a well-aimed rifle shot explodes
them. then the trawlers proceed with
their work until another shot is
needed.