The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-03-15
GERMAN TUNNELS LIKE "STUBBLE IN CORN FIELDS" Stratford Engineer Sees Hundreds of Stacks at
 Mouth of Weser FL S1GLo PILOTED
 PAST MINES SAFELY Ernest E. Roberts, Deep Sea Engineer, Praises Ger
 mans for Treatment

After record-breaking trip through the mine fields of the North l Sea under escort of German officers. numerous arrests and hold-ups at sea and opportunities to observe war ac- tivities in Germany, Ernest M. Rob- erts, chief engineer of the Ell Sig1o, a liner of the Southern Pacific Steam ship Co, has arrived at his home in
 East Main street, Stratford. Loud in his praises of his treatment by the Germans and awed by the extent and efficiency of their war prepara- tions.
 Engineer Roberts, who is first na- tional vice-presfdent of the National Marine Engineers association had the peculiar experie ience of seeing the 1 fighting masts and tunnels of Ger man warshipss covering the entrance to the River Weser s"lilze stubble in a corn field.'s r
 In an interview with a Farmer re- presentative last night he gave the following account of his voyage:-
 ''The Fl Siglo loaded with cotton at l Galveston every precautton being taken by the authorities to prevent
 sontraband being srnugg1ed on board. The loading was done under the su- perviSion of the English consul and every bale of cotton was subjected to x-rays. The loading finished, the hatches were sealed by the consul and the Ell SigIo went to New York where we coaled and provisioned for the trip across the Atlantic.
 l"In New York we were inspected by the custom officers and the British Econsul, after which American clear ance papers and English Consular J certificates were issued, and late in the afternoon on January 25 we
 steamed down the bay. Soon after passing the three mile limit we were
 hailed and boarded by the British l converted cruiser Coronia. The l boarding party apologized for the delay after careful inspection and 4 we were permitted to go on our way "The voyage over was uneventfuI I We scarrfed a westerly gale all the way I passing the eIizzardp at 2:30 a. m. l Feb G. At the Isle of Wight we
 were boarded by the pilot and at Do- yer by the naval authorities who or I dered our wireless outfit taken down and sent us, under arrest, to the I Downs Here careful inspection o1 4 our papers. the seals on the matches and of the crew was made.
 'fThe authorities being satisfied, w. were permitted to sail under the direc, j ton of an English pilot. to the mouth
 of the Thames River where the pilo' left us and we put our wireless agair
 in commission. During the trip iron l the .Lizzard,' to the Thames only ons 1 Warship was seen.
 We proceeded through the NortE | Sea to Lister Deep Buoy where we l were boarded by a German pilot whe I locked and sealed our wireless room I and took possession of all cameras l We were then boarded by the German Naval authorities, who after an exam. I fnation, of the papers and crew placed I a German crew in charge of the yes. l se1 to take her through the mine fields l While passing the mine fields we were l all kept below so that no one would 1 have any opportunity to take tho I bearings and location of the mines. tAs we passed into the Weser River in the neighborhood of the mine fields 1 could see from my state room the I masts and tunnels of war vessels SC
 thick that it reminded me of a stubble field. Here the German crew left us and another crew came aboard. They I stayed with us until we reached l Bremerhaven Feb. H. At Bremen. ] haven the military and police authori.
 ties took possession and we were al 1 examined again. A thorough searcI 1 of the ship was made for stowaway. and possible spies after which a photo. graph was taken of each member o1 I the crew to. be used on our passports l We were not allowed on short tha- l day but the following day, Feb 12 1 the police handed to each of us ouI passports and we were given the free. | dom of the city
 I 'The crew of the El SigIo were. the 1 first to come under the regulation re. 1 qu1r1ng photographs on passports. Il l seems thattone of the American ships l that preceded us was suspected of hay. | ing an English pilot on board While
 the charge was not proven every pre- caution is now taken to prevent sucF
 an occurrences.
 We lay at Brenerhaven from Feb Il to the 17th when we cleared for Bremen to load cargo for home Before leaving Bremerhaven we were
 again inspected by the police and ou1 passports taken from us The police remained with us until we reached Bremen where we were again exam ined by the authorities and our pass ports returned to us and we were giv- len the liberty of the city
 l We finished loading on Feb. 21 and from this time on we were under the constant supervision of the authori- l ties The water at Bremen was SC shallow that we could not take on a full load and carry our coal and wa l ter and we left there on Feb. 21, and l proceeded to Nordenham where we took on our water and coal and start ed for .Bremerhaven. reaching there l on Feb. 23 where we were again taken we passed out through the mine fields
 under the same conditions under which we entered.
 You remember that | mentioned
 the large number of war vessels ne-
 ticed on going in? We'll going out I did not see any. Where they had
 gone, of course. I don't know but they were gone.
 After passing the mine fields the naval officers left us in charge of the pilot who took us to Lister Deer ! ConfinI1ed on po 1a 2