The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1915-08-06
Submarine Commanders, by + =
ing Beneath Mines of the Da.
danelles Have Created Terror.
BOATS OF TURKISH ELUDED
Believed That England Has Base for
Undersea Craft Which Are Being
Supplied From Constantinople.
By HENRY WOOD.


and thence by cable. )-Daring Eng
lish submarine commanders, by bur
rowing beneath the thickly mined
waters of the Dardanelles and elud-
ing the Turkish fleet have created
a reign of terror from the western en-
trance to the sea of Marmora to the
very gates of ConstantinOple.
Exactly how many Turkish ships
have been sent to the bottom by
British submersibles, probably Is
known only to the Turkish ministry of
marine The undersea craft have
been particularly successful in strik-
ing at Turkish transports. Enroute
from Constantinople I learned that
aboard one of those sunk recently
were 500 wounded Turks who had
just been discharged from Turkish
hospitals and we're returning to the
Gallipoli front. Only $50 were
saved. The news was suppressed by
the Turkish government but the dis
aster occurred in full view Of an
other transport laden with wounded
soldiers who made the facts known
Stopped by British.
Brusa is the Asia Minor city to
which it was proposed to make the
Turkish capitol in case Constanti-
nople was threatened. I came here
first on the Friday boat of the three
times-a-week service from across the
sea of Marmora. A few days pre-
vious the boat from Brusa to Con-
stantinople had actually been stopped
and boarded by officers from Brit
ish submarine within a few miles of
Islam's capitol.
The British officers were looking
for Turkish soldiers. They found
none, but took off what food supplies
there were abroard, paying for them
in English gold and -saluting col1r-
teously as they left the ship.
Because, of the fear inspired by
this visit our boat left the Bosphorus
with the life boats swung out and
with hundreds of life preservers
hanging over the rail ready for in
slant use. Instead of heading d.
rectly across the sea of Marmora,
the usual course, we crept along the
firo 1icfon0o
going more than 200 or 800 yards
from shore.
Lacked Optimism.
On the following Monday, no more
submarines having been sighted, the
captain took courage and we headed
directly across the little sea on the
return to Constantinople. Peasants
and provincial officers on board the
boat did not share the captains op-
timism and we had scarcely left the
last protecting point of land when a
shout rang out from the bridge. The
signal bells changed, the boat turned
tail and fled for shore and there was
wild scurry for life belts. The ex-
citement lasted only moment.
There were countermanding orders
from the bridge and we resumed our
course. Two miles off to the left a
porpoise had leaped from the water
The Imagination Of an officer who
thought he saw submarine peri
SCOPE did the rest. found the same
period of uneasiness during my Sec
ond trip here.
Farther south in the sea of Mar
mora, where transports are steamine
to and from the Gallipoli peninsula
the greatest precautions are taken
against the English submarines. Arm
ed soldiers line the rails with orders
to shoot at everything appearing or
the surface. This is the season fol
the porpoises to show their creates
activity and the porpoise mortality
consequently, is without precedent
in the history of the sea.
To safeguard them against sub
marine attack, the hospital transport
are all painted white with stripes o
red running the full length. TIL
Red Crescent is the official symbo
of the Turkish Red Crescent society
which corresponds to the Red Cross
But the Turks have more faith il
the Red Cross than in the Red Ores
cent and fly the Red Cross flag a
soon as they are out of sight of Con
stantinople. Returning to the cap
itol the hospital ships hoist the Re-
Crescent as they approach the Bos
phorus.
The police are confident that tn
British submarines have base some
where in. the sea of Marmora an
that some of the few hundred Enc
lishmen remaining in ConStantinopl
are supplying this base with petro
leum. Hardly a day passes tina
some Englishman is not seized an
hauled off to undergo the third DC
gree. 49,. ...-.. LII. z @
The Want Column will give 70
~ al