The Washington times., 1915-12-26
GERMAN SPIES GET
ADMIRALTYS CODE
Make Captain Of Ship Drunk
and Take British Cipher
Book.

NEW YORK. Dec. 2s.-The skipper OF
q British tramp steamship. who allowed
German plotters to get him intoxicated
SO that they could steal important
papers from him short time ago, re.
Gently caused !ot of trouble and worry
TO the British admiralty and the consul
general In this port, without. however
any benefit to those who sought to ham
per the shipment of supplies to the
allies.
The particular paper that the Germans
wanted was the private cipher code
containing several thousand words ar
ranged by experts of the admiralty In
London for the use of all steamers
carrying high explosives from the United
States or Canada to British ports.
The code dealt with all possible emer-
gencies which might arise through .
steamer being chased by a German sub
marine. catching fire, laundering, goinG
ashore, on the rocks, or any mishap that
might occur on The high seas.
In this book the captain of the ship
carrying ammunition was instructed
what messages lie was to send out by
wireless when he reached certain spot
on the Atlantic and II enabled him to
torpedo boat destroyer would be in walt
ing to convoy his vessel safely into port.
Captains Get Code.
The admiralty codes are handed to
the captains Of steamers the day be-
fore they sail from New York with high
explosives consigned to the British gov
ernment. which are loaded In Graves
end bay. and are known among ship
ping men as grape juice" Such care
1e 10 IN giving Otif tho ainhnr nnnaQ
that only British subjects can COM
mand steamers carrying ammunition
from this side, because the admiralty
will not trust them in the hands of any
foreign-born SINpper even II he SHOULD
have been natlrralizsd several years
ago.
Steamers carry from 1000 to 5000
tons of grape juice at high rates. and
in some cases where Danish, Norwegian.
or swedish captains have been employed
on British steamers they have been re-
moved and replaced by Britons.
Less Than Year Ago.
The captain who caused all the trou-
BILE. and who is now in Jail in England
under the defense of the realm, act"
was in command of big freighter hail
ing from Glasgow that was loading at
one Of the Chelsea piers in the North
river, less than q month ago.
His cargo of war munitions, including
cartridges, prunes, peaches, flour. rub
Der, copper wire. gravediggings ma
chimes, aeroplanes, cocoa, coffee, chest
plasters, soothing syrup. empty shells.
cotton. and tons of barbed wire, was
all on board and after clearing at the
custom house he went to the consulate
to get his papers and also the admiralty
private code, as he was to stop in
Gravesend bay on the way out for 2 500
fnna Of thu foTnnvia IrIiNn AnRHffo
gunpowder, lyddite, and other pleasant
things required in Europe at the pres
ent time.
What happened after the skipper left
the consulate to go to his ship in the
North river is not definitely known, and
II y quite possible, his shipping friends
here think. that his own recollections of
the events that followed are somewhat
h0Hy. Tho steamer was ell ready to
leave the pier at 3 p. m. and the offi-
captain to return from the custom
house and the consulate with the pa
pers. and the pilot was on the bridge
smoking the last OF his cigar. When an
hour slipped by without any signs of
the skipper or a message to say why
he was detained the chief officer went
on the pier and telephoaed to the con-
sulRte, and was informed that the cap
tain had departed at i o'clock to 20 to
the ship with all the papers ready to
sail.
The steamer remained at her pier all
night and In the meantime the police
department was asked to look out for
tho missing ship master in case he
might have been run over by an au-
tomobile or been in some other acci-
dent It was Just twenty-four hours
after his sailing hour that the captain
was discovered recovering from a
heavy drinking bout in a small Hun
Earian restaurant on the upper east
side near the river. When his pockets
were searched II was found that all
his papers had been stolen, including
the cipher code belonging to the ad-
cash and his watch and chain with a
Masonic emblem were intact
Meets Old "Cronies."
All the befuddled mariner could gasp
was that after leaving the consulate in
state street. he met three pleasant fell
lows who asserted that they knew him
in London. Madagascar. and Shanghai.
and other places, and also that they
were intimately acquainted with all his
seafaring cronies.
They proposed a slight snack for
luncheon at nearby restaurant,
washed down by a glass OF champagne,
and the tallest of the trio a hne-look-
ms Will DlB, Dlue
eyes, offered to drive the captain to the
pier in his automobile, which was wait
ing outside a cafe. where they had the
first two or three drinks.
AZ to what happened afterward the
captains mind seemed to be a blank.
according to what he told the consul
when the latter was questioning him to
get some clue to the secret agents who
had stolen the cipher. Visions of driV-
ing away in the automobile and stop
ming at various places to drink wine
eat food. and smoke strong cigars float
cd hszily through the brain OF the
daZed mariner.
Directly It was ascertained that the
code had fallen into the hands of the
enemy, messages were sent to the ad-
miralty In London by cable, and cap.
tains OF steamers loading explosives in
GraveEcnd bay were instructed to re.
main there at anchor until word was
received from London as TO what course
was\to be pursued in regard to using
The code. Finally secret instructions
were received.
ROhherS Called and