The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-04

Is understood. is the cruising drauSht OF
the German war ship. At high tide there
is fully four feet in excess of the water
depths showing on the chart. On twenty
two feet of water the Prinz Eitel can
pass inside Smiths Shoal il she has good
pilot service
The Prince Eitcl. IL she chooses TO
make a run of il to the southwark from
| the Virginia capes, can coast II prac-
tically to abeam of Cape Hattsras ana
not so beyond the three-mile limit from
land
Hydrosraphic chart No. 1.lG9 shows
that the only distractions along the en-
tire coast from Cape Henry to Cape
Hattcras, a distance of JOG nautical miles.
are. in order south of Capc Henry. the
! shoai off False Cape. Platt Shoals, VIM
BILE Shoals and a shoal or Little KIM
keet.
Lump to he Avoided.
The shoaI off False Cape extends only
two miles, and just beyond the depth or
water varies from five and half to six
fathoms There is a three and three
! quarter fathom lump which can be
| avoided by having recourse through the
use Of the lead TO a seven and a half
fathom channel. This lump lies two
miles southeast of the southernmost end
of the False Cape Shoal.
False Cape is twenty-one miles to the
southwark of Cape Henry. From Cape
Henry to False Cape the five fathoms
curve runs inside the three miles limit;
in other words. for twenty-one miles
down the coast from Cape Henry one
can keep within the three miles distance
from shore and never shoal the water
under thirty feet at mean low water.
The five fathoms curve runs inside Of
Platt Shoals and Wimble Shoals. Platt
Shoals are seventy-five miles below Cape
! Henry. and the least water in these
shoals is four and a half fathoms.
WimbIe Shoals are nineteen miles to
the northward of Cape Hatteras Light
house. and the least water on Wimbie
Shoals Is three and one-quarter fathoms
The wimble Shoals are marked by a
| whistling buoy. These shoals lie three
miles off the coast. but inside the shoals
there is two and one-half mile wide
channel with five fathoms depth up to
| within one mile of the beach.
Good Chance to Get Away.
False Cape is plainly marked by an
occulting white lighted buoy. combination
whistle. and from Cape Henry to Cape
! Hattcras are no less than twenty-One
| Intervening coast guard stations which
can generally be made out when close
ashore These coast guard stations are
| all connected ND by telephone with Cape
| Henry and with one another. and a vessel
| If fired upon within the three-mile limit
| would be under the surveillance of these
| stations from the time she left Cape
I Henry until she reached the vicinity OF
Cape Hatteras-
When one considers the methods re-
sorted TO by blockade runners during the
| civil war in the United States marine
mon here say that the Prince Eitel would
| have an excellent chance OF breaking
| through the British Gordon by merely
| hugCing the coast until an opening Of
| fered itself The blockade runners out OF
Wilmington. n. c.. during the civil war
| frequently kept CLOSE in under the Slack
| loom Of the land when passing out by the
Fort Caswell channel. and very often 1t
was impossible for the blockaders to dis
Germ them at any great distance. There
are instances on record of blockade run
ners lying at anchor close to the beach
during daylight and not being discovered,
simply because hull and spars were so
painted that the color blended with the
shore line.
| The Prinz Eitel. II she chose to follow
\ the three-nlile limit down the Virginia
! and North Carolina beach, could estab-
| lish her position at any time by reference
| to the COAST guard stations. and any mr.
, ing on the vessel would be at once known
to the coast guard patrols and would be
| checked up by them as to position ana
| locality.-New York Herald.