The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1916-07-12

SoHCcTH' "Ho organized the ocean
Navigation company. Mr.. Lohmann
is the son of a former director gen.
eral of the North German Lloyd
Steamship company and has import
ant German commercial interests as
ISOLATED with him.
The undersea liner. Mr.. Hilken un-
derstands, Is about 315 feet long and
30 feet beam and is propelled by two
great Deinel oil engines. She is as
large If not larger than any of the
German naval submarines. AS to de-
tails of her construction, Mr.. Hilkel
said he was lacking in information.
Most of the information that was
sent to me-" he said, lis probably
carefully tucked away in a pigeon
hole Of the British admiralty office.
but don't care now. The Deutsch-
land Is here nevertheless"
Mr.. Hilken Is an American and his
firm has been in business here oper-
ating ships under the American flag
since 1924.
Carl A. Luederitz the German con-
sui. Is member of the firm.
| When the Deutschland will return
or whether it is planned to have hex
make regular transatlantic trips, Mr.
Hilken refused to discuss.
This project was conceived" he
said, "by German commercial interests
who wanted, to reopen trade with the
United States. It is a purely com.
mercial proposition and that Is all
there Is to it,
II present plans are carried out, the
public will not be allowed to inspect
the undersea wonder. nor will any.
body except the federal authorities bs
allowed to board her.
The pier of the Eastern Forwarding
company was boarded up today tc
shut out the view of the curious and
the schumacher firm arranged to sur.
round the pier tomorrow morning
with Gordon of police
r. Six months ago came first reports
that Germany was preparing to pu,
into the transatlantic trade q line
of submarines that would dwarf ir
fsize and achievements the U-boat.
which have been Germany's chief re-
lance in her conduct of war at sea
London cable reports told of the or.
ganization Of company to inaugu.
rate such service and English ex.
perts were quoted as saying they fel,
no surprise at the announcement OF
the plans.
i or the quarantine station both the
submarine and the tug Timmins drop
ped anchor to wait until daylight. A
yacht with Associated Press represen.
ltatives on board met the Deutschland
land her convoy off Sandy Point abou
i o'clock tonight and attempted t.
range alongside.
4 Hello Deutschland" the. newspaper
men shouted.
~ - . = 80 t e
Hello. what do you want? VIII,
are you," was the reply.
i Where do you come from ant
when?'
June %, Heligoland."
i did you have any accidents coming
over?"
None"
did you see any British or French
ships?"
None"
Were you chased by any British OF
French vessels near the coast?"
NO." answered the officers with evi.
dent impatience; II said 1 didn't see
any enemy ships"
At this point the submarine show.
cred sparks from her exhaust pipe
and spurted ahead, cutting short the
Interview. At the same time the tug
Timmins approached the press TUG
and man on deck who said he was
the agent of the North German Lloyd
line ordered the newspaper yacht tc
keep off. saying that there would be
no news until morning. The yacht
followed until the quarantine station
was reached. but all other questions
were unanswered.
The big submarine presented a pic.
turesque sight as she ploughed
through the tumbling white caps
Searchlights from excursion steamers
threw her darkly painted hull
into bold relief against the blackness
of a rainy night She was riding high
out of the water and almost the whole
ships company walked about on the
narrow deck.
Apparently the vessel is in perfect
condition after her long voyage. She
came up the bay with six or eight feet
| of free board showing, with coming