River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1916-07-20
DASH EASY,
DECLARES CAPTAIN
DARING VOYAGE OF SUBMARINE
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC DE-
SCRiBED BY COMMANDER.
DODGED FOE BY SUBMERGING
Undersea Craft Dropped to Bottom of
Ocean at Times to Avoid Possible
Daneers-Threadcd Maze Of Hostile
WarShips.

Warships.
Baltimore, Md-"And we sat down
upon the floor of the British channel
because the roof was crowded with
nosey destroyers, and we drank good
Wrench champagne while we sang
We've rings on our fingers and bells
On our toes and presently the destroy
erS gave US room on the roof and we
came up and went on to America. 1t
was all just as simple as that, l tell
you"
Thus simply did Capt. Paul Koenig,
commander Of the German submarine
Deutschland, describe the daring voy-
age Of his undersea craft through the
North sea, which was dotted with enc
my vessels, and across the Atlantic
ocean to the port of Baltimore.
"What is there about my voyage to
cause all this commOtiOn? asked the
captain of a group Of reporters who
we're eagerly questioning him regard
ing the great game of hide and seek
which he played with the British navy
On his 4,000-nile dash across the wa
.ers. 81 have done nothing remarkable.
Anybody who has sense enough to
navigate a boat and who builds boat
ike the Deutschland can do equally
well--better, / believe"
Captain Koeuig will have it no other
way than that the British grip on Ger
man commerce is shortly to be broken.
eve have proved it." he said, his
eyes afire with enthusiasm. owe are
building a 2,O00-ton submarine that
will be able to voyage 10000 miles
without replenishing oil tanks. And
the British can't catch us. We laugh
1T them-loolz now at that flag"
He pointed to the house flag of the
Deutsche Ocean Rhederei, the cor
poration Of Bremen which devised the
Qndersea trading plan.
The Deutschland went from Bremen
haven out to sea in the light of day on
June IA, went in the early morning as
matter of factly as a scow of bricks
or lumber from any New York pier
slips out into the harbor and down to
the lower bay. Neither Bremen up the
river, nor Bremerhaven, gate to the
North sea, sent bands to blare farewell
Or crowds to cheer.
KOenig laid a course straight to
Germany's north sea Gibraltar, Helgo-
land.
"Why did you do that?" he was
asked.
Knew Foe Was Near.
"We knew that British warships
were somewhere about" he said. "And
we wanted to lay up at Helgoland
for some days to fool them. There is
always a chance that spies may reveal
the cOmings and gOings. of our ships,
and it was wise to mark time for a
little while. In this case only one
alien, so far as knew, had our secret.
He was the American consul at Bre-
men, VIM. Thomas Fee, whose duty it
was to approve our manifect. He was
to be trusted, naturally, but we could
take no chances.
eve loafed pleasantly off HelgOland
under the shade of the big guns until
the morning of June %. The time was
passed usefully in improving the train
hg of the men.
"Good Fellows, My Boys"
'AbOut these men, nOW-say a word
for them if you must hold us up to the
worlds eyes. They are good fellows,
my boys, strong fellows. Most of them
are quite young though most are mar
ried and are raising rosy checked ba-
bies to grow up for Germany's glory.
They are all fine mechanics and full
of-what do you say-pep, that is it.
"On the morning of June % we
turned westward in the North sea and
headed straight for the British chan
mel. Somebody has said that we went
all the way around Scotland. Non
sense, why should we? 1t was easy
enough to fool the British and going
through the Channel was child's play"
"What were your best aids to navi-
CATION, captain? How did you figure
out your safe progress under sea-"
Microphone Aided Cruise.
''The microphone and our device for
taking soundings while submerged did
the trick. Everybody understands
these days what the microphone is
an undersea telephone, so delicate that
it catches and records the vibrations
of any bulk moving upon or under the
waves.
1--WE have two microphones on the
Deutschland, one on the port, one on
the starboard side. One of us, an Off
Ger if possible, kept an ear always to
the transmitter. When we heard dis
turbing murmurs through our little
eavesdropper we stopped dead still,
maybe, or went ahead slowly. Some
times we dropped to the sea floor and
kept as still as mouse until we could
figure out what the menace was. Some
times we merely dropped fifty feet or
so beneath the surface and anchored
in that position, suspended between
the surface and the bottom. The micro
phones warned us of cruisers and de-