The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-11
MANY MINES FLOAT ID THE DUTCH SHORE
Over a Thousand Found in
 Single Month
DESTROYED AT ONCE
Every One Was an Anchored Mine That Had Broken Loose From Its Moorings - Majority Harm'
 less if Properly Handled

The Hague, Netherlands, May 2s.-(Cor- | respondence of the Associated Press.)
 More than 1000 mines have been washed ashore on the coasts of Holland. These include 535 English, 61 French and 19; German, the others being classed as origin unknown" A majority of them were cast up by the sea at points in the estuary of the Schedlt river, in the ex- treme southwestern part of Holland, which is nearest to the vast mine field de- signed to bar ingress from the North sea into the English channel. Many mines, however, drift higher up, and some even reach the chain of islands which form the natural sea barrier of Hollands northern coast
 Swift destroyers are constantly on the lookout for mines on the route followed by the Holland-America liners.
 FIRED ON MINE
 Only recently visitors to Scheveningen, a fashionable bathing resort, witnessed a battery of machine guns firing from the promenade on a mine floating past the pier head
 The practice of the Dutch naval au- thorities is to destroy these castaways when and where they are found. ''Vir- tually all mines that are washed ashore HGTe are dHCIOT6u IlHcS, Sdlu d OulCu naval commander to the Associated Press correspondent. These as their name in- dicate are mines that are kept afioat a few feet beneath the surface of the sea by weight attached to them by half inch or three-quarter-inch cables. They keep stationary for perhaps a couple of months; but after that the action of the sea water causes corrosion of some part of the attaching gear and the next gale hro.o o1r1 +11ix. So they become drifting mines and, as such, dangers to navigation. They should not be confused with drifting mines prop CT, which are those which are sown by warships or mne-layers in their own wake when pursued by an enemy. These mines, of an altogether different type, must become ineffective, as prescribed by The Hague convention, within a few hours. That is, they sink to the bottom automatically. All those found in Dutch waters were once anchored, and that have broken away from their anchorage.
 MOST ARE HARMLESS
 "The great majority of them are harm less if properly handled, and the only trouble is to prevent people who don't know anything about mines from fooling around them. A month or so ago, for instance, a French mine came ashore on the coast of the Island of Schouwen, in tHS pIONlHCS OI AcGldUu IIlS IllHc HdO the familiar French cable attachment, which, when pulled hard, explodes the mine. Fishermen, observing bit of cable hanging from the monster, thought it handy for pulling it in. They began to drag it along, and the inevitable hap pened. A few scraps of clothing was all that was left of the men.
 Tn the case of a mine washed up near Domburg, in Zealand, nine onlookers were killed by premature explosion and much material damage was done, too. Compen- sation was refused by both state and local authorities. The government felt it could not establish precedent. Grants were made unofficially, however to some poor folks whose homes were completely 
 Seafaring men of Holland apparently have become accustomed to the new peril of the deep. The old terror of mines has largely disappeared. Sailors coming into port tell with the greatest composure of having sighted "so-and-so" many mines and display little fear at meeting them again. The death roll in this country from mine explosions so far does not exceed a score.