Evening journal., 1916-07-10

the time required for the vessel 10
reach this county, is a record one.
Unattended, the undersea craft run
the gauntlet Of the enemy cruisers
and passing within the Capes ac-
complished a feat that had been ridi-
culed, held up to scorn and declared
by engineers and sea-faring men as an
absolute impossibility.
Not n War Graft.
The Deutschland Is in every sense
q merchantmen. according to Cap
tain Koenig. its commander. Each
and every one OF the crew of 20 men
are members of the German mer-
chant marine The vessel is armed
only for defense. according to the
rules laid down by the United States
government for merchantmen
The strange merchant craft arrived
OF the capes late Saturday night and
during the darkness of early morn
ing successfully slipped by the wait
ing cruisers Of the British and French
that we're barely four miles off the
capes. After being submerged and
running for nearly a mile she bobbed
up and continued the voyage on the
nNA ANAiH NAt NlUii IidUtu ulINIAll lOl
the pilot boat station off the Cape
Henry Light and there stopped evi-
IDENTIFY in expectation of finding the
tug Timmins. When the tug did not
put in appearance the captain OF the
craft began signaling, but his signals
we're not answered. The Timmins,
which for 13 days had maintained a
constant vigil off the capes, had re-
laxed her vigilance for a short period
and when the craft arrived was no
where around.
Secures Pilot.
For an hour the submarine waited.
and when the Timmins did not ap-
pear. Captain Koenig fearing that the
daylight coming on would interfere
with his plans. ordered the craft to
head for the Virginia Pilot Boat Re
lief. where he asked for a pilot.
Alloy" hailed Captain Koenig.
This is the German merchant sub
marine, Deutschland, bound for Balti-
more. and we want a pilot" In a
moment Captain Cooke was over the
side OF the Relief and headed for the
submarine. To him Captain Koenig
explained that they had been waiting
on the Timmins. but that she had not
appeared. After a short conference.
Captain Koenig invited Captain
Cooke TO inspect the craft and the
pilot was taken through the vessel.
Everything was explained in detail
and according to Captain Cooke. the
craft is purely merchantmen.
Circled British Isles.
Captain Koenig talked freely with
Captain Cooke. He told OF the trip.
The craft left Germany (the port he
would not divulge) on June 23 and
came to this country after circling
the British Isles. Straight across the
the bow was headed, and
the usual lanes of trans
travel were avoided. it was
necessary many times to submerge
owing to other vessels being sighted.
Every precaution possible was taken
10 prevent detection. The weather
was favorable throughout, and the
trip was without any special incident
Of note.
Upon being questioned regarding
the cargo Captain Koenig made
frank statement that he had aboard
900 tons. the majority of which
was dyestuffs, so badly needed in
this country; a special letter to
President Wilson from Kaiser Will
helm. in possession of a special mes
senger. and a quantity of mail. The
messenger bearing the note to the
President will most likely be landed
today and will proceed at once to
Washington.
The crew sighted a number OF
principally British.
and one British cruiser on the voy-
age but avoided detection by prompt
ly submerging. This was possible,
Captain Koenig explained because the
undersea craft when on the surface
can submerge in less than two min
utes and no chances were taken
Whenever vessel was sighted down
went the merchantmen. This re-
suited in almost one-half Of the dis
tance being made under water. Cap
tain Koenig also said that while
creeping along in the darkness of
the Capes Saturday night he sighted
two about nine miles off the Capes.
He promptly sent his boat under the
water and passed them without de-
lection. At one time, he said, he was
within 500 yards of a French cruiser