The Harrison times., 1916-10-14


water
Samuel Prey. New England agent OF
the AmericanHawaiian Steamship
Company, whose steamer. the Bsnsan,
was halted by a submarine, .s,ts he
had received no information kom
Capt. Smith concerning the incident.
The Kansan, which is under charter
to the French Canada Line, was eX-
pected to arrive here, but changed her
course in response to distress calls
from the steamer West Point At l
o'clock the Kansan notified the Boston
navy yard that she was IS miles from
the disabled steamer and expected to
reach her in five hours, travelling at
speed of II knots.
The Kansan left New York with
cargo Of steel and was coming to Bos-
ton on her way TO Genoa to take
aboard a shipment of horses for the
entente allies. Within the immediate
zone of possible further operations by
the U53 are several transatlantic
steamships under registry Of nations
with which Germany is at war. Also
the American line steamer Philadel-
phia, with passengers and freight from
New York for Liverpool. is in the wa
ters from which reports of German
submersible have come, and the Scan
dinavian-American liner Frederick VIII
is approaching that part Of the coast,
bound to New York from Copenhagen.
Many Allied Ships Near.
Better known among the vessels, be-
cause of their registry and their pres
ent positions to the submarine men
ace, are the French liner Epagne, from
Bordeaux for New York; the Anchor
liner Cameronia, bound to New York
from Glasgow and Liverpool, and the
Cunarder Alaunia only few hours
out from New York for Falmouth and
London. Other vessels of lesser size
were reported approximately in the
same waters.
Most of these steamships had re-
ceived by wireless Word sent broad
cast by radio stations to all vessels Of
the presence of the German submer-
sible of the New England coast. This
was regarded as constituting orders
to change courses. The result was In
dicated in messages that this vessel or
that was swinging in-shore to be re-
moved further from possible contact
with the submersible and to be within
easy speeding distance of the three
mile zone of protection.
Francis P. Leay, the British consul
here, was in onstant touch with
steamship officials, and on the
strength of reports that the submarine
had begun wholesale attempt to de-
stroy entente vessels, a code message
was dispatched to the embassy at
Washington setting forth the facts as
far as obtainable.
Consul Leay declined to make any
statement. He explained that while
press reports had chronicled the de-
parture of the U-53 from Newport, it
was necessary to give British ships Of
fetal warning in order to safeguard
them from attack. There was no
doubt in the mind Of those at the con.
sulate that the submarine had come to
American waters to begin operating
off the Atlantic coast, it was said, and
every effort, therefore, was made to
notify shippers Of the possible dan
ger.
Shipping Is Terrorized.
When it became known early in the
day that the American steamer Kan
san had been halted much fear was ex-
pressed among steamship officials
that the American steamer Kansan
had been halted much fear was ex-
pressed among steamship officials that
the U-53 would be heard from in a
few hours at the latest.
Telephone messages forthwith we're
sent to agents Of steamship lines here,
and the consulate endeavored to get
into communication with every mas
ter of a British vessel along the
coast. There was no attempt to dis
guise or conceal the fact that ship
ping had been terrorized by the daring
performance Of a German submarine
so far from its home base.
The British consul said he had no
information as to the present where
abouts Of British patrol boats, al
though he assumed that the vessels
had been notified by wireless that the
U-53 was few miles off the coast. 1t
was learned that the embassy's warn
ing had been sent to Halifax, N. S.,
the naval base Of the British ships
operating in the North Atlantic, and to
other points in the maritime prov
inces. 4.
Whether any vessels had remained
in port because of the submarines
presence could not be learned but the
warning was so general ana reports
Of the attacks on the West Point and
the Strathdene spread so rapidly, that