The Raymer enterprise., 1916-07-20
D0DGED FOE BY SUBMERciNG
Undersea Craft Dropped to Bottom of
Ocean at Times to Avoid Possible
Dangers-Threaded Maze Of Hostile
Warships.


was all just as simple us that. tell
you"
Thus simply did Capt. Paul koanig,
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 commolion?' asked the
captain Of group of reporters who
were eagerly questioning him regard
Ing the great game Of hide and seek
which he played with the British navy
on his 4.000-mile dash across the wa
ters. u have done nothing remarkable.
Anybody who has sense enough to
navigate boat and who builds boat
like the Deutschland cnn do equally
well-better. / believe"
Captain Koenig will have 1t 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 atlre with enthusiasm. I'VE are
building 2.000-ton submarine that
will be able to voyage 1900 miles
without replenishing oil tanks. And
the British can't catch us. We laugh
at them-look now at that flag"
1a taI t, tb, Ia s,et
Deutsche Ocean Rhederei. the cor
poration Of Bremen which devised the
undersea 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 faetly as Il 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 Bremerhayen. 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. ss@
"Why did you do ihat?' he was
asked.
Knew Foe Was Near.
ave knew that British warsllips
were somewhere about he said. "And
we wanted to lay up ut Helgoland
for some days to fool them. There is
always n chance that spies may reveal
the comfngs and goings Of our ships,
and 1t was wise to mark time for ii
little while. In this case only one
alien. So far as knew, had our secret.
lie was the American consul at Bre-
men, VIM. Thomas Fee whose duty IL
was to approve our manifect. He was
to be trusted. naturally, but we could
take no chances.
I'VE loafed pleasantly off Helgoland
under the shade Of the big guns until
the morning Of June %. The time was
passed nsefully in improving the train
Ing of the men.
"Good Follows, My Boys"
About these men, now-say word
for them II 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
rled and are raising rosy checked ba-
bies to gov up for Germany's glory.
They are NIL fine mechanics and full
of-what do you say-pep. that is IL.
"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? II 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.
"rhe microphone and our device for
taking souDdings while submerged did
the trick. Everybody understands
these days what the microphone is
an undersea telephone. so delicate that
1t catches and records the vibrations
Of any bulk moving upon or under the
waves.
1--WE have two mcrophones on the
Deutschland. one on the port. one on
the starboard side. One of us, an off
Ger II 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 II the sen floor and
kept ms still MS u 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-
stroyers and sometimes Of buoyed
mines."
How He Dodged Mines.