The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1916-07-21
GERMAN SUBMARINE
REACHES america
ARRIVES AT BALTIMORE WITH
CARGO OF 1000 TONS OF DYE
STUFFS, MAIL, ETC.
CAPTAIN TELLS OF TRIP
Commander of German Submersibie
Tells of Trip From HeIgoIand to
Baltimore, How He EVaded
Enemy Warships, Etc.

merchantmen Deutschland across the
Atlantic and moored her Monday to a
carefully screened pier, are guarded
by strong squad of Baltimore police.
Captain Paul Koenig, the skipper,
Tuesday delivered his papers to the
North German Lloyd offices, entered
his vessel at the customs house as a
carrier and presented to German en-
bassy official a packet of correspond
ence for Count Won Bernstorff
Now the submarine is to discharge
her million.dollar cargo of dyestuffs
and take on board for the return trip
to Germany metal and rubber needed
by the emperor's armies and navy.
The return merchandise Tuesday was
on the dock and the time for leaving
port will depend largely upon plans
for eluding vigilant enemy cruisers ex-
pected to be waiting outside the en-
trance of Chesapeake bay for the re-
appearance Of the vessel.
One. OF Captain Koenig's first acts
after he moved his ship up the harbor
from quarantine was to announce that
the Deutschland was but one of fleet
of mammoth submersibles built or
building for a regular transatlantic
freight and mail service He said the
next to come would be the Bremen,
and that she might be looked for at
some port along the coast within eight
weeks
Anxious to establish promptly his
peaceful character and to forestall in
vestigation sought by diplomatic rep
resentatives of the allied powers, the
German captain submitted his craft to
O thorough inspection by the surveyor
of the port and an agent Of the depart
ment Of justice. These officers, as
well as the customs inspectors and
quarantine surgeons agreed there was
no sign of armament of any descrip-
ton on board and that there was no
doubt in their minds about the boat
being entitled to the status of an or
binary merchantmen. Guy v Steele,
the surveyor, made formal report to
this effect to Port Collector Ryan, who
transmitted it to the treasury depart
ment at Washington.
Neither Captain Koenig nor agents
of the North German Lloyd line, to
whom the boat is consigned, evinced
the slightest uneasiness over the sug-
gsstion that there might be diplomatic
difficulties. This question had been
given due consideration in advance
and nothing was left undone to make
the status of the ship unQuestionable.
1t was stated on the authority of the
captain that the only arms on board
were four automatic pistols belonging
to the officers and a sportsman's rifle
for firing rockets
Captain Koenig submitted to an in
terView in which he described his
S,S00-mile cruise from Heligoland to
Chesapeake bay. He denied reports
that he had been chased off his course
by enemy warships, declaring that so
far as he knew there, was not an al
lied war craft in the Atlantic. The
captain asserted further that his voy-
age had established the fact that a
submarine of the type of the Deutsch-
land could travel anywhere that the
ordinary vessel could go, $4,000 miles
If necessary. He had no fears, he
stated, of his ability to e'ude enemies
that might be waiting for him across
the Virginia Capes when he starts on
his return trip.
Il will be able to submerge within
the three-mile limit and they can not
catch me after that" he said. During
nearly the entire voyage to America,
Captain Koenig said, the Deutschland
travelled on the surface. Once she sub
merged for ten hours and lay for that
time on the bottom of the English
channel to escape British destroyers.
Captain Koenig piloted his vessel out
of Bremen on June IA. He went di-
rectly to Helgoland, remaining there
nine days. On June % the submarine
slipped away from the island fortress
and the trip which ended in Baltimore
Monday was begun
Norfolk, Va.-Bearing message
from Emperor William to President
Wilson, running the gauntlet of in
Vulnerable dangers from mines, sea-
sweepers and enemy warships and
bringing cargo of dyestuffs, chemi.
Gals and mail, the German undersea
merchantmen, the Deutschland, quiet
ly slipped into Chesapeake bay Sun
day morning.
According to Captain Frederick d.
Cooke, a Norfolk pilot, and the first
American to board the Deutschland,
the crew wore regulation uniforms of
German merchantmen seamen.
Captain Cooke said the commander
OF the Deutschland was extremely
frank in stating his mission to the
United States; that of instituting an
undersea merchant service and export