Omaha daily bee., 1916-06-11
LOOK FOR WASHED UP MINES
Coast Of Holland Patrolled for En-.
gines Of Death That Have
Been Sent Adrift.
GREAT DANGER TO NAVIGATION

Correspondence of the Associated Press)
The Hague, Netherlands, May TO-
More than 1000 mines have been
washed ashore on the coasts of Hol-
land. These include SIS English,
sixty-one French and 1913 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
extreme southwestern part of Hol-
land which is nearest to the vast
minefield designed 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.
Only recently, visitors to Scheven-
ingen, fashionable bathing resort,
witnessed battery of machine guns
firing from the promenade on mine
floating past the pier head.
Cast Away and Destroyed.
The practice of the Dutch naval
authorities is to destroy these cast
Always when and where they are
found.
Virtually all mines that are washed
ashore here are anchored mines"
said Dutch naval commander to The
Associated Press correspondent
these as their name indicates are
mines that are kept afloat a few feet
beneath the surface of the sea by a
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 breaks them loose from
their moorings. So they become
drifting mines and, as such, dangers
to navigation. They should not be
confused with drifting mines proper,
which are those which are sown by
warships or mine-layers in their own
wake when pursued by an enemy.
These mines, of an altogether differ
ent type, must become ineffective, as
prescribed by The Hague convention,
within few hours. That is, they sink
to the bottom automatically. All
those found in Dutch waters were
once anchored and had broken away
from their anchorage.
The great majority of them are
harmless 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 the province of Zee
land. This mine had the familiar
French cable attached which, when
pulled hard, explodes the mine. Five
fishermen, observing a bit of cable
hanging from the monster, thought it
handy for pulling it in, They began
to drag 1t along, and the inevitable
happened. A few scraps of clothing
was all that was left of the men.
Washed Up Mine Explodes.
an the case of mine washed up
near Domburg, in iceland, nine on
lockers were killed by a premature
explosion and much material damage
was done, too, Compensation was re-
fused by both state and local au-
thorities. The government felt il
could not establish precedent
Grants were made unofficially, how
ever, to some poor folks whose homes
were completely ruined"
| Seafaring men of Holland apparent.
| ly have become accustomed to the
new peril of the deep. The old ter
ror 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
score.