The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-02-20
POLYPHEMUSIN
FROMWAR ZONES
SCORN|NG DIVERS
--
Officers Tell Of Drama Staged In
Great Naval Theater Of
World Conflict
DESCRIBE TRAPPING OF
GERMANIc SUBMARINES
Duplicate" Warships Built BY
Admiralty Fool Teutonic Spies
and British Seamen Alike

Arriving yesterday from New York
via Kingston and the Canal, the Blue
Funnel liner Polyphemus spent the
forenoon and greater part. of the after.
noon in port, departing shortly after
three clock for Vladivostok and Yoke.
hama The vessel pursued the usuRl
course of unshipping its guns and set.
ting them and their naval crews ashore
at Kingston, to pick them up again NJ
Zanzibar on the way home. The vessel
is,in command of Captain Arrowsmith
and has five thousand tons of general
cargo for the Orient;
The Polypheums left London on her
way westward on December 10 and Is
comparatively fresh from the war zones
through which she passed without sight
or sound Of a German submarine. A
dent in her stem yesterday attracted
'ttention and was ascribed TO ramming
submarine, but the only thing she
mined according to her officers was a
prosaic London wharf. N
She sailed from New York on Jan.
AIRY 20 and from Balboa ten days later.
he reached port here at six O'Clock
afurday evening, too late TO be en-.
tered and came in TO take coal yester-
day morning.
Used To Submarine Zones
All Of her officers have been sailing
for the past two years in the submarine
zones of Europe, and they all from the
captain to the apprentices treat the
German under water threats with the
greatest indifference, scorning any sug-
gestion that England can be weakened
1.-THE by their operations. 4s IA
One officer stated that for two years
he has been sailing within the Iimits
Of the war zone continually and has
never seen a German submarine, hut
adds that that doesn't prove they are
not there. &C.. VI '..... ,,.f.... .GFs,l =
All of them, however, speak of the
work of the British navy in terms Of
greatest awe and look upon its pro
tec'iye operations as nothing short Of
inspired. The, marvellous secrecy under
which the British naval vessels are
working, the abysmal silence of the
Admiralty over every victory, and
above all the mysterious end of the
Tenton submarines, particularly in
.trigucs their fancy. 1865
One of the officers yesterday told one
illustration of naval movements which
fairly typifed the many others he called
to mind, A great warshiD was build.
ing in the Clyde, after the war was
well on its way, and as il neared com.
nlstion the German submarines were re.
ported with greater frequency waiting
outside TO "getp her on her first trip.
The vessel was monster of its kind
with hundreds foot beam and built in
proportion. N"5@Nn 'g. H.. 70 -.
Duplicate Pools Spies
The day finally came for her de.
par'uro for Liverpool where she was
to be placed in full commission. She
sailed accordingly in the forenoon, sub.
marines or no Submarines. In the after.
noon she ppt back, came to her wharf
agrin, and again the streams of men
passed to and fro on her at their work.
few days later she was sent to the
yrrds to be broken up. (,
The same day that she left the Clyde
she reached Liverpool, went through the
routine of going into commission and
eventually sailed for the north of Scot.
land for duty. ,a.. :" ."FfiM ".
No one ever discovered where the
duplicate Of her came from, but dupli.
cate IL, was, a she'll of a boat repre-.
senting the real vessels outline and liz
tie else, md during the time that the
original was going into the battle line
the submarines continued to wait out
side for the duplicate. s.r,tt..
The people of Liverpool, continued
the same officer, see war vessels come
in at anchor in the Mersey in their
grim gray lines and remain over night
The following day they are apparently
still there, yet they are also on duty
miles away, their places taken by exact
copies for the benefit Of the German in.
telligenee department.
These actions have raised the British
navy to the plane of the supernatural
IN the eyes of the Britisher, and the
officers of the Polyphemus are not the
only ones to bear the same attitude
towards the feet, for it can be felt
on any British merchantmen that has
been in port. ~. =. So. r.. -.s. .
The merchant officers know az little
about the catching of the submarines
as any other citizen but know they re
caught TOT they see them coming in.
Iheir catching is another mystery of
the British navy. There was no
mystery about the capture of
one undersea boat, however, say the
Polyphemus officers. u,',l.
This submarine was sighted cruising
short distance inside the Thames
estuary by British destroyer. The
submarine was there for scout purposes
only, and the destroyer took il calmly,
She ran around in the rear of some
sandbanks and had the lightship
shifted number Of degrees, with the
result that upon leaving the estuary
the submarine took a bearing on the
light ship and promptly ran herself on
a sandbank. $3.50 -
At low tide the naval authorities
cody collected their booty and put tiie
submarine on exhibition in London
dock at sixpence a throw, outside only
Captain Arrowsmith has another
story ON his vessel which gives a Ine