The Washington herald., 1917-10-20
70 KILLED BY SUB

~ hILLED U OUD
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.
i to be given out until Z o'clock and
| won't be Given out TIL then
Us 1t about a ship?"
Cant say what it's about"
withhela Tive Hsurs.
In this way news. Of the death Of
seventy American soldiers and sal
lors and the destruction Of the first
government vessel to be lost in the
| war was withheld for two hours
and . half after It had originally
been 'promised" and An hour and
q half after unofficial versions had
been spread broadcast.
It was explained that part of the
delay was due to the fact that the
records Of the men known to have
been lost had to be looked UP for
their emergency addresses and in
order to allow the department time
to send kilograms of coincidence to
the families Of the victims. 1t is
the policy. of the government al
ways to notify the families before
allowing names of men lost to be-
come public. both as a tribute to
patriotism and sto prevent undue
and unnecessary shock to families
through picking UP newspaper to
find that a husband. father or son
had been lost.
In War Department circles II was
stated unofficially that several i'm
portant American officers were on
the ill-fated Antilles. returning
from m SIS ons of observation
\ abroad. This may account for the
fact that she was picked out" by
the submarine. but general opinion
is that the U-boat took a shot in
the dark" trusting to luck to. bag"
one American ship. and not daring
| to show herself because of the con-
voy.
Conveys Of Great Aid.
That the loss OF life was not
heavier, considering the almost i'm
mediate sinking of the Antilles, is
declared by experts to be due solely
to the fact that she was in q fleet
Of ships and that the fast, convoy
| ing destroyers could Immediately
rush to the rescue and pick up
many Of the men from the water.
In cases Of such attack It is the na-
val policy for the other ships under
convoy to scatter as widely as possi-
BILE. steering zig-zag In order to save
themselves. The policy has been es-
tablished as the only safe one to pur-
sue. despite the apparent brutality Of
leaving men to drown. II is based on
the principle that 1t Is better to let
one crew drown than to cost the Pos
sible destruction Of two ships and the
loss OF both crews
In the case OF destroyers, however,
they can do rescue work with safety
to themselves, submarines. through
| experience, fearing to take a chance
| with their natural enemies"
| The only cases of destroyers sunk
OF torpedoed are when they were at
| tackled by surprise-as in the case re-
ported early this week by Admiral
! Sims. When a destroyer is on the
alert submarines keep their distance
and destroyers are naturally on the
alert when they come up to rescue
men from a ship which has just been
/ torpedoed.
One view Is taken in naval circles Of
the two attacks in a week on Ameri-
can ships. and that is this: That Ger
many has concentrated upon a CAM
paign of intimidation against the
United States.
| There are many angles visible to
| give basis to this belief, and officials
Of standing point them out.
They say Germany believes that by
sinking a few American transports
she can "sicken America" and give
strength to the talk Of pacifists and
propasandists in this country-tiat
| sh
arations in this way. aroiise opposi-
ton to further drafts. and create gen
orally an anti-war spirit in America.
| They say that the recent falling
| off in the loss Of British tonnage and
the increasing attacks on American
| vessels indicates that-the German
Admiralty-now that the closed sea-
son on submarine activities In the
North Sea is near has determined
upon a winter campaign against
American transports and proposes to
carry on such a campaign on a large
| scale.
They say that the sinking OF the
| Antilles is only the first chapter OF
| Germany's campaign. Whether this
campaign will prove effective depends
they believe entirely upon the aid
which is given Admiral Sims in
strengthening and enlarsing his fleet
and upon the character of vessels
used as transports. Speed Is essen
tial in such vescsels. 1t is the slow
ships-the ones unable to outrun and
maneuver around submarines wich are
the easiest victums to torpedoes.
The Antilles Is case in hand. She
was a 6,s7s-ton ship, formerly in the
service Of the United Fruit Company.
out OF Philadelphia. She was taken
over as transport. Built in 1907 she
was a comparatively new ship, but
was not especially fast, although Of
better speed than some of the ships
| which America has been forced to
employer was forced to employ in
the earlier stages of the movement
overseas. The rapid completion Of re-
pairs to the interned German and
Austrian merchant ships seized upon
the declaration of war Is solving the
problem of getting enough fast trans
ports, but some of the slower vessels
are still in the service.
The Antilles carried a crew of I30
under normal conditions. and IL is not
believed that as a transport her com
plement was much reduced.
The fact that all the army and navy
officers on board as passengers were
I