Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-21
THREE SHIPS, DEFYING
U-BOATS, REACH u. S.
Two American Ships Leave New
York for War Zone-Tanker
to Follow

NEW YORK Feb II Seven ships,
three Of which came from the barred
zone" arrived here today Tho trio that
bravcd the U-boat peril wcrc tho Rawson,
from Cardiff Wales; the Lucilinc. from
IIavre and the MADAM. which came from
an unnamed English port Tho Rawson,
which ncs the American flag put in at
Azores on her way across.
The first American Line steamship 10
leave this port since the German sub
marine warning was issucd-thc Mon
golid-t today Is past Sandy Hook and on
her way to Europe. She was followed
closely by the american frcightcr At
EouQuiu. Roth are hound for London aud
are the first American vessels To sail from
here foo u British port since Gcrmany's
warning.
Officials Of the American Line were ret
iccnt over tho sailing Of the Mongolia,
refusing even after she had been seen
to pass out of the haTbor, to admit her
sailing She is q vessel Of 1852 tons,
and is an out -and-out American vessel,
having been built in this country. and
never having flown any flag except the
American 40 attempt was made to dis
guise her. She is painted in regular Coor7,
with her name and registry painted on
her sides in huge letters.
The captain Of the Mongolia is Edward
Rice. an American.
All sailinEs of passenger vessels have
been Cancelled by the American Line,
shippers have been notified To take freight
out Of the hold of the -. Louis, whorc
1t has hccn lying since February ,, when
her sailing was postponed Tho Phiadc-
pha Is expected to tako her place along
side tho St Louis, Ncw York and st.
Paul when she arrives here tomorrow
from Liverpool
Speculation today as to tho probable
cause Of the cancellation of American
Line sailings was along two different lines,
ono was that II might mean the final dc
Csion Of the government not to aid in
arming ships Tying the American nag
| The other was that the present ntcrnH-
tional crisis had caused the Government
TO notify the ships owners that they might
he needed for auxiliary naval work. The
Philadelphia and the New York, under the
names Harvard and Yale. were so used in
the Spanish-AmcriCau War
Armed with rapid.lirc gun aud carrying
q cargo Of 1909 horses, tho Italian Stcam-
ship Napoli sailed for Italy today. The
horses are for use by tho Italian army.
Among the crew are a number Of cN.sca-
men from the Italian navy Tho Napoli
carried no passengers
Cuuard Line officials said they planned
20 send two more ships from New York
today. They are the Carpathia and An
sonia. both bound for Liverpool Passcn-
gers had been booked for both NcssclS
The digpatchiuE of two ships at once is in
! line with the recently adopted plan Of the
line to send out Slips in pairs for mutual
protection.
The standard oil Company made prcpara-
| tions to send another tank steamship today
She Is the Comnunipaw, from BayonnC, y,
| j., for an unnamed British port.
BALTIMORE Feb, II.
Tho fret American steamship to leave
| this port to penetrate the war zone pro-
| claimed i'm the German warning OF Feb
| ruarv / is tho Garland steamship Com
i,,p1
| T.. Edwards which sailed this morn'TE for
| Liverpool
! She is loaded with a general cargo, much
| Of which might be regarded by a subma-
Tnc commander as Contraband In her
| crew of forty men, twenty four are citizens
/ of the limited States bCinu natives pf