The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1917-02-27
ltalys Operations Against Sub
marine Menace Is Clue to
Allied Methods.
DIRIGIDLEs AS SEA SCOUTS
All Ports Protected by Netting-Mine
Sweepers Win Little Glory and I
Less Publicity, but Are Most
Important Factor.
BY EDGAR ANsEL MoWRER.

do against the submarine menace? A
great deal in such small landlocked
waters as the Adriatic, the Aegean
and the Tyrrhenian seas, less in the
open Atlantic. But in the Adriatic
particularly many devices can be prof
itably employed. The most important
of these Is doubtless the wire subma
rine net All ports are now protected
by netting which can be opened and
shut to permit the passage of ships.
Hence submarines have become chary
of entering an enemy port, preferring
to wait just outside or block the chan
mel by row of mines. In consequence
mine sweepers have become a neces-
sity and hardly a port but harbors
feet of them. These small ships,
which often fall victim to their task,
becoming aware of mine only as
their keel strikes it and amid the
thunder of death, win little glory and
less publicity. They are among the
enchanted humble, the housemaids of
naval warfare.
All ships that pass floating mines on
the high seas shoot at them and sink
them, sometimes by rifle fire, more of
ten by gun fire.
''The invention of nets against SUBJ
marines" writes Paolo Giordani, 'fs
due to the British admiralty, which
not long ago, after several months of
toilful silence, celebrated the certain
sinking of the Tooth enemy submarine
shared in the tolls. These nets are
most ingenious and formidable"
"Drifters" Hold the Nets.
The nets are towed through the wa
ter by small steam fishing boats krsAWn
as drifters. Great Britain has alresey
modified more than 100000 fishermen
with at least 5000 ships. ~.
Some hundxeds of these drifteES
have been loaned to Italy. Each drift
l>hr drags ouT-and places eaA6La1f
| net some i 1000 meters long, for which
it is responsible. A submarine strikes
a piece of net like some blind night-
| flying beetle. The nearest drifters wait
certain time to see if the submarine
is prepared to come to the surface and
surrender If not bomb is dropped
into the dim thickness of water There
is choked report, q disturbance in
the waves and then all is quiet. Sub
marine and net have disappeared. And
proudly the successful drifter, return
ing hOmeward with or without prison.
erS, hOiStS to the masthead the black
sinister flag of the pirate, the ancient
symbol of a good catch. Every drifter
is moreover armed with little guns at
stem and stern, wireless apparatus
and megaphone, through which the
hardy sailors, the same who manned
the ship in time of peace, call back and
forth to each other.
Already the number of submarines
sunk in the Adriatic is not small.
Humble Fishermen Lose Lives.
"But," continues Sig. Giordani. sit
does not always happen in this way.
The torpedo boat that inspects this
strange guard notices an open door, a
broken ring in the chain. No matter.
Apother drifter takes the place of the
one swallowed by the waves and the
| chain is again closed, the shackles of
ambush again assured" The drffters
are offered in sacrifice to the sea and
| the submarine that great ships may
pass safely where they will. The hum
BILE fishermen of the coast still look to
the dominion of the seas.
Next to the patient net throwing
drifter the most picturesque weapon is
the armed motorboat. These fast fly
ers haze the advantage of greater
| speed and vision over the submarine.
| They are so small that they are not
| worth torpedo and draw so little wa
| ter 1t would be almost impossible to
| torpedo them. Back and forth, the
length and breadth of the patrol, day
and night, in all weathers, these dimi-
nutive knights-errant cruise in search
of the submarine-the sea serpent of
| terror and death.
Motorboats Chase Submarines.
The first fleet was formed of fast
pleasure launches, Communicated and
| turned to use for which they were
never made. More recently larger,
faster, more comfortable and sea-
worthy steel motorboats, painted lead
color and in appearance not unlike
submarines, were built and armed by
the government. Boats Of this type
carry guns. machine guns, tOrpedoes,
and occasionally bombs. For weeks
they cruise and watch in vain and
then, perchance, their patience and
endurance are repaid--an Austrian
submarine trying to run in close for q
try at the big ships slips to the bot.
tom Of the gray sea.
The life of those who remain at sea
in such little ships in all weathers is
one Of abnegation and discomfort.
Larger than mOtorboats, cruisers
destroyers and torpedo boats aid in
the submarine hunt. And of these tor.
pedo boats are the most useful. To