Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1917-02-22
ItaIy's Operations Against Sub
marine Menace Is Clue to
Allied Methods.
D|RIGIBLEs As SEA SCOUTS
All Ports Protected by Nettine-Mine
sweepers Win Little Glory and
Less Publicity, but Are Most
Important Factor.
BY EDGAR ANsEL mowRER.

BY EDGAR ANsEL MoWRER.
Correspondence of the Chicago Daily
News.)
italian COast.-Whut can the allies
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 swcepers have become n neces-
sity and hardly port but harbors
fleet Of them. These small ships,
which often fall victim to their task,
becoming aware of mine only as
their keel strikes 1t 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 mt them and sink
them, sometimes by rifle fire, more Of
ten by gun fire.
1.-THE invention of nets against SUBJ
marines" writes Paolo Giordani, "is
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 lowed through the wa
ter by small steam fishing boats known
rs drifters. Great Britain has already
mobiliZed more than 100000 fishermen
with Mt least 5000 ships.
Some hundreds of these drifters
have been loaned to Italy. Each drift
er drags out and places section Of
net some 1000 meters long, for which
1t is responsible. A submarine strikes
piece of net like some blind night
flying beetle. The nearest drifters wait
Il 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, a 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 Il 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, ut
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.
Another drifter takes the place of the
one swallowed by the waves and the
chain is again closed, the shackles of
ambush again assured" The drifters
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 sens.
Next to the patient net throwing
drifter the most picturesque weapon is
the armed motorboat. These fast fly
ers have 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 it would be almost impossible to
torpedo them. Back and forth, the
length and breadth of the patrol, day
and night. in all weathers. these diml-
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 a use for which they were
never made. More recently larger
faster, more comfortable and sea.
worthy steel mot6rboats, 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 9
try at the big ships slips to the bot
tom of the gray sea.
The life of those who remain ut sea
in such little ships in all weathers IL
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
tell truth obvious to any student OF