The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-07-17


 and bobbed about on lumpy sea, sit ting first on one way and then an other, looking in its blue, white and red paint like a gaudy butterfly f1it- ting from one cabbage to another. A long interview by signal followed. Briefly it amounted to this: The captain said that he had grievouslJ over-estimated the speed of his ship; the error was unintentional, and he was certainly getting as much out of the engines as possible. He received some useful advice in regard to the rendezvous, and by this time a suS- picfous bank of mist, suggestive of fog, appeared ahead, so the cruiser started off at a good speed to reJoln the convoy. Shortly after sundoWn the cruiser was at the trail of the ships, and was so surprised at the brightness of the lights that he duly admonished the captains. The fleet looked like Clapham Junction, or as witty midshipman whispered in my ear, the yellow, red and green lights suggested a chemist shop. A few hours later the convoy was enveloped in thick fog, and the steam whistles were making a tremendous noise, re- sembling the despairing walls of tor tured giants, and representing great waste of steam and mourning much blasphemy from the engineers.
 A few days later one of the ships dropped some miles astern. Signals promptly set to work to find out the cause. This ship had a leaking con- denser that could be repaired in a few hours. She promised to be in station midday following, and this forecast truly came to pass.
 Another ship Jagged. Beautiful Dove, getting within signalling dis tance, was informed that the heavy sea had delayed the ship, and the coal was bad. These were insufficient ex- ] cuses., Then the blame was attribut- ed to the presence of two firemen be- l longing to the I. w. w, or the In- dustriaI Workers of the World, and the captain asked for some f1remen l to be sent aboard. This was impos- sible. The cruiser decided that he must leave the ship to her OWL course Then the captain explained | that the cargo assigned to the British government was worth million dol lars. These communications, sent by signal, occupied a long time. The l escort watched this ship for two hours. and when convinced that heI
 speed was improving rejoined the
 convoy, for it seemed quite probable
 that she would be in station by mid day. The anticipation was realized
 and the ship, with the valuable cargo
 regained and retained her station anG reached port safely.
 Contributory Negligence.
 Eventide The sebugle sounds
 "Darken Ship" The ports are imme- 1 diately obscured and all interna l lights screened. The ship police gc round and ascertain that the order i:
 properly carried out. The darkening
 of the ship is an important matter
 and study of, the evidence makes i
 clear that many ships have been tor
 pedoed from neglect of this simple
 precaution. Steaming without light:
 adds to the perils of the sea. To .-b'
 hit by a torpedo in daylight is bat
 enough, but to be sunk at night il
 worse. In the House of Commons i was feared that vesselsRhad been sunl
 at night from neglect of the simpl' , precaution to darken ships at night ], Many stories have been told of tht dangers arising from failure to ex tinguish or screen the lights. A
 destroyer bidding adieu to a mai steamer it had escorted shouted through the megaphone: Last nigh
 ;oL town
 One tragic instance may be givel of the result of negligence in regar' to lights. A large and magnificen
 steamer had on board a testy an , troublesome passenger who opened
 port for light and air. The office
 who looked after this matter remon strated with this selfish man for dis :, obeying regulations, and there wa
 much disturbance. The same nigh
 the ship was torpedoed and wit , great difficulty the passengers an
 crew were got into boats. The re ' fractory passenger found himself i a boat under the command of the of
 ficer who had remonstrated with hir 7 about the open port. This passenge bemoaned his misfortune, and as tn boat moved away, on the side wher
 the torpedo struck the ship, bril- liant beam of light from an open po1 shone direct into the boat, like searchlight. The officer in charge di : rected the attention of the moanin . passenger to this and said: "The iigh q that brought this misfortune on tn T ship comes from your cabin!"
 ' A stewardess gave me many pal y ticulars relating to the tribulation { anxieties, and sufferings of the wome 0 during the hours they were af1oat
 and the officer in charge of the boz t gave a pathetic description of th d last moments of the ship. As sh 7, gradually settled astern first air an " steam rushed. up the tunnels and th e ventilating shafts with loud and di! d cordant noises, as if they issued frol e huge organ. The ship resembled
 giant in death struggle, dying LII II willingly. The captain was the la d to leave the ship. The bow remaine IS for some minutes in the air after u
 captain stepped into the boat, the l. suddenly disappeared. The occl Id pants of the boat sighed with reli 1t to think that this struggling ship I In longer suffered.
 q As soon as the ship sank, the sui re marine approached in the darknes Iv and voice in excellent English askt se for it's name and tonnage. When u W Germans got the answer they shoute or We didn't think we had sunk such ,g big ship, Hurrah!" (By the Inte
 national News Bureau, Inc, Boston S. oy FIND STOLEN YACHT.