The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-05-08
What THEMINE
SWEEPERS Do
n. c. Evans, Writing From France
Tells About the Great Mine
Sweepers and What Tey Do.
OF SHIPS AND MEN
Mine About the Size of Large Barrel
and Can Be Detected From the
Air-very Dangerous.

l3O-Every few days Capt. John w.
|G-lo-r noses his old fishing smack into
la cove of the harbor at -. From
1.-THE window of my headquarters l can
see the Union Jack floating from the
old battered mast. and then ] go down
for a visit with the captain and his
crew.
The old smack is mine sweeper
and the captain is her skipper. She
is one of the fleet Of - mine sweep
ers at work in this field and is
known as the Good Bye, Good Luck,
God Bless YOU" with the II don't
give a damn crew.
Another unit of the fleet is called
Hell Bent Helen." and another
"Sweepin' Sinbad Of the Sea-" The
members Of the crew respond to
names that relate to the particular
work each one performs. The faml-
iarly address each other as Skull,
and "siip,r and "Mesl," Watch
Scissors" "Rudder," Timber" Kite
etc, and by these names were intro
duced to me.
When they were told that l repre-
sented the Young Mems Christian as
sociation they SHE'D at closer rela-
tions than a formal greeting and call.
ed me "Parson." When l protested
and told them I was just common
every day sinner whom the captain
had promised to take along on the
next trip, they relaxed and l am now
known among them as "The Youngun"
partly in Difference to my age, but
principally because I must have a
name that has some relation to my
work. l was happy and somewhat
surprised that they applied to me the
first word of our association rather
than the first syllable Of the last
word.
What Mine sweepers Do.
AS near as may, under censorship.
I shall relate the work of the mine
sweepers. Our readers must under
stand that this is one Of the most i'm
n0rtant units. of the allied forces.
Thousands of ships and tens of thou.
sands of men are employed in this
service. From the eastern line Of the
Mediterranean Sea westward through
the Straights of Gibralter, then north
along the coasts of Portugal, Spain
and France, then west and north
around the British Isles into the North
Sea and south into the English Chan
mel, this immense sweep Of old ocean
affords Germany fertile field for the
laying of mines.
The mines are much more danger
GUS to the allied ships than direct at
tacks by submarines. Were the seas
not swept and the mines broken from
their anchorage and destroyed, there
would not be harbor that allied ships
would enter without the greatest dan
ger.
The submarine can plant mines with
greater safety than it can attack ships.
A fleet of ships from America enters
the danger zone over here and pro-
ceeds into harbor attended by so
many destroyers that the lurking sub
marines dare not attack. But when
the shadows Of night fall they rise to
the surface, follow in the wake OF the
ships and plant mines, and woe be.
tide the next fleet that undertakes the
passage of that sea lane unless it has
been swept.
Appearance Of Mines. il,
One of these mines is about the size
and shape Of a large barrel. To its
bottom end is attached a cable and to
the other end of the cable an anchor,
or a weight made Of cement. In laying
mine, soundings Of the depth of the
sea are taken, and the mine is an
chOred so that its top is three feet
below the surface of the water at low
tide.
1t must be remembered that the
mine is buoyant, and floats if broken
| from the anchorage. The mine is fill
ed with "T N. T.'-Tretnite, one of
most powerful explosives known. Pro-
jecting from the top of the mine. or
barrel, are glass tubes that encase the
wires that connect with the explosive
Just below. The tubes look something
like the glass knobs on telephone
pole These wires are electrically
charged. and the breaking OF one of
the frail glass tubes ignites the spark
that explodes the mine. The effective
ness of this Internal devise has been
proven by the total destruction of
scores of vessels that have struck it,
notably the vessel upon which Gener-
al Kitchener was aboard, sunk in the
North sea. To find and destroy this
submerged barrel Of dynamite is the
business of the mine sweepers.
Detected From Air.
A powerful aid in this work is the
airship. Everywhere on the coast are
naval aviation bases. Any day, as far
as the eye can reach. l can see small
dirigibles and airplanes patroling the
sea looking for submarines and mines.
1t is a remarkable fact that from an
airplane a thousand feet in the air
one can readily see mine underneath
the water. So it is that from the air
these mines are often detected and
notice of their location given it its
sweepers.
First a description of the sweepers
and then to my adventure. The light
er the craft employed as a sweeper the
better. have said that the top of the
mine or the glass tubes that protrude
from it, is but three feet below the
water at low tide. Now any vessel
draws more than three feet Of water,
and n vessel muSt nass directly over