Bisbee daily review., 1918-08-13
APPARENTLY MUSTARD
SUBS ACTIVE SUNDAY, SENDING DOWN MANY FISHING CRAFT; DESTROYER CREW BELIEVE THEY SUCCEEDED IN DESTROY ING UNDERWATER MENACE

WASHINGTON. Aug. 12-oas
 from oil discharged on the water
 by the German submarine Operat-
 ing off the middle Atlantic coast.
 overcome six men in the coast
 guard station and lighthouse on
 Smiths island. North Carolina.
 Saturday evening, the navy depart
 ment was advised today by the
 cOmmandant of the sixth naval
 district
 If the gas attack was deliberate,
 as most officials believed. it con-
 stitutes a new and ingenious form
 of "frightfulness" and was the
 first direct effort of the German
 raiders to harm persons or prop-
 erty on American shores.
 The gas was said by the command ant of the coast guard station to have much the same effect as the mustard gas used by the Germans on the west ern front. The men were laid out for more than half an hour, but apparent ly suffered no serious after effects.
 The dispatch relating the gas attack was one of a series concerning Ger man submarine warfare off the Atlan- tic coast received during the day by the navy department. One told of an attack on a submarine 100 miles east of the Virginia coast by an American destroyer. which discharged seventeen depth charges where the raider was seen to submerge. The result of the attack was not determined; hu; after oil had appeared on the surface of the water. two bombs were dropped on the spot and the submarine was not seen again.
 Sinking of the British steamer Peni- stone, of 4139 gross tons. and the Swedish steamer Sydland. of 3031 gross tons, in New England waters near where ten fishing smacks were destroyed Sunday also was reported to the navy department during the day. The former was torpedOed Sunday with the fate of her crew still unde- termined. while the latter was destroy ed by bombs August and her crew later rescued by passing ships.
 Still another despatch said that four survivors of the fishing schooner Katie Palmer landed at New Bedford. Mass. reported that they had been taken aboard the submarine. the commander of which boasted that he was equip ped to remain in American waters for six months if he desired.
 The submarine was described by the men as being about 300 feet long. with a coming tower fifteen feet high, and mounting one gun. The raider carried a crew of sixty men.
 While the reports from the cOm- mandants of the Smiths island coast guard station and sixth naval district clearly indicated their firm belief that the gas attack on the island was de- liberate. some officers tonight thought there was a possibility that the subma- rine had discharged the oil and gas after being wrecked on a reef
 Attention was called to the fact that the action of salt water on electric batteries used by submarines genera tors chlorine gas. which is similar tO gas in it's effect and is deadly if encountered in a closed space. lt the submarine were wrecked it was said, that this gas would be general ed and would come to the surface with the oil which would be freed.
 No such possibility, however, was in the navy departments announcement. which said:
 "The navy department has received a dispatch from the cOmmandant of the sixth naval district, Charleston, s.
 nN