New-York tribune., 1918-01-20
They Pay No Respect
To Any Flag

1T is well known that the English
merchantmen We're ordered by THEN
government to fly neutral flag, so a.
10 avoid being captured by our war
shlps. We all remember how, on one
OF her earlier trips, through the war
zone. the gigantic Lusitania received
wireless message to conceal the
Union Jack and to fly the Stars ana
Stripes of the United States. but d2s-
tiny after all overtok her at later
I date.
An Of us U-boat commanders were
told not to trust to the nationality O;
any flag we saw, and to stop every
steamer on our path and to examine
her papers thoroughly. Even these
might be falsihed, and we must there
fore Judge for ourselves, according to
the appearance of the crew and the
way in which the ship was built,
whether she were in reality neutral.
VI course many ncutrals had to suffer
from the deceptions practised by the
English, and although their colors were
painted on their sides and they were
lighted at night by electricity, yet this;
device could alsv be copied. Therefore.
we We're obliged to detain and examine
all the ships we encountered, greatly
to the Inconvenience of the innocent
ones.
/ will describe the manner in which
a warship undertakes the search of a
merchantmen: Through flag signals the
merchantmen is hidden to stop i'm
meditely; if he does not obey, the
warship makes its orders more impera-
tive by firing blank shot as warning
If then the merchantmen tries to es-
cape, the warship is justified in hitting
the runaway. On the other hand, it
the steamer or sailbo;t obcys the sum
mons, then the warship puts out a boat
with an armed prize crew and an officer
to look over the ships papers. These
consist in certificates of nationality, Of
the sailing port, and port Of destina-
ton, and they contain bill of ladine
as to the nature of the cargo, also the
names Of the crew and passenger list
II 1t is a passenger steamer. IT tho
ship is neutral and her papers are sat
isfactory, she is allowed to proceed,
whereas an enemy's ship is either capt
ured or sunk. If neutral ship carries
contraband of war, this is either con-
fiscated or destroyed, but if it exceeds
half the total cargo, then this ship is
also condemned.
1t is nearly impossible for a sub
marine to send prize crew on board
a big ship, therefore neutral states
have given their captains the order to
go in a ships boat and deliver their
! papers themselves on board the sub
marine; but they often annoyed us by
Il long parley and delay. and it was
always with Il feeling of disappoint-
ment that we were obliged to leave in
| active our cannon and torpedoes, the
crew sadly eXclaiming, "After all, they
were only neutrals,"
One sunny afternoon we were in
the act Of examining the papers of a
Dutch steamer that we had stopped in
the neighborhood of the Meusc Light
ship. when we perceived on the horizon
another steamer coming rapidly tow
ard us, and we judged by its outline
that it was of English construction.
The steamer we were examining proved
to be unobi icctionable in every respect,
and sailing only between neutral ports,
so we dismissed it, and just it was
departing the English steamer, evil
IDENTIFY apprchcnding our presence,
turned about in great haste in hope to
escape from us, and steercd with full
steam ahead toward the English shores,
TO seek the protection Of the ships on
the watch patrolling the English coast
INT English captain we'll knew what
fate awaited him if he fell into the
( hands of a wicked German U-boat.
/ Mighty clouds Of smoke rose from her
/ funncls, giving evidence Of the active
/ ondcavors of the stokers in the boiler
room to bring the engines up to their
highest speed, and before we had time
10 give the signal to stop the steamer
was in flight