Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-12-17
GREATEST NAVAL SURRENDER
Story Of the Giving Up Of the Ger
man Great Fleet
MOST REMARKABLE EVENT OF HISTORY
German Admiral Wanted to Give Up
All Of His Men Instead Of Only Halt;
Because He Probably Did Not Know
What 70 Do With the Others.


in the sunny midst OF the North sea.
cahlcd the New York World CORES
pond..nt. when, "cringing like Il dog
with tail down, she surrendered h"T
fu,ure on the water" With amazed
contempt the personnel OF the British
Grand Fleet looked at the men they
were compelled To meet. not in the
glorious uncertainty OF hattle. but 10y
appointment.
You understand We are driven 10
this" said the German admiral To Ad-
miral Beatty. There is no child-llie
left in Germany. All are dying OF
hunger We ask you 10 accept the fuli
crews instead OF only half the person
mel We cannot feed them. and ""
dread more trouble" This amazing
request WAS refused 10y Admiral
Beatty, whcreupOn the German COM
maudcr produced II document for the
British admiral to sign. which stipu-
lated that the German crews would
not h" ill-tr"atcd.
Tell them they are coming 10 Eng
land: that will he enough Beatty re-
piled Us he tore up the document. And
then the blOodlesS Trafalgar began,
ending in the German ships. being
fast bound In misery and iron in Brit-
ish watcrs--thc tragic Semblanc" OF
- navy which lost its soul. aS the
New York sun correspondent OH
served before giving the following de-
scription OF the memorable events:
II was generally known that under
the. terms Of the alInistice IN" German
sbius were unarmcd and manned only
hy navigating crews. hut the navy dId
no, believe, in taking chances. Trrach-
cry was not expected, but all was
ready to blow the German ships out
of the water should any trick hc at
tempted.
On the preceding night the Grand
Fleet lay ut its moOrinGS In the flr'h
al Fourth. Above tn" bridge were the
mines. Conspicuous among them WAS
the French armorcd cruiser Admiral
Auhr. nying the flag of Rear -Admhal
C;rGIsacl. which. with two dcstroyers'
represented the French navy In the IL
nal act of the great drama.
Below the bridge were battle-shlps
hattlc-cruisers. and light cruisers.
Again u prominent place was tax
en- by the ships of partner nauoh
in the struggle. The New York. nag
-.ft5Sof AdfiirarA Rodman. with Admir-
al Sims and his staff aboard, and the
FLORIDA. Wyoming, and Arkansas
Canada was above the bridge with
the first battle squadron and Austria
lin. New Zealand was below win
the second battlc-cruiscr squadron.
throughout the night the hag-shlp
WIS in touch by wireless with the
German fleet. noting its progress 10
the place OF rendezvous.
At two o'clock in the morning the
feet was reported seventy miles OUT.
The German ENJOYS who came from
Koaigsberg stated their fleet would
I,. uunblr to steam more than twelve
knots an hour. and that would he
speed enough l'I PhhN N""'' -
minutes before four o'clock the hrs'
battle squadron. led by tie k"fchGe'
the flagship OF Nice-Admiral Mao
den. hcgan TO move. Tho fog had
lifted after five days and the lower
cir was clear. Clouds hid the moon
and stars and made the night dark.
SILENTLY in the darkness ship fol-
lowed ship down to the open sea- an
ominous and awc-inspiring. pro-
cession, thS black shapes of each IN
distinctly Silhouctted against 4 sk!
cancpicd 10y Il smudgc OF smoke. INC
Queen Elizabeth took her place at the
rear end OF the line. At daybreak the
Grand fleet was at sea. and in IN"
gray morning mist the squadron TOOK
their position in two columns, each
a single line. The two lines moved
toward the incoming enemy. Hall
mast eight came. and with II report
that the German fleet had been sight
cd 10y our dcstroyers.
An hour PASSED. and the rising sun
began TO tinGe the sky with golu'
Presently, four or five miles away on
the starboard bow. there came into
view a sausage balloon toward the car
diff First there was mere faint
.peck Of gray mist with slight
smoke-tr stretching out below II.
Then behind the Cardiff there emerged
from the murk the first OF the German
ships.
At the three mile range they ap-
pearcd 10 be little more than slowly
moving silhouettes coming abreast.
The British fleet turned by squadrons
sixteen points outward wheeling back
on .ts own track and retaining posi-
tioos on both sides of the Germans to
escort them to the anchorage.
between the lines came the Ger
mans, led by the Cardiff and looking
like n school OF lcviathans led hy
,a,;:I airHhip. First came the battle
cruisers headed by the Seydlitz.
ship which carries the scars CT the
DocScr Bank battle OF January. 1915.
the Moltkc and Hindenburg followed
and then the Derflinger. which also
was badly battered in the Dogger
Bank engagement. and finally the Won
der Taan. which. according to report,
suffered heavily in the naval AFRAID
at CuXhaven.
The other heavy ships Of the Grand
Fleet had left the flagship we'll be-
hind when the German and British
destroyers came out Of the mist. In or
dered array fiotilla after flotilla moved
across the sea. the Germans complete
" encased by the British. So vast
was the area they covered that both
the head and rear Of the columns
stretched away into the haze and were
lost to sight The eye could not count
them. They were themselves tre-
mendous armada
All this time the great captive
Aeet, guarded by the feet which en-
circled il. was moving slowly at an al
most funeral pace. certainly not the
.,-o t,ro+s stimulated nv Admiral