The Washington times., 1918-01-13

tached for foreign service, and Wits
one small gun set up on her deck, wa
ordered to relieve the cruiser than
hanging on Nantucket. The real war
vessel was sent away upon business
that evidently required the presencs
OF real guns.
The Dummy took her place on Nan
tucket and her commander must have
been very anxious to use his one tiny
gun. for he kept such a sharp watch
on the Boston ship lane for any Ger
man ships that might make q dash.
that he rufied Uncle Sam. Tne
United States Government promptly
protested to the British government
that "a British war vessel was hang
ing too close to neutral shores and
making Itself obnoxious to neutral
commerce.
The DUMMY The rotten old tub
was 30 slow II couldn't have caught
any ship that entered that harbor, IL
q chase had materialized. II had to
get close to make sure that no fast
German merchantman should escape.
Fifteen knots would have Jerked her
old engines to junk. and there were
ships interned at Boston that could
steam rings around her at that The
officials Of the British admiralty sure
Iy Erinned when they received Uncle
Sans serious protest about the men
ace TO neutrality OF the war vessel" J"
And no apology was ever given. more
willingly, probably than their reply.
Crew Were In Rags.
When at last the Dummy came back
to US, her crew were In rags. The
looked like men rescued from a desert
Island. During the long dutY off Nan
tucket, 5000 miles from their base Of
supplies, they had exhausted the small
reserve of clothing they had on board.
They got food from Canada, fresh air
from neutral shores and clothes from
nowhere. Some Of the crew wore
trousers ragged almost to their knees
And the hardships aboard the old
empty hull, with none of the appoint
ments of a real warship. made them
Jolly glad to leave the actual war
duty and get back to shamming with
the Special Service Squadron. They
didn't even brag about their real
guni
Another Dummy was sunk a and this
inadvertently gave comfort to the
enemy" although her loss hardly af-
fected the odds on the sea. II was
after the Special Service Squadron
had been discontinued that '.No. IL" ,
came to grief. The remainder OF her
consorts had been permanently in
termed at Belfast What became OF
the old boats I do not know. except
that there was talk OF making "No. o"
into a mother ship for hydrobfanes.
But. save for mo. IA" September 10.
1915. saw them all lying At Belfast de
serted by thei: crews who went to
other duties in their country's cause.
Before disbanding, however, we were
told that the admiralty considered the
Dummy fleet q success, inasmuch as
the Doggerbank episode was in part
our achievement. !
Assigned to Transport.
The last OF the Dummies met her
fate in the same theatar of war in !
which served after quitting the
squadron. The Dardanelles campaign |
the attempt by land-was in prog
ress, and / was assigned to the trans
port Olympic, which carried troops to
storm GsIlipoli.
These volunteers were a remark
able set OF men. young, and clean-cut, |
tbs flower of British youth of the |
better classes. The enlisted men, as \
well as the officers. were cultured I
and refined. and they displayed a
lofty patriotism and self-sacrifice in
keeping with the best traditions of
British gentry. They were gay and
eager ID take part in the campaign
in which so many. were to lay down
their lives.
1t will be remembered that Lemnos
was our bs-se, and the allied fleets