The Washington herald., 1918-11-04
Wangenh elm Struggles the "Goebenr
and the "Breslau, Through the
DardanelIes.

DuI
On August 70 l went out on a
little launch to meet the Stella, a
small Italian ship which had just
arrived from Venice. 1 was espe-
cilly interested in this vessel be-
cause she was bringing to Constan-
tinople my son-in-law and daughter,
Mr.. and Mrs. Maurice Wertheim,
and their three little daughters. The
greeting proved even more interest
ing than I had expected. l found
the passengers considerably excited,
for they had witnessed, the day be-
fore, a naval engagement in the
Ionian Sea
I'VE were lunching yesterday on
deck" my daughter told me. when
1 saw two strengthening vessels
just above the horizon. l ran for
the glasses and made out two large
battleships, the first one with two
queer. eXotic-looking towers and the
other one quite an ordinary looking
battleship. We watched and saw
another ship coming up behind them
and going very fast She came
nearer and nearer and then we
heard guns booming. Pillars of wa
ter sprang up in the air and there
were many little puffs of white
smoke. 1t took me some time to
realize what it was all about. and
then it burst upon me that we were
actually witnessing an engagement.
The ships continually shifted their
position but went on and on. The
two big ones turned and rushed fu-
riously for the little one, and then
apparently changed their minds and
turned back. Then the little one
turned around and calmly steamed
in our direction. At first l was
somewhat alarmed at this, but moth
ing happened. She circled around
us with her tars excited and grin
ming and somewhat grimy. They
signaled to our captain many Ques-
tions and then turned and finally
disappeared. The captain told us
that the two big ships were Ger
mans which had been caught in the
Mediterranean and which were try
ing to escape from the British feet.
He said that the British ships are
chasing them all over the Mediter-
ranean, and that the German ships
are trying to get into Constantine
pie. Have you seen anything of
them? Where do you suppose the
British fleet is?"
Called at Q. s. Embassy.
A few hours afterward / happened
to meet Wangenheim. When ! told
him what Mrs. wertheim had seen,
he displayed agitated interest. I'm
rnediately after lunch he called at the
American Embassy with Pallavi-
cini. the Austrian ambassador, and
asked for an interview with my
daughter. The two ambassadors
solemnly planted themselves in
chairs before Mrs. Wertheim and
subjected her to most minute,
though very polite, cross -examina-
/ tion. Il have never felt so impor-
tant in my life" she afterward told
me. They would not permit her to
leave out a single detail; they
wished to know how many shots
had been fired, what direction the
German ships had taken. what ev-
erbody on board had said. and so
on. The visit seemed to give these
allied ambassadors immense relief
and satisfaction. for they left the
house in an almost jubilant mood.
pehaving as though a great weight
had been taken off their minds. And
certainly they had good reason for
their elation. My daughter had
oeen the means of giving them the
news which they had desired to hear
above everything else-that the
Goeben and the Breslau had escaped
the British fleet and were then
steaming rapidly in the direction of
the Dardanelles.
For It was those famous German
ships, the Goeben and the Breslau.
which my daughter had seen en-
gagged with British scout ship.
Tne next day official business
called me to the German embassy
But Wangenheim.s animated manner