The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-14

helped to preserve its popularity
 For while the navy noted these meth ods and the little human failngs of ! the enemy in silence. Then it drew long breath and opined that thereby it had pleased the Lord to deliver the en- emy into its hands. In it's own peculiar phraseology, it reckoned that 1t thad the Hun cold" It argued that a man war could be disguised as 8 tramp steamer and carry concealed armament Such vessel by plying on the trade routes, must inevitably meet submarine in time and in her character of peaceful mer- chantman be ordered to abandon ship. The ship might be abandoned to all out ward appearances, but still retain suf- ficient men concealed on board to fight the hidden guns when the moment came for her to cast disguise to the winds and hoist the white ensign. Certain risks had to be taken for granted, of course. the almost inevitable torpedo sooner or later the probability of a little indiscriminate smelling while the submarine approached the possibility of being ultimately sunk first, and the rest was on the knees of the gods Thus the navy argued.
 THE LUSITANIA GRAVES An olG collier of some 20O0 tons was selected from among the shipping at the disposal of the admiralty and taken to a dockyard port. where she unostenta- | tiously underwent certain structural all 1 terations. These included disappearing mountingSe for guns concealed beneath hatchway covers, and masked by deck houses which collapsed like cards at jerk of a lever. From the host of vou- unteers among whom were retired ad- l mirals captains, commanders and lieu tenants of the royal navy, young lieu tenant commander was selected and ap- l pointed in command. His officers were volunteers from the royal navy reserve, | ex-merchant seamen familiar enough | with the role they were required to play, and in some cases with little mental | scores of their own which required ad- I justment when the time came. The crew was mostly from the west country, men of Devon with one or two traditions | to uphold in the matter of brave ad- venture. It also included Welshmen and | Irish, with a pretty taste for a fight, i and a few Scots, of the dour type, hard l to frighten. They were picked from the royal navy fleet and formed a nodding l acquaintance with death long, before l they received an invitation to closer l intimacy In the matter of ages, they ranged between IT and 52.
 l They sailed from Queenstown under the reds ensign; but before they left some Of the crew trudged, as pilgrims to a shrine, and stood awhile among the mounds in | that pathetic Gods acre where the wom- 1 en and children of the Lusitania rest They were then but freshly turned, those mounds, in their eloquent diversity of l lengths, and men had not begun to for l get.
 I For five weary months they endured the winter gales of the Atlantic, wal lowing to and fro along the trade foutes outwardlN . scalywag tramp, but be- hind her untidy bulwarks observing. with certain necessary notifications, the dis ciplne and customs of his majesty's navy. With paint-pot and sail-cloth they im- proved the ships disguise from time to Itme, and wiled away the heart-break- l ing monotony of the days by inventing fresh devices to conceal their character. The ships stewards assistant, when not engaged upon his office as dusty boy" was ordered to don female attire over his uniform and recline in a prominent position on the poop in deck chair This allErement was calculated to prove an irrisistabe bait. The navigator, whose | action station was the abandonment Of the ship in the role of distracted mas
 ter. fashioned the effigy of a stuffed
 parrot and fastened it inside cage which
 he proposed to take away with him in
 the boat. thus heightening the pathos
 of the scene and whettng the blood
 lust of the enemy. !.
 i THE TRACK OF THE TORPEDO :
 From time to time watchful patrols
 swooped down upon them, exchanged a
 few curt signals in the commercial code and bade them pass on their imaginary occasions Once a cruiser, less easily satisfied than the remainder, bade the rusty-sided collier heave to, and sent an officer to board her; he climbed inboard lat the head of armed men to find him. self confronted, in the person of the l ma a term-mate days and grin he is not likely to for get. Then, early one spring morning, when the daylight was stealing out of grey skies across the Atlantic waste. the track of torpedo .pubbled across the bows and passed ahead of the ship. The moment for which they had waited five weary months had come.
 As befitted her role of tramp steamer in the early days of the war, the ship held steadily on her way, observing the 4l stars in their courses, but not otherwise interested in the universe. Inboard, how
 ever, the alarm rang along the mess decks and saloons, and men crawled into
 hen-coops and deck-houses eagerly fin
 gering. the pistol grips of the hidden guns few minutes later the sub
 marine broke surface half mile astern
 of the ship, and fired shot across her
 bows Whereupon the supposed collier stopped her engines, and lay rolling in | ling from her exhausts, while the crew,
 who had rehearsed this moment to per
 lection, never yet realized on the boards of legitimate drama, rushed-to and fro with every semblance of panic. The cap , tain danced from one end of the bridge , to the other, waving his arms and shout
 ing; boats were turned out and in again
 amid a deliberate confusion that brought
 bushes to the cheeks of the ex-merchant
 seamen called upon to play the part
 A PIRATES FATE
 In. the meantime the submarine had approached at full speed to within about
 TOO yards, and evidently not satisfied
 with the speed at which the ship was
 being abandoned fired another shot,
 which pitched 50 yards short of the en-
 zine room There was apparently noth- ing further to be gained by prolonging the performance for this impatient au- dience. and the lieutenant commander on the bridge, cap in hand, and breath less with his pantomimic exertions, blew shri} blast on his whistle Simulta- neously the white ensign fluttered to the Imasthead, deck houses and screens clat-
 tered down, and three minutes later the
 submarine sank under rain of shells
 and Maxim bullets. As she disappeared