White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1919-03-23
MINES ENDANCER
OCEAN VESSELS
High Explosives Still Float in
Lanes of Commerce.
NAWEs TO SWEEP THE SEAS
Known Fields Will Be Cleared and
Dereiicts Will Be Picked Up-Dan-
ger May Extend for Years, and
Mines, Freed From Moorinus. May
Be Swept Miles by Ocean Currents
Many Ships Sunk.

Mines. Freed From Moorinos. Nav
Be Swept Miles by Ocean Currents
Many Ships Sunk.
Untold thousands of unexploded
mines. planted in navigable waters
during the four years of war. still lin
ger In the lanes of commerce like seeds
OF death. "A constant menace to the
t0ilers of the deep. Weeks back the
sting of the U-boat was drawn. The
signing of the armistice halted further
ravaging Of the submarine. and ship
ping sailed forth no longer In dread of
the torpedo or the guns of the under
sen craft. Nevertheless ships are en-
%dangered by other marine agencies of
death, and the mariner cannot be sure
that these hazards won't lie in his
path for months to come and do him
harm when and where least expected.
Already the navies of the allied ma
lions have undertaken the hazardous
work of clearing the recognized mine
fields In European waters, and by the
use OF wire drags propose to remove
every mine that still is held in posi-
ton by Its moorinps. The chief dam
ger To the mine sweepers and to com
merce in general lies, however, in the
derelict mine, which has been washed
from its original position and is likely
to be found in the North sea, in the
Gulf stream, OF the shores of the Unit
ed States Oh in any other location to
which the current. tide or winds may
drive the mine with Its charge of 4 N T.,
which is notably inert to the action
of water and will retain Its destructive
personalities until the charge is ex-
ploded.
Many Ships Sunk by Mines.
Early In December the British war
ship Cassandra struck a mine in the
Baltic and went down with the loss of
IL men. In January a British freighter
foundered off Mlddlesborough after
hitting a mine and her crew was lost.
A few days later the French ship
Chaouia stumbled upon n mine in the
Straits of Messina and went to the bot.
tom in four minutes. Four hundred
and sixty persons ON board were lost.
The British sloop Penarth was Junk
by II mine % miles from the mouth OF
the Tyne. Scarcely "A day passes. in
fact. that some British. Norwegian.
Swedish or other craft Is not sunk or
crippled by a mine in the North sea
Navigation has become so hazardous
that many craft proceed only by day.
thus lessening the danger of coming
into contact with the dreaded dere-
licts.
Official figures issued by the Dutch
and Danish authorities give some idea
of the number of mines that have been
torn from their moorings during the
recent war. At the close of the first
two years of war more than 800 mines
had been beached along the north coast
of Jutland. BY March /. 1916, 91S
mines had been washed upen the
shores of Holland. From 1914 10 1918.
the Dutch picked up along the short
seaeoast of the Netherlands no fewer
than 1850 contact mines.
The belligerents were not the only
European nations which employed
mines. The Dutch. the Danes. the
Norwegians and the Swedes all plant.
ed defensive mine fields. and upon
occasions these weapons got
adrift and added 10 the perils of ship
ping.
Sweeping the Seas for Mines.
During the war mine sweepers were
constantly at work. Great Britain had
no fewer than 700 craft to do this
work around the British isles alone.
Each month the mine sweepers combed
100000 square miles of the sen. and to
accomplish this they steamed more
than 100000 miles. In 1917 they gar
nered 5000 German mines. In 1918
mp tn October | they had harvested
$4,000 mines. In this hazardous work
more than $50 British sweepers were
blown To atoms and their crews lost.
Now all the allies are preparing to
sweep the planted areas in an effort to
gather up every possible mine. In
some sections the removal Of mines
has begun. In other areas the fields
will not be touched until after the
signing Of peace terms. The task be-
fore the nations is to sweep the seas
free of the vast army Of submarine
weapons. and do IL, despite the haz-
ards involved. with the least possible
delay. But no matter how rapidly
this work may be prosecuted there still
remains the d%isqnieting likelihood of a
considerable percentage of these mines
breaking loose or being carried, anchor
and all. into areas remote from their