Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-01-14

Il
| 6 light cruisers and 49 destroyers-
manned by perhaps 1900 officers and
men under the nominal command OF
Admiral Won Reuter-. the real people
in control being the lower deck.
The first ship left the Firth of
Forth in the chill mist of a. m, and
for the next four hours we passed out
to sea in one incessant stream, Beatty
bringing up the rear and weighing an
rhor on his flag ship at 6 a. m.
Throughout those memorable hours
| the commander-in-chi kept the most
4, intimate control of his armada by
wireless. Not ship of that vast gray
company changed speed or direction
without Beatty's permission. We sail
ed out line ahead in a dozen clusters.
each series Of vessels separated per-
haps by two or three miles Of water,
and each ship by some 500 yards. The
speed was uniform-twelve knots an
hour. In the raw, icy darkness of
dawn conditions on the Texas were
just as on any other cruiser. In the
wardroom after breakfast officers were
scanning Life or The Cornhill or The
Saturday Evening Post. At 7.30 a m,
came the order general quarters"
The decks were swept clear for action,
the guns fully manned, with ammuni.
ton held ready for ramming home, the
mystic anti-mine device, the Parava-
nos, swung out in front Of the great
ship. U-boat watch was mounted and
the United States battle ensign, the
Stars and Stripes, was hoisted or
high for the first time in this war.
Every precaution. in fact, was taken
against treachery.
Daybreak revealed an icy mist and
choppy sea, ideal for U-boats. The
first to meet the Germans, far out to
sea, were cinema men, the official pro-
gramme beginning toward 9 a. m,
when a screen of destroyers, then the
leader of the pageant, the light cruiser
Cardiff, came up with the enemy forty
miles east of May island.
Unknown number of unknown ships
steaming line ahead" she sisnaled,
after a quaint naval custom, to the
Queen Elizabeth. A few minutes later
she began talking to the leading Ger
man ship. the Seydlitz:
Steam twelve knot an hour and fol-
low me-"
I'VE can only do tenI' replies the
German.
At the same moment Beatty wire
lessed to the admiralty the bare facts
hat the surrender was fait accom-
pli. 1 was on the bridge of the Texas
at the time as the historic message
came in. All this time we had not yet
seen the enemy. According to plan.
the Cardiff then turned about and
headed for harbor, leading in the Ger
mans, while the Grand Fleet, likewise
turning for home, divided into two
yiant columns six miles apart, the
lane in the middle allowing for the
Germans. Less than two miles sepa-
'ated the ships. In the gun-turrets
he men cursed and stamped their fee
IS they saw sail under their noses the
cry vessels they had chased ant
Iearched for and studied and never TO
, moment had out Of their minds
light and day. for four terrible years
strain. ITS a wonder no British
,un went off by accident" In the
urrets little black silhouettes of eacl
.,pe of German warship had been
a:ntcd up. We compared them witt.
the originals before US. Officers am
len discussed technicalities intently.
See that mast camouflase on the
.IinLenburg? Foremost higher than
...alnmast? Gives the impression at
.slanve that She's going away whCn
sue's really coming toMa you."
Much haruer to picN up than We
mele taught. Low on the water.
some OF 'em look fine ships. Out o.
VI repair, though"
Meanwhile flagship talked to flag
snip-tney were twenty in all at
lea, not counting the. Frieurich oer
crosse. The German ship flew. Tor the
.s.st time, as Beatty subsequently ue-
.reed, the imperial ensign from the
illainmast, white with black cross.
A white flag had been hols,ed on the
lag snip. The decks OF the surrenu-
lreu ships Were Almost deserted. Fol
.on miles anu out OF signt the gray
Of we
uenind again the German destroyers
we're being shepherueu In groups. No
ceremonial took place, nor were COM
,,liments of any kind paid.
1 asked one or two OF the crew OF
the Texas what they thought about
it?
burned yellow of them to come out
like this without a scrap"
| And they went on skipping and
singing rag tunes and chewing, these
American boys, while the Hoch See
rlotte sailed on, in shame a few ca
bles away. l suppose the Germans
were peering out of port holes at us
Just as fixedly as We were scanning
them. They certainly had an extra
ordinary good view of the Grand
Fleet. All around them, east and
west, south and north.
The part that Bolshevism among
the German crews prayed in the sur
render is touched upon in these
significant paragraphs, written after
q visit to the surrendered ships.
/ On board, owing to the presence OF
Bolshevism, the position was an eX-
| traordinary one. The German crews
lounged about smoking, eating, and
splitting in front of their officers.
They only obeyed Brisish officers!
"Order these men out of this cab
in," said a British officer to German
captain, pointing to group OF Soviet
white arm bands.
| "Order them" sobbed the German
at his desk, his head in his hanos.