Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-01


watch was mounted and the United States
battle ensign, the Stars and Stripes, was
holstcd on high for the first time in this
war. Every prccaution in fact, was taken
against treachery.
Daybreak revealed an ICY mist adm
choppy sea, ideal for U-boats The first
to meet the Germans, far out to sea,
were cinema men, the official program be-
ginning toward 8 n. m, when a screen of
destroyers then the leader of the pageant,
the light cruiser Cardiff, came up with the
enemy 40 miles east of May Island.
Unknown number of unknown ships
stcaming line ahead" she signaled, after a
quaint naval custom, to the Queen Eliza
beth. A few minutes later she began talk
| ing TO the leading German ship, the
| Seydlitz
Steam II knots an hour and follow
! me"
1--WE can only do ten, replies the Ger
| man
At the same moment Beatty wirclessed
10 the admiralty. the bare facts that the
surrender was a fait accompl. was on
! the bridge of the Texas at the time rs
the historic message came In. All this time
VIC had not yet seen the enemy. Accord
| ing to plan. the Cardiff then turned about
and headed back for harbor, leading IN the
Germans, while the Grand Fleet, likewise
| turning for home. divided into two giant
columns, six miles apart, the lane IN the
middle allowing for the Germans.
| One may have been all around this war,
as the writer has had the good fortune to
have been, from Lapland 10 Bagdad and
| st. Nazaire to Moscow; one may have seen
| the most impressive happenings, but tho
| few minutes following Us on the MORN
| ing of November 81 on the bridge OF tho
Texas. will always remain the most un-
| forgcttabIc
SIGHTED ny THE LuoSoUr
4 message comes from the Cardiff CIV
ing longitude and latitude. We plot it on
the chart They're sick and half mile
away; ought 10 pick en- up any moment
now There's about 5000 wards visi-
bilitv." saws Captain Victor Blue. scan
ming the horizon : strong morning sun
was finally overcoming the raw northern
mist We all looked eagerly seaward
German High Seas Fleet To star
board sang out the lookout man.
little American boy. ahsurdlv Youthful.
and all trlissed up IN Pcary KIT
Right. So, sonny. answers tho cap
tain. dwelling his glasses keep directors
on the leading battle cruiser
And 50, silhourttcd against the light
golden base, Germany found her place in
the sun 1t was 92l a. m, November q.
20 miles cast of May Island tina thcAmcri-
can battle squadron joined issue IN the
naval capItulation Of Germany As the
enemy hove in sight. in stately line ahead,
and keeping perfect station and align
mcnt, We saw that a kite balloon towed by
the Cardiff was 50 poised as to be directly
above the leading German battle cruiser
L.f. -. 4
start any tricks, the whole so miles back
to harbor
1t fell to the United States ships to
escort back 10 Bayern Grosser kur-
fucrst kronprinz Wilhelm and Mark
graef. The Germans had been told 70 keep
their guns trained fore and aft They fol- |
lowed Beatty's instructions correctly
throughout.
I'D like to blow the whole -- lot |
Of EN- out Of the water, commented |
British admiral as his vessel, the Lion. |
drew level with the Derffiinger the very |
vessel she had fought at Jutland Through |
glasses Germans now looked at British /
and British at Germans. less than two |
miles separating the ships In the gun
turrets the men cursed and stamped their /
feet as they saw sail under their noses the I
very vessels they had chased and search /
had ont OF their minds, night and dav, for |
four terrible years Of strain. It's a won
der no Britna gun went of by accidentr'
In the turrets little black slhouettes of
each type Of German warShlp had been
painted up. We compared them with the
original before us Officers and men dis
cusSed technicahtIes intently.
See that mast camoufage on the
Foremast higher than the
malnmast? Gives the impression at
distance that she gong away when she 5
really coming toward YOU
Much harder to pick up than we were
taught Low on the water. Some Of EN-
ook fine ships. Out Of repair, though =
Meanwhile flagship talked 10 flagship
they were 70 IN all al sea, not counting
the Friedrich der Crosse The German
ship flew, for the last ttme. Beatty subse-
luently decreed, the imperial ensign from
hc manmast, white with q black cross.
\ white flag had been hoisted on the flag
ship The decks Of the surrendering ships
we're almost deserted, For ten miles and
,ut OF sight the gray line Of Germany
ieet extended Far behind again the Ger
nan destroyers were beng shepherded IN !
,roups. No ceremonial took place. nor |
we're compliments If any kind paid
] asked one or two Of the crew of the
rexas what they thought about it?
Durned yellow Of them 70 come out
Ike this without scrap
And they went on skipping and sing
ng rag tunes and chewing. these Ameri {
an boys. RhIle the Hoch See Flotte. sail | ,
d on IN shame few cable lengths away.
suppose the Germans were peering out Of 7
Ortholes at US just as fXedlv as we were +
canning them. They certainly had an {
good view OF The Grand
leet All round them east and west
outh and north.
At midday Beatty sgnalled The c
German ensign will be lowered at 2
unset today and will not be hoisted {
gam without my permission L
That was, / think his victory signal, v
ne nearest approach to Nelson's famous $
gnal England expects Soon after v
ne Queen Elizabeth dropped out Of the 4
ne, anchored and passed the German q
aet critically IN review. As each vessel Of
le Grand Fleet drew level with the flag
np the ships crew gave three hearty
lecrs Tor Beatty, who responded by wav-
z h:s hand from the bridge Meanwhile, b
2 the other side oi The flagship, the Ger v
ans we're sailing Oh. or. on in silence. a
BoLsHEEks CONTROLLED fLEET. .
And 50 We came to anchor once more Il, ;
le waters Of the Firth Of Forth. Bands c:
-oke INTO national airs on board each !
up and there followed ut BEATTY $ be Q
81, religious service in the darkness ,
or the vlrtor} that Almighty God had ]