Evening star., 1920-03-07

to work with clock like regularity.
At first the new world under the
water proved confusing to the listeners
at the tubes. This watery domain was
something entirely new in human ex-
perience. When DR.. Alexander Bell in
vented his first telephone an attempt
was made to establish complete circuit
BY using the earth itself: the result was
that conElomerate Of noises-moan-
ings. shriekings, howlings and humming
sounds came over the wire, which
seemed to have become the playground
Of million devils. These were the
noises, hitherto unknown, which are
constantly being given out by mother
earth herself.
And now 1t was discovered that the
under ocean. which we usually think of
as silent place. is in reality extremely
vocal The listeners at the and K
tubes heard many sounds in addition to
the ones which they were seeking.
On the K tubes submarine running
at full speed was audible from fifteen to
twenty miles. but louder noises could be
: heard much farther away. The day
might be bright, the water quiet, and
there might not be ship anywhere
within the circle Of the horizon, but
suddenly the listener at the tube would
near terrific explosion. and he would
know that torpedo perhaps forty or
fifty miles distant had blown up a mer-
chairman or that some merchantmen
had struck mine. Again. he Would
Notch IN totS .1,,,1 II snl,,
chug!" which he learned to identify as
indicating the Industrious and slow
progress of convoy Of twenty or thirty
ships.
Then rapid humming noise would
come along the wire: that was the
whirlng propeller OF a destroyer. A
faint moan caused some bewilderment
at first: but it was ultimately learned
that this came from a wreck. lying at
the bottom. and tossed from side to side
by the current; it sounded like the sigh
Of ghost. and tho frequency with
which it was heard told how densely the
floor Of the ocean was covered with
these victims of the submarines
The larger animal life of the sea
also registered itself upon the tubes.
Our listeners. after a little training,
could identify whale as soon as the
peculiar noise 1t made in swimming
reached the receivers. At first
school of porpoises increased their
perplexities. The "swish! swish."
which marked their progress so re-
sembled the noise OF a submarine
that 1t used to lead our men astray.
: But practice in thfs game was every
thing. oft twin M l;cfo
easily distinguished between the por-
poise and the submarine. though the
distinction was so fine that he had
difficulty in telling just how he made it.
In fact. our men became SO expert
that, out of the miscellaneous noises
which overwhelmed their ears when-
ever the tubes were dropped into the
wafer. they were able almost inva-
riably to select that of the U-boat
y *,*+
In many ingenious ways the ehasers
supplemented the work Of other anti
submarine craft. Destroyers and 9TH
er patrol boats kept track of the foe
pretty we'll so long as he remained
on the surface: the business of the
chaser. we must remember, was to
HHu MIN dItcT ne nau
The r-in-chief on shore
sometimes sent a radio that Ger
man had appeared at an indicated
spot and disappeared beneath the
waves; the chasers would then start
d. for this location and begin hunting
with their listeners. Aircraft which
sighted submarines would send simi-
lar messages; conveys that had been
attacked, individual ships that had
been torpedoed, destroyers which had
= spotted their prey. only to lose track
of 1t as soon as 1t submerged, would
call upon the chasers to take up the
battle where they had abandoned It.
As long as the chasers operated in
the waters which l have indicated,
those between Start Point and Lizard
Head, theyA"got" no submarine. The
explanation was simple, for as soon
as the chasers and British hunting
vessels became active here the Ger
mans abandoned this field OF opera
tiOns. This was the reason that the
operative area Of the Plymouth de-
tachment was extended. Some of the
chasers were now sent around Lands
End and UP the north Cornish coast,
where colliers bound from Wales to
France were proving tempting bait
for the U-boats; others operated far-