Evening star., 1920-01-18
Continued from first Page,

to see this torpedo pass asteTa OR for
ward without hitting the vessel In
such contingency the genuine mer-
chant ship would make every possible
effort to turn out Of the torpedo :
way; the helmsman OF the mystery
ship. however. would take all posi-
ble precautions to see that his vessel
was hit. This, however. he must do
with the utmost cleverness, else the
fact that he was attempting to col
Tide with several hundred pounds Of
gun cotton would In itself betray him
to the submarine. Not improbably ly
several members OF the crew might be
killed when the torpedo struck. but
that was all part of the game which
they were playing. More Important
than the lives of the men was the fate of
the ship: il this could remain afloat long
enough to give the gunners a good chance
at the submarine. everybody on board
would be satisfied. There was. how
ever, little danger that the mystery
ship would go down Immediately; for
all available cargo space had been
hlled with wood, which gave the yes
sci Sufficient buoyancy sometimes to
survive many torpedoes.
OF course this, as all the other details
OF the vessel, was unknown to the skip
per OF the submerged submarine. Hav-
ing struck his victim in a vital spot he
had every reason to believe that ii
would disappear beneath the waves
within a reasonable period. The bust
ness OF the disguised merchantmen was
to encourage this delusion in every pos
sible way. From the time that the tor
pedO struck, the mystery ship behaved
precisely like the every day cargo car
rier which had been caught in a similar
predicament. A carefully rehearsed
contingent OF the crew, known as the
panic party" enacted the role Of the
to and fro on the deck apparently in a
state Of high CONSERVATION. now rush.
ing below and emerging with some per-
sonal treasure, perhaps an old suit of
clothes tucked under the arm, perhaps
the ships cat or parrot. or small
handbag hastily stuffed with odds and
ends.
Il \ X
Under the control of the navigating
officer these men would make for life
boat, which they would lower in realistic
fashion-sometimes going SO far, in
their stage play, as to upset 1t. leaving
the men putting and scrambling in the
water. One member of the crew. usually
the navigator. dressed up as the cap
tain" did his best to supervise these
operations.
Finally, after everybody had left. and
the vessel was settling at bow or stern,
tho captain" would come to the side.
east one final glance at his sinking ship,
drop a roll of papers into q Ifeboat-
Ostensibly the precious documents which
were so coveted by the submarine as an
evidence OF success-lower himself with
one or two companions and row in the
direction of the other lifeboats. Properly
placing these lifeboats, after abandon
ing ship" was itself one of the finest
points in the plot II the submarine
rose to the surface 1t would invariably
steer first for those little boats, looking
for prisoners Or the ships papers The
boats crews therefore had Instructions
to take up station on a. bearing from
which the ships guns could most sue
cessfully rake the submarine. That this
manoeuver involved great danger to the
men in the ifeboats was a matter of
no consideration In the desperate enter
prise in which they were engaged.
Thus to all outward appearance this
performance was merely the torpedo
ing OF helpless merchant vessel. Yet
the average German commander be-
came altogether too wary to accept
tine situation in that light. He had
no intention Of approaching either
lifebOats or the ship until entirely
satisfied that he was not dealing with
one of the decoy vessels which he 50
greatly feared. There was only one
way of satisfying himself; that was
to shell the ship SO mercilessly that
in his opinion. IL any human beings
had remained aboard, they would
have been killed or forced to surren-
der. Tho submarine therefore arose
at distance of two or three miles
Possibly the mystery ship. with one
well-aimed shot, might hit the sub
marine at this distance, but the
chances were altogether against her
To fire such shot of course, would
Immediately betray the fact that a
guncrew still remained on board, a-d
publish the fact that the vessel wa
mystery ship; and, on this discov-
cry. the submarine would submerge,
approach the vessel under water and
give her one or two more torpedoes