Evening star., 1920-01-18
The Victory at Sea z x A2saazel @saR:

anu nome. the indignant 1riShmau
remarked. The information was q
little inaccurate. since all our food
supplies were brought from the
United States; but the remark was
reassuring as proving that the ships
disguise had not been penetrated.
Such precautions were the more nee
essary. in a. port like, Queenstown,
where our forces were surrounded by
spies who We're in constant commu-
nication with the enemy.
l can personally testify to the diff
Guilty of identifying IL mystery ship
one day Admiral Bayly suggested that
We go out III the harbor and visit one
of these strange vessels lying there
preparat tory to sailing on a cruise. Sew
eral merchantmen were. lying. in the
harbor. We steamed close around one
in the admiralss barge and examined
her very carefully through our glasses
from short distance. Concluding that
this was not the vessel we were seek
ing, we went to another merchantman.
This did not show any signs of being
mystery ship. We therefore hailed
the. skipper, who told us the one which
we had first visited was the mystery
snip. we Wtlit udth, DOdTueu ner ana
began examining her appliances. The
crew was dressed in the ordinary sloppy
clothes of a merchantman's deckhands:
the officers Wore the usual merchant
snip uniform and everything was as un-
military as merchant ship usually is
The vessel had quite long deck
house, built OF light steel. The captain
told us that two guns were concealed
within this structure. He suggested
that we walk all around it and see IL
we could point out from a close inspec-
ton the location of the guns We
searched carefully, but were utterly un-
q BILE to discover where the guns were.
The captain then sent the crew to quar-
ters and told lis to stand clear. At the
word OF command. one of the plates of
the, perpendicular side of the deckhouse
slid out Of the way as quickly an a
fash. The rail at the ships side In
front OF the gun fell down and a boat
davit swung out of the. way. At the
same time the gun crew swung the gun
out and Bred a primer to indicate how
quickly they: could have fired real shot.
The .oaptain also. showed us n boat up
side. down on the deckhouse Merchant
men frequently carry, one boat in this
position. AT. a word a.lever was pulled
down below and the boat reared up IN (.
the Fair and revealed underneath 1t q,
gun and its crew. On the pooh was a
large crate about 6xSx8 or 10 feet. At
a touch Of the lever the side Of this.
crate fell down and revealed another
gun. e;.'ss;' =
~, !. 49, ,s.t
For the greater part OF 1917 fFesn
twenty to thirty OF these ships sailed
back and forth in the Atlantic, Al
ways choosing those parts of the seas
where they were most likely to meet
submarines. They were "merchnt.
men" of all kinds--tramp steamers,
coasting vessels, trawlers and schoon-
ers. Perhaps the most distressing
part of existence on one of these
ships was it's monotony: day would
follow day; week would follow week,
and sometimes months would pass
without their encountering a single
submarine. Capt Campbell himself
spent nine months on his frst mys-
terry ship before even sighting an
enemy, and many of his successors
had similar experience. The myste-
ry boat was q patient fisherman, con-
stantly expecting bite and fire.
quently going for long periods with
out the slightest nibble. This kind OF
an existence was not only disappoint-
ing. but also exceedingly nerve rack
ing; all during this waiting period
the officers and men had to keep
themselves constantly at attention:
the vaudeville show which they were
maintaining for the benefit of a pos
sible periscope had to go on continu-
ously; moments forgetfuiness or
relaxation might betray their secret.
and make their experiment a failure.
The fearful tediousness of this kind
Of life had more nerve-racking eff
feet upon the officers and men than
the most exciting battles. and practi-
,callN rall the mystery ship men who
broke down. fell victims NOT to this
dangers. of their enterprise, but TO
this dreadful! tension OF sailing for
weeks and months without coming to-
close quarters with their enemy.
About the most welcome sigh. a
mystery ship, after 3 psriod OF n
tivity. WAS the wax, OF to2
speeding in its direction. "a;
could psssihl" Hsaap alnt it =
Continued on Pay, :. Col E22