The Wiles of the North Sea Blockade Runner 



To deceive the British 

 naval officers of the North 

 Sea Blockading Fleet, 

 shippers who used neutral 

 vessels resorted to many 

 ingenious devices. Thus, 

 "rubber honey" was sent 

 in honeycombs filled 

 with a curious mixture 



Rear Admiral Sir Dudley 

 ih- Chair, Commander of the 

 Tenth Cruiser (Blockade) Squad- 

 ron in the North Sea, states 

 that '"whenever a ship is dis- 

 covered to be carrying contra- 

 band, an officer and an armed 

 guard of five men are j)ut 

 aboard to conduct the blockade 

 runner into our nearest port, 

 where examination usually takes 

 from two to five days according 

 to the disposition of the cargo 

 and the consequent difficulty 

 of removing it. The weekly 

 average of ships passing east- 

 ward through our patrols is 

 fifty; in summer time, about 

 eight per cent of these are 

 s;iiling vessels. . . . The British 

 customs officers did not slide 

 easily into new grooves. Accus- 

 lomed for years to board a ship 

 and intiuire merely for dutiable 

 wines or spirits, they were per- 

 haps too easily satisfied. ..." 



According to Rear Admir- 

 al de Chair, rubber was 

 sometimes smuggled 

 through in the form of 

 onions. "These were dis- 

 covered when one of our 

 officers dropped one on the 

 deck; the onion bounced 

 up ten feet into the air" 



Cases of guns, rifles, 

 and other firearms 

 or ammun it ion 

 were stowed away 

 in double bottoms, 

 decks and bulk- 

 heads, as shown 

 above. To the left 

 is illustrated the 

 method of conceal- 

 ing cotton in the cen- 

 ter of barrels of Hour 



(io'i 



