Popular Science Monthly 



349 



A Cargo of Dried Codfish 

 Sank a Schooner 



CODFISH Sank Big Schooner" was the 

 title of a news item of recent date, 

 which besides being most un- 

 usual, seems to open up a new 

 method of sinking woode 

 ships of the nations at war 

 at a trifling cost com- 

 pared with the present 

 $5,000 to $10,000 

 torpedoes used 

 by submarines 

 and destroy- 

 ers. Accord- 

 ing to the 

 survivors of 

 the vessel, 

 codfish ac- 

 tually sank 

 her, although 

 it took more 

 than one to 

 do it and it 

 was several 

 days before 

 the vessel 

 had to be 

 abandoned. 

 New Eng- 

 land's sacred 



Discovering the Spy's Secrets by Means 

 of a Lemonade Bath 



TRAVELERS through Germany are 

 likely to regard with resentment the 

 many precautions which are taken against 

 spies during the war times. This is only natu- 

 ^^-^ ral among the freedom-loving Ameri- 

 cans. They find the necessity for the 

 various passports which are de- 

 manded of them at every new 

 step of their journey 

 a veritable nuisance. 

 Each traveler needs a 

 certificate of good 

 conduct; one showing 

 that he has no 

 debts; one from the 

 secret service 

 showing that 

 he is not sus- 

 pected ; a 

 similar one 

 from the mili- 

 tary authori- 

 t i es ; one 

 showing that 

 he has no 



During a heavy sea the codfish became watersoaked and 

 swelled so much that the seams in the planking of that 

 part of the vessel where the fish was stored were forced 

 apart and the crew was compelled to abandon the ship 



cod has been famed 



tor 



many things, but this seems to be its most 

 notable achievement. 



Of course the cod did not torpedo or 

 ram the vessel because she belonged to any 

 particular enemy. They sank her simply 

 because they were inside the ship and be- 

 cause they had too much water. The 

 strange incident happened in this way. 



The schooner Ponhook. under a captain 

 and crew of seven men, left St. John, 

 N. B., for the Azores, with 

 a cargo of dried cod- 

 fish. Soon afterward she 

 ran into a heavy sea and 

 shipped considerable water. 

 The dry codfish absorbed 

 this like a sponge, and it 

 was but a couple of days 

 before the expansive pres- 

 sure of the swelled codfish 

 had forced open the seams 

 of the vessel's planking so 

 that the water began to 

 seep in, little by little, as 

 shown in the accompany- 

 ing sketch, until the ship 

 was beyond saving and 

 had to be abandoned. 



PRtSSL'RL 

 FROMSWaUNG 

 /OF DRIED 

 *^ C0DF15H 



R4CKIN& 



F0RCE.0 OUT 



CAUSING LLAK. 



PLAuKiN 

 Showing how the pressure 

 exerted by the swelling cod- 

 fish forced the packing out of 

 the planking, causing leaks 



vermin ; one 

 signed by the 

 consular 

 officers; a permit to travel, and a permit 

 from the station master to use the train. 

 But the entire collection of passports will 

 not exempt him from being subjected to 

 the lemonade bath, which is the last cr\' in 

 the methods employed for discovering spies. 

 The necessity for the lemonade bath arose 

 when it was found that information and 

 maps were being carried over the border 

 tattooed on the skin of the informants. 

 The skin-writing is done with a chemical 

 which when dry is invisible, but is 

 brought out by another chemical 

 when the spy reaches his 

 headquarters. The citric 

 acid of the lemon juice 

 serves to bring out these 

 written characters also, or 

 to destroy them. As there 

 is no way of telling whether 

 or not a traveler is a walk- 

 ing manuscript, written all 

 over or in spots, the entire 

 body is given a vigorous rub 

 with the lemonade. The 

 only way for man, woman 

 or child to avoid it is to re- 

 frain from attempting to 

 cross the German border. 



