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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



from Halifax to the British Isles — the 

 first submarines in naval history to make 

 the journey under their own power. 



We could, of course, if we liked, if we 

 were given to that kind of grand-stand 

 play, arrange for a succession of British 

 submarines to pop up with the most dra- 

 matic effect in every single one of the 

 American east coast harbors. But as we 

 prefer the realities of sea-power to its 

 tinsel, the inducement to any such theat- 

 ricalities is largely lacking. 



THE SILEXT VOICE 



Similarly, while we publish a list of all 

 rhe vessels sunk by Prussian submarines, 

 we say not a word about the U-boats 

 whose careers are brought to a sudden 

 stop. For myself, I honestly do not know 

 how many of them we have caught, sunk, 

 or destroyed. It may be 180: it may be 

 200; it may be 220. They come out and 

 they do not return, and there is no one in 

 Germany, and perhaps not half a dozen 

 people in England, who know what be- 

 comes of them. 



The reasons for our secrecy must be 

 tolerably obvious to any one who thinks 

 the matter over. All that the Germans 

 are able to infer from the failure of any 

 given U-boat to return to port is that 

 somehow or other it has been lost. But 

 how or where they cannot tell. 



It may have been through some error 

 of structure or design — a thought to send 

 a chill down the spine of every admiralty 

 official. It may have been through a mis- 

 take in navigation. It may have been 

 through one or other of the endless and 

 constantly changing devices that British 

 ingenuity has evolved and brought into 

 play against the new piracy. It may, too, 

 have happened near the German coast or 

 after the U-boat had reached its ap- 

 pointed station. Thev cannot tell. 



They are faced with a blank wall of pos- 

 sibilities that they have no means of veri- 

 fying. "Weeks must often elapse before 

 they can be sure that a submarine which 

 they thought was operating in a certain 

 area had really perished, and that another 

 boat should be dispatched to take its place. 



And from another point of view the 

 reasons for reticence are not less urgent. 

 The British admiralty is frequently un- 



able itself to decide from the reports of 

 the naval officers who have come to grips 

 with the submarines whether the enemy 

 vessel was actually destroyed. Some 

 cases are clear ; in many there is a margin 

 of doubt ; and there can be no question 

 that it is better to say nothing at all than 

 to put forward official claims which can- 

 not be substantiated and which the enemy 

 may be in a position to disprove. 



Sometimes, however, the veil of mys- 

 tery is partially lifted. Sometimes a Ger- 

 man L^-boat is towed up the Thames, 

 moored to the embankment, and from 

 $75,000 to $100,000 collected for some 

 naval charity by throwing it open to the 

 public. Sometimes if you are dining with 

 a naval officer you will hear Avondrous 

 tales of submarines netted, bombed by 

 aeroplanes even when they are well below 

 the surface, hunted and caught by de- 

 stroyers, induced by one ruse after an- 

 other to show themselves where they can 

 be got at. 



Sometimes, too, in a British port the 

 men of the merchant marine will tell you 

 of Homeric combats that would have 

 warmed the heart of Nelson and Farra- 

 gut and made Drake and Frobisher gasp 

 and stare. 



But these are mere haphazard personal 

 gleanings. No one knows the full extent 

 of the harvest or how it has been gath- 

 ered in. But we do know enough — or at 

 any rate we think we do — to feel fairly 

 confident that the Germans can attempt 

 nothing and can invent nothing that we 

 cannot find the means of countering; and 

 that confidence has been rather more than 

 justified by all that has happened since 

 February 1. 



With the Prussians succeeding in sink- 

 ing only about one in every hundred 

 ships that enter or leave the British 

 ports ; with three-fourths of all our mer- 

 chantment that are armed successfully 

 resisting destruction ; with the speeding 

 up of shipbuilding and the multiplication 

 of means of defense; with both imports 

 and exports not merely not falling off, 

 but steadily and positively increasing — 

 with these as the first fruits of the in- 

 tensified submarine campaign, we feel 

 that while there may be cause for appre- 

 hension, there is little or none for alarm. 



