120 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



the winter months. Not until 27 

 days after the operation had be- 

 gun was the group finally com- 

 pleted. Some improvement had 

 been made. No ships had been 

 seriously damaged, although 

 many minor accidents had hap- 

 pened. 



There was some consolation 

 that our rate of sweeping was 

 slightly better than that of the 

 two British detachments engaged 

 in clearing their portions of the 

 barrage ; but it was far from 

 satisfactory ; the rate had to be 

 tripled if we were to finish in 

 1,919! 



THE CHIEF CAUSES EOR SLOW 

 PROGRESS 



The principal losses of time 

 were due to the frequency that 

 sweeps parted, with the conse- 

 quent delay in repairing them, 

 and to the difficulty in navigat- 

 ing with sufficient accuracy to 

 insure that every square foot 

 of the field had been covered. 

 This latter difficult}' necessitated 

 sweeping the same area over and 

 over again to make sure no mines 

 were left. 



The first cause offered little 

 room for improvement; with 

 practice, the sweeper crews be- 

 came more dexterous in mending 

 sweeps and repassing them, but 

 the explosions which parted the 

 wires could not be avoided. 



The second cause of loss of 

 time presented many possibilities 

 for improvement : First, by plac- 

 ing all the vessels in formation, 

 so that all the ground could be 

 definitely covered ; then have 

 them steam longitudinally down 

 the field. The experiment made 

 by the three pairs of sweepers 

 on the previous operation showed 

 that this was practical ; they had 

 suffered no greater losses than 

 the other sweepers, and, although 

 their rate of sweeping was no 

 faster than the others, it was 

 plainly due to the difficulty of 

 telling where they were. 



