100 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



A BUOY READY TO BE LOWERED INTO THE SEA TO MARK THE 

 LIMIT OE A MINE FIELD 



After each day's work it was necessary to mark the extent of the 

 mine field with buoys. These marks were necessary in order to 

 safeguard the mine-layers from falling victims to their own mines. 

 The rope coiled about the buoy is its anchor line. 



good account of any submarines we might 

 meet on the surface. 



THE WORST DANGERS TORPEDOES AND 



EIRE 



The worst dangers were torpedoes and 

 fire. All the ships had loaded mines on 

 board, and as they cruised only 500 yards 

 apart, an explosion in one ship would 

 probably disable, if not wholly destroy, 

 the others, too. 



In due course baa weather came. The 

 mine ships stood it well enough, but the 



big collier Jason, in 

 our company, began 

 to charge about and 

 to roll heavily. She 

 was a sister of the 

 ill-fated Cyclops, and, 

 with a whole garage- 

 full of automobiles on 

 her after deck, the 

 high wind made it im- 

 possible for her to 

 keep on the course, 

 and for twenty hours 

 she was lost to view. 

 Several days later 

 she disappeared again 

 in a heavy squall. 

 Four days passed 

 without a sign, and we 

 had almost given her 

 up for lost, when at 

 early daylight of the 

 morning of arrival she 

 came lumbering up 

 astern, and had re- 

 gained her proper sta- 

 tion before the time 

 set for rendezvous. 



As we approached 

 the meeting point, 

 nothing was to be seen 

 up to 15 minutes be- 

 fore 5 o'clock ; then 

 two, three, five de- 

 stroyers emerged from 

 the haze, and another, 

 and others, gyrating, 

 cutting about, chasing 

 their tails 



They had been 

 stretched on a north 

 and south line to al- 

 low for our being out 

 of our reckoning, and we, after 3,600 

 miles, with not a few vicissitudes on the 

 voyage, had struck the middle of their 

 line, right on the dot. 



That was indeed a crowded day, and 

 the waters passed through were the most 

 dangerous of any; yet so great was the 

 sense of relief, due to near approach to 

 destination and to the presence of the 

 destroyer escort, that it seemed like 

 Sunday. 



And, considering the utter chaos these 

 ships had been in only two months be- 



