

BARBADOS-ANTIGUA EXPEDITION 149 
America, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and even such 
ports as Calcutta, Bombay, and Melbourne. 
At the time of our visit there was much excitement over the 
mysterious disappearance of the great Collier ‘‘Cyclops’’ whose 
last known port of call was Bridgetown. The officers and many 
of the crew were entertained by Consul Livingston. In con- 
versation with him and others I discovered what seems to be a 
reasonable and easy way in which that vessel might have been 
captured and turned over to the Germans. I was informed that 
her Captain was a man whose name originally was German but 
had been changed. All that was necessary, provided he was a 
traitor, was to go ashore and then come off with the announce- 
ment that he had received orders to go at once to the North Sea, 
for instance. No one on board could question his authority and 
he could thus have taken the vessel anywhere that he desired 
and turned it over to the Germans. Some day doubtless this, 
one of the many mysteries of the sea, will be solved. 
There was also much excitement over the U-boat raids on our 
Atlantic coast and innumerable rumors were afloat. Several 
steamers of the Quebec line were said to have been torpedoed 
and some of our party were a little panicky. Personally I 
dreaded the sinking of the vessel in which we were expected to 
sail for home before we got aboard more than I did such a dis- 
aster after we got started. The fear of being stranded in the 
West Indies with a party of nineteen who possessed no more 
funds than were needed to get home caused no little worry on 
the part of the director of the expedition. The loss of even one 
of these steamers would have meant a severe shortage of food on 
any of these islands and might have caused conditions bordering 
on starvation. Fortunately, none was attacked. Although they 
were armed with a single gun each, that would have added to 
the danger rather than decreasing it; as the boats were very 
slow and without convoy, the presence of the gun would in all 
probability have given an excuse for sinking without warning. 
Our party acted well, however, and after the first flurry of ex- 
citement over the ominous rumors, settled down to its work, 
and this in itself was an excellent antidote to the nervous ex- 
eitement natural under the circumstances. 
The difficulty of communication with home even by cable was 
