LAND AND WATER 
February 20, 1915. 
dealing with this would be lo anchor deeply-sunk mines 
right on trade routes, some distance from such ports as 
Liverpool, the Bristol Channel, the Clyde, the Thames, or 
Belfast. 
If a field of these mines were moored at a depth of, 
say, 40-50 feet from the surface, and 10 or 15 miles from the 
entrance to the ports, I think it would greatly hamper the 
movements of hostile suhmarines. If they went below they 
would run the risk of contact with the mines, and if they 
remained on the surface a destroyer could deal with them. 
I think the knowledge that the mines were there would tend 
to keep them on the surface and make them more easily 
got at. 
If the mines were securely moored at a sufficient depth, 
they would be no danger to passing ships, and would still 
be near enough the surface to catch a submarine running 
submerged ; and, if a suitable depth of water were chosen, 
thiey would still be near enough the bottom as to make lb 
dangerous for submarines to pass under them. — Yours truly, 
Chas. E. Allan. 
A USE FOR BEER BARRELS. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Sir, — The Germans sink our merchant ships by torpedoes 
from submarines. Let us procure a dozen old merchant 
steamers, give them cargoes of empty beer-barrels bunged and 
well packed, and roped together, and send them to and from 
the estuary of the Thames to the entrance of Rotterdam, with 
an inviting-looking deck cargo hiding a 4-inch gun. Such 
boats could not be sunk by one torpedo, or by two, and the 
4-inch gun would suffice to sink any submarine that dis- 
covered herself for the purpose of challenging. — Yours truly, 
Authors' Club, 2, Whitehall Court, S.W, 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Dkab Sib, — In a recent issue Mr. Arthur Beckett de- 
scribes a bullet for the destruction of Zeppelins. One grave 
objection to these is the fact that they must be kept under 
water, which can only be conveniently done at fixed stations, 
where anti-aircraft guns would be more efficient ; in addition, 
a hole in the point of a modern bullet containing a gradually- 
diminishing weight would materially affect the ballistics. 
Experiment has shown that when flaming bullets are 
fired against hydrogen bags enclosed in an external enve- 
lope the number of actual ignitions of the hydrogen is very 
sma^l, possibly due to the vacuum caused at the moment 
of impact. — ^Yours very truly, Kenneth Goadby. 
46, Harley Street. 
THE CHINA STATION. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Sir, — In that portion of your article appearing in a re- 
cent number of Land and Water under heading " The High 
Seas Generally" your correspondent, Mr. Jane, states: — 
" Von Spee, with the Scharnkorst and Gneisenau, belonged 
to the China Station. Here we maintained a force sufficient 
to <leal with Von Spee." 
Being one among the many " others " (along with Lord 
Selbome) who venture to criticise the Admiralty, may I ask 
why this " sufficient force " allowed Von Spee to escape from 
Kiao-Chau? Obviously, it our force there had been " suffi- 
cient ' Von Spee would never have reached the Pacific, and 
the nation would have not been deprived of the gallant Admiral 
Cradock and the many brave seamen. Many of your readers 
would be glad .to know what our " force " is on the China 
Station, and would be equally gratified to learn when, and by 
whose order, the Canopus was sent to reinforce Admirsd. 
Cradock's fleet. The British people, after all, pay for the 
Fleet, in cash as well as in tears, and the Admiralty is com- 
mitting a grave fault in concealing these particulars. — Yours 
faithfully, A. L. 
THE OUESTION OF NUMBERS. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Sir, — In estimating the total forces which Germany can 
put into the field, there is one important difference between 
the two schools which Mr. Belloc has omitted to mention. He 
himself starts with men of twenty years of age, but the other 
school expects Germany to put into the field at least a million 
youths below that age. Though not the best of troops, they 
would be by no means negligible. — Yours faithfully, 
Henrt BuHTi 
Mayfield House, Farnham. 
CHOOSING KIT! 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Dear Sir, — Some time ago you were kind enough to 8up< 
ply me with the addresses of the makers of certain articles re- 
commended in your paper. I have got them, and find them 
all excellent. 
I would like to trespass again on your time, and would 
be very much obliged if you could tell me the maker of the 
water-bottle mentioned in your issue of January 2, and also 
let me know where I could obtain the saddlebag described in 
your number of January 9. 
Thanking you in anticipation. — I am, yours truly, 
A. V. T. Robinson 
(Captain, R.E.).. 
6, York Terrace, The Lines, GiUingham, Kent, 
THE BLOCKADE. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Dear Sib,— With reference to the threatened submai'ind 
blockade and your articles in Land and Water. Should 
not our Government and the French Government hence-i 
forth intern their prisoners of war on board ships and duly 
notify the German Government that these vessels mighft 
possibly have an occasional cruise round our coasts 1 — Yoursj 
faithfully, 
Albert E. BtiBNS.; 
A COMPARISON. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Dear Sin, — I have read each week, with very great 
pleasure, Mr. Belloo's articles in your valued paper. In his 
description of the Battle of the Caucasus, in the issue of 
January 16, however, he makes a statement to which I find 
it difficult to give credence. He says that " in order to effect 
an envelopment of this kind the Germans had to count on ai 
numerical superiority of their ally's troops in this region, 
for you cannot thus hold in one place and turn in anotheij 
unless you are numerically superior to your enemy." I give 
one example which seems to me to disprove this. At the battle 
of Chancellorsville in 1863 Lee, with 62,000 men, divided his 
force, sending part under Stonewjill Jackson to turn Hooker's 
right, whilst he, with the remainder of his army, held him 
in play along his front. Hooker's total force was 130,000 
men. Surely that is an example of such a thing being done, 
not by numerical superiority, but by astounding numerical 
inferiority. And the world knows the great victory then won 
by the Confederates, and the price they paid for it througbi 
the death of Stonewall Jackson. — Yours faithfully, 
Norman Brccb, 
Nairnside, 
Bearsden, Dumhartonshire, 
THE FIRST LORD. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Sir, — I expect there will be many to answer your corre.< 
spondent, the " Coast-dweller in Cornwall," but 1 should like 
you to allow me to point out two matters to him. First, if he 
blames Mr. Churchill for our defeats, he must praise him for; 
our victories. The other matter is that it is not a good plan 
to change horses when you are crossing a stream. 
I am not concerned to defend the First Lord — if he is a 
Nelson, his family history would warrant it — nor do I carp at 
your correspondent's use of the word "civilian." In his 
sense, I almost think Julius Csesar would have been a civilian. 
I am sorry for him if he does not realise that a good deal 
of " autocratic " power is in vogue in the Navy. — -Yours sin- 
cerely, M. Gardner. 
Farm Corner, Tadworth, Surrey. 
Mb. Belloc ■will lecture at Chester at 3 p.m. on Friday, 
February 19th, and at Hove Town Hall at 3 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. 
on Tuesday, February 23Td. Mr. Fred T. Jane will lecture on the 
Naval War at Queen's Hall at 8.30 Friday, February 26th. Professor 
Lewes will lecture on Modem Explosives at Queen's Hall a.t 8.30 
Tuesday, March 2nd. 
NOTICE TO READERS. 
Next week's issue will contain an article by 
Mr. Belloc on "THE DURATION 
OF THE WAR." 
16* 
