u 
Land & Water 
August 8, 191 8 
Crew of a U-boat Surrendering to U.S.S. " Fanning " 
Ojgkial Pho 
Liverpool to New York and return— eacli month. Thirty 
of thefti steamed one million, five hundred thousand miles 
on convoy duty. 
The record of the armed yachts and destroyers in French 
waters is equally good. In conjunction with the French 
and English fleets and their sister flotilla in Irish waters, 
they have handled the American transport trade, also many 
coastal convoys, with a remarkable srtall loss in sinkings. 
Credit for this has to be shared with the American Naval 
Aviation Service, which has established many stations in 
France. For there is nothing the U-boat dreads more than 
the seaplanes— great hawks of the sea, which come booming 
out from the land to find and strike their steel prey. 
This service also operates some stations in England, Irefand, 
and Italy. Some of its men were in the big seaplane fight in 
Heligoland Bight, when nine Allied planes engaged seven- 
teen Huns. Others have fought frequent engagements. Sum- 
ming the service, one may say that its work is invaluable. 
A third American division operafes in the Mediterranean, 
under severe handicaps, for the geographical features of that 
long and narrow sea render it an ideal ground for U-boat 
operations. Operating from their bases at Pola and Cattaro 
on the Adriatic Sea, the U-boats get two fine chances, coming 
and going, at every ship. The neutrality of Spain is also 
in their favour, providing a city of refuge to which they can 
fly when hard pressed or too badly damaged to keep the seas 
In spite, however, of these handicaps, sinkings in the Medi- 
terranean have been cut down 65 per cent, during the year. 
Next come the submarines, two units of which operate on 
bases wide apart. One holds a group of islands, which might 
otherwise serve as a U-boat base, while the other actively 
hunts them through British waters. Their work is extremely 
valuable, for it has increased the hardships of U-boat life 
several hundred per cent. Thanks to the Allied submarines 
I'ntz can no longer bask in the sunlight tiU the masts of a 
convoy poke up from behind the horizon; for he never 
knows when a torpedo may land on his solar plexus 
Having just returned from an eight-day cruise in an Ameri- 
can submarine, I am in a position to know exactly what 
increased submergence means. U^ritz's life— never a happy 
one— has through the operations of Allied submarines become 
insupportable. Dogged by patrols, bombed by seaplanes 
v;oyaging always through a maze of nets and mines, he is 
now hunted underseas by huge steel sharks of his own Idnd. 
Lastly a battleship division operates with the British 
Grand Meet in the North Sea, assisting in the work of keeping 
the German High Seas Fleet bottled up in harbour. While 
cruising recently, this division narrowly missed contact with 
the enemy, and the disappointment of the entire personnel 
thereat is beyond my power in words. Now thev are 
hungenng for another real chance at the Hun 
This, then, briefly sums the operations for a year of the 
Amencan Meet. Space does not permit description of the 
real hardslups and dangers of the work. In ! Coal up ! 
Out! descnbes the life. Blow high, blow low. it ran its 
convoys to break the strangler's cord of U-boats and keep 
the stream of ships in circulation 
.rJ^l^A ^^L"""}, ^ccompHshed without a price in lives. The 
armed yacht Acedo torpedoed in French waters ; the Jacob 
dS'^f '" tf ^•"^""'^ •■ ^^^ Chauncey, rammed and sunk 
?wlnt? f ^:;:^'''f^ ^'*'^ ^ ^xm,\x^A of their crews and 
durinrnrif^^"" ^^^^ ^^'^'^^ °« ^he decks of destroyers 
oaid for fh. . fTl- ^'^ *^' P""^'^ the American Navy has 
mevitable wf ' ^^T'^ °^ ^"^'^^ ^"PP"«^- ^ut that was 
nev table. Having done its duty according to its lights 
Se ™an whr "° ^f l^^P"^-^^ than that fredy accordef by 
£ter ?Ln a^ntf ' *° '*' r^" ^^'^^^1- Sims-knows it 
octter than any other man ahve. Admiral Sir Lewis Bavlev 
Commander-in-Chief of the American MotiUa in iS wSs.' 
oJc^"aVd°rSf."'y.^^''?f,""^titude to the United States 
nature whtvf ^^^ ^u ^^^ '■""• ^"^''gv. ^nd unfailing good 
hale mnlriA ^^- ^r <=°"stantly shown; qualities that 
Sued p':"^'y^«^'«ted the war by enabling the ships of the 
To r^rr . "°'' the ocean in comparative freedom. 
Pleasure TZ ^°" ''• ^" ^""^""^ '^ t° ^^^k with you a 
AngT Saxon peo5e^°" " '"^ ^''^^ the best traits o'f the 
Copyright in U.S..A. 
