At the same time the U-156 was slaying fishing craft in the north, another German submarine, commanded by Korvetten-Kapitän Kophamel, the U-140, was operating in southern waters. Leaving Kiel June 22, only a week after the U-156, this big undersea boat began work almost in mid-ocean July 18, gunning the American tanker _Joseph Cudahy_. On the 26th she fired on two British vessels, and later on the _Kermanshah_. All these attacks were unsuccessful, but she succeeded in sinking the Portuguese bark _Porto_, and on August 1 the Japanese steamship _Tokuyama_ was torpedoed 200 miles southeast of New York. The U-140 had a long and hot fight, before she sank, August 4th, her first American vessel, the tanker _O. B. Jennings_, Captain George W. Nordstrom, master; one man being killed and several wounded, before the ship was sent down. Then the U-140, sinking a schooner on the way, headed for Diamond Shoals, on the North Carolina coast, near Cape Hatteras. The _Merak_, a Dutch steamship taken over by the Americans, was sailing along at eight knots, when, at 1:40 p. m., a shot crossed her bow. Putting about, the _Merak_ made for shore, zigzagging, the submarine pursuing, firing a shell a minute. After the thirtieth shot, the _Merak_ ran aground and her crew took to the boats. The Germans boarded the steamer, bombed her, and then turned their attention to other vessels. Three were in sight, the steamers _Beucleuch_ and _Mariner's Harbor_, and the Diamond Shoals lightship. First they turned their guns on the lightship. Unarmed, with no means of defense, this vessel of 590 tons was of the same type as the other ships which are stationed at various points along the coast to keep their lights burning and warn mariners off dangerous points. To destroy one of these coast sentinels is like shooting down a light-house. But the Germans evidently thought its destruction would cause a shock and arouse indignation, if nothing else. So they shot down the sentinel of Diamond Shoals, while the lightships' crew took to the boats and saved their lives by rowing to shore. Then the U-140 attacked the Beucleuch, but the British steamer was too fast for her, and in the meantime the _Mariner's Harbor_, too, had escaped. No more was heard of the U-140 until August 10, when she attacked the Brazilian steamer _Uberaba_. The destroyer _Stringham_ went at once to the steamship's assistance and drove off the enemy. The Brazilians later presented the destroyer with a silk American flag and a silver loving-cup, to express their thanks for the timely aid given by the _Stringham_ in saving the _Uberaba_ from destruction.