To build new cylinders, replace burned-out boilers and other machinery, would have required at least a year, perhaps more, it was estimated. By using new methods, the Navy quickly restored the ships assigned to it. In a few months all were in service--and some of them were running at higher speed than the Germans had ever been able to attain. Twelve months in time was saved, during which these vessels transported hundreds of thousands of troops. The entire saving was estimated at more than $20,000,000. Until the United States declared war, these vessels were, under strict interpretation of international law, not liable to seizure. They could not leave our ports, but the crews remained aboard and, though under constant surveillance to prevent unneutral acts, they caused the American authorities considerable trouble. There were nine German liners at their piers in Hoboken when Germany declared war. All had been ordered not to sail. Being a part of the German Naval Reserve, they were subject to the orders of the German Admiralty. The _Vaterland_ was scheduled to sail that day, having booked some 3,600 passengers. Angry crowds who had purchased tickets stormed the piers, and extra guards had to be placed around the vessel. German crews held a mass-meeting in Hoboken, discussing mainly how they could get back to Germany. Ten thousand reservists on August 6th demanded of the German Consul that he send them back on the _Vaterland_ to rejoin their regiments. But not one of those vessels ever escaped from American ports. Their crews, however, were always seeking to help Germany and injure the Allies. Most of their plots and plans were foiled, though they did succeed, now and then, in "putting something over." The _Grosser Kurfurst_ (_Aeolus_) was, we found later, used as a sort of "clearing ship" for German officers in this country. They had secret orders to go aboard her and stay until arrangements could be made for them to travel aboard outbound steamers. Disguised, often carrying forged or illegally-obtained passports, some of them managed to get to Germany. The captain of the _Aeolus_, its chief engineer and purser were among those who successfully ran the British blockade. Given command of a Zeppelin, the captain took part in several airship raids, but was brought down and killed near London. When news of his death came, the flags on all the German interned ships were placed at half-mast. When the ship-bomb conspiracy was unearthed--the scheme to place explosives in cargoes, timed to go off and sink vessels when they were far out at sea--it was found that men on board the _Friedrich der Grosse_ (_Huron_) had been making parts of these bombs, which were assembled at a plant in Hoboken. This plot, however, was nipped in the bud. The sailors and others involved were promptly arrested, tried, convicted, and sent to jail.