We fight against the Hun's ill-treatment of women; let no man be tempted to do, by insinuation, what we charge our enemies with doing by force. Let the women of France remember the men of America as those who would shield them against all harm, even that which might spring from their defenders. You would fight the man who insulted your uniform; do not insult it yourself. Let it not be carried into places of disrepute or into any discrediting act. We are here for a great, high, and solemn purpose. Let every personal desire be subordinated to that righteous purpose, then we will return to our homes clean and proud and victorious. CHAPTER XI GIBRALTAR AND THE CONVOY AMERICAN VESSELS ESCORTED NINETY PER CENT OF SHIPPING BETWEEN ENGLAND AND MEDITERRANEAN--GREAT WORK ACCOMPLISHED BY SHIPS UNDER COMMAND OF ADMIRAL NIBLACK--U. S. NAVAL FORCES MADE POSSIBLE OPERATION OF CONVOY SYSTEM, ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEASURES OF THE WAR. Gibraltar was the gateway through which passed one-fourth of all the shipping of the Allies. When the convoy system was applied to the Mediterranean, July, 1917, it became the principal convoy port of the world. United States naval vessels furnished ocean escort both going and returning for 90 per cent of all convoys between Gibraltar and Great Britain--200 of the 225 groups which sailed, 4,269 ships, representing 12,000,000 gross tons. The Mediterranean escort protected 5,120 vessels; our destroyers in that region, 1004; our Marseilles escort 73; and our men-of-war accompanied 12 other special ships, transports, cable layers and submarines. Thus the United States vessels of this force escorted a total of 10,478 ships. Realizing the strategic importance of Gibraltar, the Navy Department, on July 5, 1917, decided to establish a base there, and on July 14th, directed 11 vessels, including gunboats and light cruisers, under command of Admiral Wilson, to prepare for distant service, and sail for Gibraltar at the earliest possible date. This base, one of the most important in Europe, was established by the Navy Department on its own initiative, as had been the bases at Brest and Bordeaux and the Azores. By the time our vessels arrived it became, for protection of Allied shipping, a point of prime importance.