The German Secret Service in America 1914-1918Jones, John Price
History
The German Secret Service in America 1914-1918
Jones, John Price
World War, 1914-1918 -- Secret service -- Germany
Travelers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded
that a state of war exists between Germany and her Allies and
Great Britain and her Allies; that the zone of war includes the
waters adjacent to the British Isles; that in accordance with
formal notice given by the German Imperial Government, vessels
flying the flag of Great Britain or any of her Allies are liable
to destruction in these waters and that travelers sailing in the
war zone on ships of Great Britain or her Allies do so at their
own risk.
IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY.
Washington, D. C., April 22d, 1915.
[Illustration: OCEAN TRAVEL
NOTICE!
TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that
a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain
and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to
the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the
Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain,
or of any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and
that travellers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or
her allies do so at their own risk.
IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY
WASHINGTON, D. C., APRIL 22. 1915.
The newspaper advertisement inserted among "ocean travel" advertising
by the Imperial German Embassy prior to the _Lusitania's_ departure on
what proved to be her last voyage]
Germans in New York who knew of the plot dropped hints to their
friends; anonymous warnings were received by several passengers who had
booked their accommodations; Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt received such a
message, signed "Morte." But such whispers were common, the _Lusitania_
had outrun the submarines before and could presumably do it again;
further, most Americans at that moment had some confidence left in
civilization.
The plot was substantially this: when Captain Turner, on the last
day of the voyage, should send his wireless query to the Admiralty,
inquiring for his convoy of destroyers, a wireless reply in the British
code directing his course must be sent to him from Sayville. His query
would be heard and answered by the Admiralty, of course, but the
genuine reply must not reach him.
Berlin assigned two submarines to a point ten miles south by west of
the Old Head of Kinsale, near the entrance to St. George's Channel. She
selected an experienced commander for the especial duty, and with him
went a secret agent to shadow him as he opened his sealed instructions,
and shoot him if he balked. And about the time when the U-boats slipped
out of the Kiel Canal, and threaded their way through the mine-fields
into the North Sea, submerging as they picked up the smoke of British
ships on the western horizon, the _Lusitania_ warped out of her pier in
the Hudson River and set her prow for Sandy Hook, the Grand Banks, and
Ireland.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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