Naturally, also, the German spies on this side of the water would do everything in their power to learn precisely the facts which our Government sought to conceal—the number of troops going over, the times of sailings of the transports, and so forth. Naturally also, our system of espionage—the divisions of Military Intelligence, Naval Intelligence, Department of Justice, and the auxiliary work of the American Protective League—would do all they could to prevent German espionage from attaining its own purpose in regard to this knowledge. When the Government seized the Port of Embarkation at Hoboken, much interest was shown in the former Hamburg-American and North German Lloyd line steamers located there. There were numerous rumors that these boats were to be blown up by the Germans. Of these, the largest was the _Vaterland_, which was re-christened _Leviathan_. All this section, along the Jersey Palisades, near Hoboken, is strong in sympathy for Germany. Nearly all of the population is from Germany or of German parentage and here was this steamer, the biggest of all the boats, and long the pride of the Germans. It was not to be expected that the New Jersey Germans would feel pleasant about its present status. These local Germans boasted that they had been through these boats after our Government took them over. They told stories of what the Government was doing with them and what they were going to do themselves so that the boats would never sail or never get across. The history of other ships which took fire in mid-ocean, or were blown up by concealed explosives is referred to elsewhere. It always was sufficient to make the sailing of any transport a matter of great uneasiness.