The world war : $b a history of the nations and empires involved and a study of the events culminating in the great conflict — John Shaqi
The world war : $b a history of the nations and empires involved and a study of the events culminating in the great conflictMarshall, Logan
History
The world war : $b a history of the nations and empires involved and a study of the events culminating in the great conflict
Marshall, Logan
Europe -- History -- 1789-1900; Europe -- History -- 1871-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- Causes
It was on the evening of Friday, July 31st, that this order came. At
once the vessel changed its course. One by one the ship’s lights were
put out. The decks which could not be made absolutely dark were
enclosed with canvas. By midnight the ship was as dark as the sea
surrounding. On she went through Saturday and on Sunday ran into a
dense fog. Through this she rushed with unchecked speed and in utter
silence, not a toot coming from her fog-horn. This was all very well as
a measure of secrecy, but it opened the way to serious danger through a
possible collision, and a committee of passengers was formed to request
the captain to reconsider his action. Just as the committee reached his
room the first blast of the fog-horn was heard, its welcome tone
bringing a sense of security where grave apprehension had prevailed.
A group of financiers were on board who offered to buy the ship and
sail her under American colors. But to all such proposals Captain
Polack turned a deaf ear. He said that his duty was spelled by his
orders from Bremen to turn back and save his ship, and these he
proposed to obey. A passenger stated:
“There were seven of the crew on watch all the time, two aloft. This
enabled the captain to know of passing vessels before they came above
the horizon. We were undoubtedly in danger on Sunday afternoon. We
intercepted a wireless message in French in which two French cruisers
were exchanging data in regard to their positions.
“The captain told me that he imagined those to be two vessels who
regularly patroled the fishing grounds in the interest of French
fisheries. If the captain of either of those vessels should have come
out of the fog and found us, his share of the prize in money might have
amounted to $4,000,000. Did privateer ever dream of such booty!
“Early on Saturday our four great funnels were given broad black bands
in order to make us look like the Olympic, which was supposed to be
twenty-four hours ahead of us. There was a certain grim humor in the
fact that the wireless operator on the Olympic kept calling us all
Friday night. Of course we did not answer.”
On Tuesday, August 4th, the great ship came within sight of land at the
little village of Bar Harbor, Mount Desert Island, off the coast of
Maine; a port scarce large enough to hold the giant liner that had
sought safety in its waters. Wireless messages were at once flashed to
all parts of the country and the news that the endangered vessel, with
its precious cargo, was safe, was received with general relief. As
regards the future movements of the ship Captain Polack said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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