Crossing in our company was the big collier _Jason_, loaded with an aviation station outfit for Killingholme, England, which afterwards did good work. On the tenth day, heavy weather came on, and _Jason_ disappeared in a black squall, rolling heavily and steering far off the course. She being a sister of the ill-fated _Cyclops_, and no trace of her showing in four days, added considerably to the anxiety felt as we entered the active submarine zone. Radio calls brought no response. We had all but given her up, when, at early daylight, just before the appointed rendezvous with the destroyers, she came lumbering up astern. And so, notwithstanding the many vicissitudes in 3000 miles steaming, we met the escort with our number complete and right on the dot, in time and place. Our arrival off Inverness the following midnight, May 25-26, 1918, made the Mine Force complete as to constituent parts necessary for the operation in hand. The _Baltimore_ and _Roanoke_ had preceded the others, making us seven. Three more were still in shipyard hands, but there was no need to wait for them before beginning the minelaying. Between operations the squadron was divided for loading, half at Inverness (Base 18), and half at Invergordon (Base 17), 30 miles away. Being intended for the storage and assembly of mines—all that we used came from America—these bases had scant means at first for assisting the ships. Their needs could be supplied from the Royal Naval Dockyard and two depots, under Rear Admiral E. R. Pears, R.N., and Captain Tancred at Invergordon, and Captain Rowley at Inverness, who were always cordially responsive to our requests. The motto for all American naval forces abroad, however, was to be self-supporting, and thanks to our provident first supply and to regular replenishment by the mine carriers, we had to draw on the British stocks for very little. After a month, the repair ship _Black Hawk_ arrived. She took no part in minelaying, being always moored off Inverness, separate from the Mine Squadron and flying Rear Admiral Strauss’ flag, but her equipment of machine tools and repair material made the Mine Force normally independent in regard to upkeep. Except for docking, we asked very little of the British in the way of repairs. Upon one occasion, the soluble salt washers for the principal safety device of the mines nearly ran out, the local atmospheric conditions having caused many more to be used than estimated. No washers of the right size and kind were obtainable anywhere inside three weeks, and thus a shortage of these atoms—the size of a peppermint “Life Saver”—threatened to hold up the laying of 5000 mines. The _Black Hawk_ had a steam press, however, and could make a die—and by the time they were needed, washers in plenty were ready—incidentally of better quality than before.