GERMAN PIRATES IN BRITISH WATERS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2392, 23 February 1915, Page 5

GERMAN PIRATES IN BRITISH WATERS

SMALL COLLIER SUM •TJj r *. SUBMARINE BLQCKADER OFF THE ISLE OF MAN , ByT6lcsro»fci-ftees Association—Ooririgkt London,.February 21. A submarine torpedoed and sunk a small coal-laden steamer, the Downshire, off Calf of Man (an island at the southern extremity of the Isle of Man), on Saturday evening. 'She gave the crew five minutes to leave.

. , (Rec. February 23, 0.30 a.m.) ■ _ . - ' . ■■ London, February 22. Tna Germans ordered the Downshire's crew aboard the submarine. Tlfe bomb attacked the Downshire amidships, and she sank ia. a couple of minutes. The crew were afterwards re-embarked in their own boats, 7 and landed at Dunbrum, a county town. '• ' I ' - NORWEGIAN STEAMER'S FATE: PROOF POSITIVE OF ' ENEMY'S WORK. London, February 21. The Admiralty announces that pieoea of a torpedo were found in the steamer Belridge, a Norwegian oil- tank steamer damaged by a German submarine in.the Channel. A special examination of the pieces definitely proved that she, was torpedoed. DISTRESSED CREW TOWED BY. ENEMY'S SUBMARINE, • Paris, February 20. The boatswain of the Ville de Lillo, the small French steamer which was blown up in the Channel by the German submarine Ul6 about February 16, states that a submarine, Beeing the ship's boats making .desperate efforts to' reach the: coast, towed'them toward? Barfleur until she saw the smoke of approaching torpedo boats, when she leisurely sank beneath the water. . NORWEGIAN STEAMER MINED IN THE BALTIC. : < London, February 20. The Norwegian steamer Nordcap struck a German mine in the Baltic and foundered. The whole of her crew were drowned,—("Times", and Sydney ''Sun" Services.) DUTCH SKIPPERS ADVISED NOT TO RUN. London, February 20. THg Dutch Government nas recora tnended shipowners to instruct their captains, in the evenfc_ of meeting submarines, to stop and give all information. There is anxiety in Copenhagen at the cffect of the Germans' piratical operations. A number of crews refused to risk sailing, and left their ships, but fifty Danish ships are crossing the North Sea.—("Timos" and Sydney "Sun" Services.) AUSTRIAN SUBMARINES TO FOLLOW SUIT. ■ (Rec. February 23, 1.20 a.m.) • , , ,■ ■ " , ' . . Cenova, February 22. Advices from Innsbruck state that Austrian submarines are awaiting German orders to attack merchantmen in the ( Adriatio. AMERICAN STEAMER MINED AND SUNK ' UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT TAKES ACTION. (Rec. February 22, 9,40 p.m.) "London. February 22. The American steamer Evelyn, ladeii with cotton, was mined and suuk off Borkum . (off the Ems Estuary, on tho German coast). The crew were saved. " (Rec, February 23, 1.20 a.m.) ' _ • Wdahlhgton, February 22. Mr, W. J. Bryan (Secretary of State) has requested Mr. Page, Ambassador in London, and Mr. Gerard, Ambassador in Berlin, to supply details of the sinking of the Evelyn. [There are four Evelyns in "Lloyd's Shipping List," but tho steamer referred to is probacly the Bulls Company's 3140-ton steamer, trading' from New York.] PRESS AND PUBLIC OPINION ON THE BLOCKADE . "NOBODY IS ANY THE WORSE." __ . iv.,, London, February 20. _ lbs Times, in a leading article, commenting on the -blockade, sa.vs: — "The £roat day has come and gone. At the moment of writing nobody is any the worße. We can imagine the streets of German cities crowded with ore= dukus, expectant neoDle, waWhiae th« bulletin IwJti, awltliiy tbq of Kusland. Tlwy will bve to wait a lout;

BRITISH SEA CAPTAINS CONTEMPTUOUSLY, INDIFFERENT. (Rec. February; 22, 5.25 p.m.) London, February, 21. The usual complement of sea-going vessels pass Gravesend and Tilbury laden with freight, and rangiug from tramps to big liners. All Tun the gauntlet' of the so-called blockade. Captains, mates, and seamen all assume a nonchalant attitude regarding the German threat. If risks are suggested they reply with expressions of amused and defiance. They declare that the risks are no greater than at any time in the last six months. The master of a largo liner declared that if a submarine attacked him, he would not only dodge, but turn upon the attacker. _ An enormous amount of war insurance on oversea commerce continues to be placed in the open market at low rates. The pressure at Lloyd's is so great that a long string of waiting brokere block the gangways.—"Times" and Sydney "Sun" services.

WASHINGTON COMMENT ON THE GERMAN NOTE. (Rec. February 22, 5.25 p.m.) London, February 21. The "Times's" Washington correspondent says that tbe German reply to tbe American Note has not much improved things. The convoy suggestion is felt to be out of the question, owing to the mines which Germany threatens to lay. It is possible that advantage may be taken of tbe offer in the German Note for a continuation of tie conversations, though little is expected to come from tliera. '• ■ It is felt that the situation must be solved by events, and that no amount of words will be able to avert the gravest trouhle should American vessels suffer. —"Times" and Sydney "Sun" services. , 1 _ da the course of tie German reply to the American Note, it was suggested that the United States might" make ships oonveying cargo discernible by means of convoys. Germany said she was Teady to negotiate as to how thi6 ooulA be carried out.' She would be grateful if America would urge its shipping to avoid the war zone until the flag question was settled.]

GERMAN PRESS IN TRUCULENT MOOD. (Rec. February 22, 5.25 p.m.) . London, February 21. The "Lokal Anzeiger" declares that the fight entered upon on Thursday must be fought either with all recklessness or not at'all. "We Germans are resolved to fight regardless of consequences." The "Vossische Zeitung" says that the German measures at sea are directed against Britain's two Allies—one, the American arms tTaffio, and the other, starvation." • ' . ' . , Count Yon Reventlow, the German publicist, WTites to the "Tage Zeitung" that the Germans at present do not admit friendly relations with America. Public opinion is filled .with the utmost bitterness against the United States, 'whoso «-hips will not be protected by tho Stars and Stripes unless convoyed by American warships.—'"Times", and Sydney "Sun" services.