ON BLOCKADE DUTY.
Rear-Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair, who recently relinquished command of the blockadeing squadron to become naval adviser to the Foreign Office, describes the blockade duty as follows“ Our North Sea blockade consists of the strategic placing of units of patrolling spuadrons, all out of sight of each other but within easy steaming distance. Usually our cruisers are about 20 miles apart, and as each cruiser is atlorded a clear view of 15 miles to the horizon, no blockade runner can pass between them without being seen by one or both. Sometimes nothing happens for days on end. At ehVeu o’clock every night, if our wireless is not too busy, we pick up the days war bulletins from Poldhu, and tha Eiffel Tower, or some German station. Finally, one day there is a. blotch of smoke on the horizon. As we keep in touch with our neighbouring units by wireless, we know that tliis cannot be from the funnels of one of our own cruisers. Word passes that a ship is sighted, perhaps attempting to elude our blockade. Overhauling the merchantman, the cruiser fires two blank cartridges. Accompanied by an armed guard of five men, the boarding officer goes over the (■miser's side, and often at some peril to life and limb, manages somehow to clamber up to the tramp’s deck. I have often seen the cruiser’s dory stove in, and the boarding party thrown into the water. Our boarding officer interviews the captain of the merchantman. The crew is sometimes mustered in suspicious cases to determine whether any German subjects are aboard. Finally, the manifests are carefully examined. Whenever there is fair doubt about the cargo, we are lenient in releasing our temporary capture. In the case of fishing trawlers, which swarm the North Sea, it is possible to examine the cargo immediately; and where ships are partly in ballast, the examination may also be done quickly. But it is absolutely impossible to examine a large cargo in mid-ocean and in heavy weather. My experience as commander of the North Sea blockade for 20 months is that all neutral captains invariably prefer to be sent into a British harbour. The delay is reduced to a minimum, and Ihe inspect ion is accomplished with safety and despatch.”
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1600, 19 August 1916, Page 4
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379ON BLOCKADE DUTY. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1600, 19 August 1916, Page 4
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